Determinants of Provincial Government Attention to Innovation: Evidence from China

Determinants of Provincial Government Attention to Innovation: Evidence from China | 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 Determinants of Provincial Government Attention to Innovation: Evidence from China Changsheng Chen This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8585873/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 Existing literature overemphasizes innovation outputs while neglecting provincial government innovation attention and its spatial interdependence. This study constructs the Provincial Innovation-Driven Index (PIDI) via textual analysis of 31 Chinese provinces’ 2002–2024 government work reports and employs three fixed-effects models to explore determinants of government innovation attention. Key findings: Short-term economic growth crowds out innovation attention; industrial agglomeration and higher education human capital significantly boost it, while weak intellectual property protection undermines it. Notably, economic linkages (via industrial structure similarity) drive stronger spatial spillovers of innovation attention than geographic proximity. This research contributes by operationalizing innovation attention with PIDI, revealing dual drivers of attention, and quantifying spatial transmission channels, offering theoretical insights and targeted policy implications for regional innovation governance. Provincial Innovation-Driven Index (PIDI) Provincial Government Innovation Attention Spatial Spillover Effects Innovation Determinants Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. 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-8585873","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":574636805,"identity":"52f8bc3f-297b-4e10-969f-e093fec1c2eb","order_by":0,"name":"Changsheng Chen","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAyElEQVRIiWNgGAWjYJACZiCWY2DggbGJ1GLMwEaqlsQGorXw9x9g/FxQcSe9f37vMQmGCuvEBvazB/BqkbiRwCw948yz3BnH+NIkGM6kJzbw5CXg1WIgwcDGzNt2OHcDG4+ZBGPb4cQGCR4D/Fr4DwC1/DucbgDW8o8YLQwJQC0NhxMgWhqI0AL2C8+xw4YzjuUlWyQcSzdu48nBrwUcYjw1h+X5m88evPGhxlq2n/0Mfi1ATR8Q7AQgZiOgfhSMglEwCkYBEQAAVjQ6YRUC/N8AAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"","institution":"","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Changsheng","middleName":"","lastName":"Chen","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-01-13 00:53:11","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8585873/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8585873/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":100420855,"identity":"2162c3b6-28ca-427a-bd12-d233c345a628","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-01-16 13:30:09","extension":"doc","order_by":0,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":10380800,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Manuscript20260106.doc","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8585873/v1/17f026008e9790258d2e4c77.doc"},{"id":100420856,"identity":"2de9c05c-4b50-4370-b37b-cf63885ef6b1","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-01-16 13:30:10","extension":"json","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":2769,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"c311365e545a4e55894ce90921dde24d.json","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8585873/v1/0b2c85335d37c7800efaec59.json"},{"id":100944583,"identity":"7d1a9ea1-84e1-41c4-b86c-fec0ab087243","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-01-23 05:56:05","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":761279,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Manuscript20260106.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8585873/v1_covered_1c7373b3-cecd-40e6-8df9-ab28233e2df8.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Determinants of Provincial Government Attention to Innovation: Evidence from China","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Provincial Innovation-Driven Index (PIDI), Provincial Government Innovation Attention, Spatial Spillover Effects, Innovation Determinants","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8585873/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8585873/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"Existing literature overemphasizes innovation outputs while neglecting provincial government innovation attention and its spatial interdependence. 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