Big Data and Firm Open Innovation : A Quasi-Natural Experiment from the Chinese Open Government's Data Policy

This paper treats the Chinese open government's data (OGD) policy as a quasi-natural experiment and uses the staggered did method to make causal inferences about big data and corporate open innovation. After a series of robustness tests, the results indicate that big data significantly increases firms' open innovation. Further, this positive impact is more pronounced among non-state and low-leverage firms. The findings of this paper provide academic support for promoting the construction of big data platforms, big data applications, and improving government transparency and enterprise innovation