The Impact of Judicial Digital Reform on Corporate Innovation Efficiency

Judicial digitalization, a crucial component of digital government initiatives, exerts a profound impact on the corporate innovation environment. Based on the quasi-natural experiment of the "establishment of internet courts," this study employs a multi-period Difference-in-Differences (DID) approach to empirically examine the effect of judicial digitalization reform on corporate innovation efficiency, using a sample of China's A-share listed companies from 2012 to 2022. The findings reveal that the establishment of internet courts significantly enhances corporate innovation efficiency. This effect primarily operates through two mechanistic channels: strengthening intellectual property protection and optimizing the corporate credit environment. Furthermore, it is more pronounced in non-state-owned enterprises, industries with low competition levels, and low capital-intensive enterprises. Additional analysis indicates a noticeable time-lag effect in this facilitative impact. This study provides micro-level evidence for how digital reforms in the judicial system empower corporate innovation, while also offering valuable decision-making insights for constructing an efficient and collaborative digital governance framework.