Data factors and new quality productive forces in sporting goods manufacturing enterprises effects and underlying mechanisms

Abstract As a new form of productive forces empowered by high technology, new quality productive forces constitute a crucial driving force for contemporary economic development and social progress. Examining how data factors relate to the new quality productive forces of sporting goods manufacturers is therefore important for understanding the high-quality development of the sports industry. Using panel data on Chinese sporting goods manufacturers listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen A-share markets and the New Third Board, this research applies stepwise regression analysis to examine the relationship between data factors and firms’ new quality productive forces. The empirical results show that data factors are positively associated with the development of new quality productive forces among Chinese sporting goods manufacturers. The mechanism analysis suggests that improved resource allocation efficiency may serve as an underlying channel through which data factors support such development. The heterogeneity analysis further shows that this positive association is stronger for large sporting goods manufacturers than for small and medium-sized firms. Among large firms, however, the relationship between data factor inputs and new quality productive forces follows an inverted U-shaped pattern: new quality productive forces initially increase as data factor inputs rise but decline beyond a certain level.