Digital inclusive finance and corporate inclusive innovation: empirical evidence from Chinese listed companies

Purpose This paper aims to explore how digital inclusive finance influences corporate inclusive innovation by filling three key research gaps based on social exchange theory from a micro-organizational perspective. In the current era emphasizes more equitable and sustainable development, the role of inclusive innovation has become increasingly prominent. The research on digital inclusive finance (DIF) by existing scholars has provided certain inspirations for us to understand the role of DIF in corporate inclusive innovation (CII). However, there are still three key gaps in the existing research that need to be filled. To address these gaps, the authors draw on social exchange theory (SET) – a theoretical framework that interprets social interactions through the lenses of rational reciprocity and cost-benefit evaluation – to examine the role of DIF in CII from a micro-organizational perspective. Design/methodology/approach Drawing on panel data from Chinese A-share listed companies (2013–2022), this study uses a fixed effects model to investigate the impact of DIF on CII within the framework of SET. Findings They demonstrate that DIF significantly enhances CII by systematically reducing the economic costs of serving bottom-of-the-pyramid markets and institutionalizing balanced reciprocity norms between firms and stakeholders. They further examine the moderating roles of market competition intensity and managerial myopia, revealing that both variables exert a statistically significant negative moderating effect on the positive relationship between DIF and CII. Originality/value The potential marginal contributions of this paper are as follows. First, this study enriches the existing academic literature on the interaction between DIF and inclusive development from the micro-level perspective. It takes micro-enterprises as the core analysis unit and delves deeply into the subtle ways in which DIF operates at the micro-organizational level to promote the process of inclusive development. Second, it improves the type spectrum of DIF empowering corporate innovation. It systematically conducts an empirical test for the first time on the direct impact of DIF on CII. Third, it expands the theoretical perspective and optimizes the theoretical explanatory framework by integrating boundary condition analysis. This study innovatively adopts SET as its core analytical framework, focusing on SET 2019's dual paths to dissect the intrinsic logic of DIF 2019s impact on CII. Furthermore, this study introduces market competition intensity and managerial myopia as moderating variables to examine the boundary conditions of the SET-based mechanism, thereby clarifying the scenarios in which DIF exerts a more significant role in promoting CII. Taking China as a case study, it confirms the facilitative effect of DIF on CII, thereby offering actionable insights and practical lessons for other transitional and developing economies in advancing their digital finance initiatives and fostering inclusive growth.