Does digital industry agglomeration improve the energy efficiency? Evidence from Chinese industrial firms.

Does digital industry agglomeration improve the energy efficiency? Evidence from Chinese industrial firms. | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Does digital industry agglomeration improve the energy efficiency? Evidence from Chinese industrial firms. qipeng wang, Yong Liu This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7128135/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Digital industry agglomeration involves the widespread application and clustered development of digital technology. The integration of digital technology and applications with energy has been recognized as an important means to enhance firm energy efficiency. This study delves into the impact of digital industry agglomeration on energy efficiency in firms using data from the China City Statistical Yearbook and the Merged Database of Industrial and Polluting firms from 2001 to 2010. The study findings reveal a positive effect of digital industry agglomeration on firm energy efficiency, which holds true even after conducting a series of robustness and endogeneity tests. Heterogeneity analysis indicates that the positive impact of digital industry agglomeration on energy efficiency is more pronounced in regions with low industrialization levels, digital industry agglomeration, resource cities, low energy-consuming industries, state-owned and large firms. Furthermore, the study reveals that the promotion of firm energy efficiency through digital industry agglomeration is primarily driven by scale effects, cost effects, and innovation effects. Additionally, digital industry agglomeration contributes to the reduction of energy consumption and optimization of energy utilization structure. As firm energy efficiency improves, pollution emissions are also inhibited. This research has significant implications for understanding regional development and industrial policies. Digital industry agglomeration Firm energy efficiency Energy utilization Pollution emissions Full Text Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-7128135","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":489728118,"identity":"2ec24395-de5e-43bf-bdcd-09e3a2b74af4","order_by":0,"name":"qipeng wang","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAw0lEQVRIiWNgGAWjYDACCQY2BsYGBgZ+ZubDD0jTItnOlmZAmhaD8zwKEkTpkJ/d/Ozhzx2H7TYf5mEwYKixiSaohXHOMXMDyTOHk7cd5j3wgOFYWm4DIS3MEjlsEoZth5PNDvMlGDA2HCashQ2kJRGoxbiZx0CCKC08IC0H2w7bGTATq0VCIs1MsrEtPUHiMDCQE4jxi/yM5GeSP9us7fn7Dx9+8KHGhrAWKGhOBKtMIFI5CNTZk6B4FIyCUTAKRhoAAIgbPFujsW9zAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9485-3498","institution":"Fudan University School of Management","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"qipeng","middleName":"","lastName":"wang","suffix":""},{"id":489728119,"identity":"01839540-b31c-41fc-8a0c-e935493d7eff","order_by":1,"name":"Yong Liu","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Fudan University School of Management","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Yong","middleName":"","lastName":"Liu","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-07-15 08:27:45","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7128135/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7128135/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":96365688,"identity":"07dc44b1-b8e8-4c6a-8a33-784f527a7f3d","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-11-20 10:10:41","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":698608,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"renamed3293a.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7128135/v1_covered_5675c3bd-32a7-4c3f-951b-5abccd2c1860.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"","formattedTitle":"Does digital industry agglomeration improve the energy efficiency? 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