Geographical Accessibility and Corporate Technological Innovation—Evidence from a Quasi-Natural Experiment

Xiaoli Qiao () and Man Wang
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Xiaoli Qiao: School of Accounting, Management Accounting Research Center, Dongbei University of Finance and Economics, Dalian 116025, China
Man Wang: School of Accounting, Management Accounting Research Center, Dongbei University of Finance and Economics, Dalian 116025, China

Sustainability, 2025, vol. 17, issue 11, 1-22

Abstract: Geographic accessibility is an important determinant of the quality of interactions between firms and stakeholders and has a significant impact on the technological innovation of enterprises. By using a quasi-natural experiment implemented with China’s high-speed rail service and designing a high-speed rail network centrality indicator using social network analysis, we examine the impact of geographic accessibility on corporate technological innovation. The results show that geographic accessibility significantly promotes the technological innovation of enterprises, especially for enterprise exploratory innovation. Mechanism analysis indicates that geographic accessibility promotes enterprise technological innovation by reducing financing constraints and increasing technicians’ mobility. Cross-sectional analysis reveals that the prompting effect is more obvious in high-tech firms and firms in less-developed regions. This study enriches the research on geographic accessibility and corporate technological innovation, and has significant implications for enhancing the core competitiveness and sustainable development of enterprises.

Keywords: geographical accessibility; high-speed rail network; technological innovation; ambidextrous innovation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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