Zeyu Liu, Ana Liza R. Tan, Zhenjiang Dou, Xiaojun Wang
This paper describes the influence of economic policy uncertainty (EPU) on firms’ technological innovation and proposes a theoretical model that includes double mediating effects of firms' financing constraints and risk-taking behaviour. On this basis, this study uses Chinese A-share listed businesses from 2012 to 2021 as samples to conduct empirical research on the influence of EPU on technological innovation; a panel data regression model is developed to examine the impact of EPU on enterprise technological innovation empirically. It is found that EPU markedly promotes enterprise technological innovation, and the effect of this promotion is moderated by the form of ownership and its concentration. Further research shows that financing constraints negatively and partly mediated the effect of EPU on enterprise technological innovation. In contrast, enterprise risk-taking plays a positive and partial mediating role. The conclusion of this study is a certain inspiration and reference for enterprises to rationally understand the influence of EPU, improve corporate governance structure and incentive mechanism, and promote enterprise technology innovation investment decisions in the environment of EPU. Meanwhile, it offers a new perspective to explain the lack of impetus for enterprise technological innovation investment under EPU and provides a theoretical and policy basis for the government to create a good environment to encourage enterprises to invest in technological innovation, alleviate enterprise financing constraints, guide enterprises’ expectations of macroeconomic policies, and stimulate the vitality of enterprise technological innovation. © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2025.
School of Business, Hunan University of Humanities, Science and Technology, Loudi, China; School of Business and Economics, University of San Carlos, Cebu, Philippines
