AI adoption boosts innovation at Chinese listed companies, study finds

Artificial intelligence adoption is linked to stronger corporate innovation, according to a peer-reviewed study published in Scientific Reports. Researchers Xianjun Bao and Dongxiao Wu analysed online job posting data from Chinese listed companies between 2014 and 2024, using firms' demand for AI-related skills to construct a firm-level measure of artificial intelligence adoption. Their results indicate that greater AI adoption significantly promotes corporate innovation.

The study goes beyond the headline association by probing how the effect operates. The authors report that AI enhances innovation through two channels: increasing research and development investment and enriching firms' knowledge diversity. In this framework, a broader and more varied knowledge base makes it easier for companies to create new knowledge and to recombine existing knowledge in novel ways, a mechanism the authors ground in the knowledge-based view of the firm.

The positive relationship was not uniform across all firms. The effect was more pronounced among non-state-owned enterprises and among companies operating outside high-tech industries. The authors note that empirical evidence on how AI promotes corporate innovation has remained limited, and they position their findings as new firm-level evidence on the innovation effects of artificial intelligence.

Because the measure is built from job postings rather than direct technology deployment records, it captures firms' demand for AI capabilities, and the study covers Chinese listed companies specifically, so the findings should be read in that context. The research is being shared early as an accepted, citable manuscript with a permanent DOI, ahead of the final Version of Record, and is subject to further editorial edits. The work extends the knowledge-based view of corporate innovation by demonstrating how AI can expand firms' knowledge bases and support knowledge creation and recombination.

Subject of Research: The effect of artificial intelligence adoption on corporate innovation in Chinese listed companies

Article Title: The impact of artificial intelligence on corporate innovation

Article References: Bao, X., & Wu, D. (2026). The impact of artificial intelligence on corporate innovation. Scientific Reports. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-76822-0

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1038/s41598-026-76822-0

Keywords: artificial intelligence, corporate innovation, R&D investment, knowledge diversity, job postings data, Chinese listed companies, knowledge-based view, knowledge recombination, Scientific Reports, firm-level analysis, impact, artificial