The influence of the bank-firm relationship on enterprises' technological innovation efficiency: Evidence from China

Technological innovation efficiency is an important factor in achieving high-quality and sus-tainable economic development. Using bank-firm and technological innovation efficiency data from 2008 firms from 2011 to 2020, this paper reveals the mechanisms in and heterogeneity of the impact of the bank-firm relationship on technological innovation efficiency in China. The results indicate the following. (1) The technological innovation efficiency of enterprises in China has shown an upward trend, but remains below the optimal level. In addition, the level of technological innovation efficiency of state-owned enterprises is higher than that of non-state-owned enterprises. (2) The bank-firm relationship significantly improves technological innova-tion efficiency, and a series of endogeneity and robustness tests show that the results are robust. (3) The bank-firm relationship promotes technological innovation efficiency through the chan-nels of financing constraints and information asymmetry. (4) A heterogeneity analysis shows that the positive role of the bank-firm relationship on technological innovation efficiency is more noticeable in state-owned firms, developed financial regions, and non high-tech industries. Finally, valuable policy advice is proposed based on the empirical results.