Abstract: Bank competition plays a crucial role in reducing the information asymmetry between banks and enterprises, thereby significantly influencing the digital technology innovation activities of enterprises. Using an expanded endogenous economic growth model, this paper theoretically examines the micro-mechanism through which bank competition affects enterprise digital technology innovation, using the number of bank branches surrounding an enterprise to characterize the level of bank competition, and employs the data from China A-share listed companies from 2011 to 2021 for empirical analysis. The results show that bank competition significantly promotes enterprise digital technology innovation, with an increase in the number of neighboring bank branches benefiting digital innovation. Compared to strategic digital technology innovation, substantial digital technology innovation is more strongly influenced by bank competition. Furthermore, enterprises with executives possessing a digital background experience a more pronounced effect of bank competition on their digital technology innovation. The mechanism analysis shows that bank competition mainly drives digital innovation by alleviating financing constraints. It is also shown that the relaxation of financing constraints can enhance the research and development intensity, improve human capital quality, increase enthusiasm for digital technology innovation, and foster collaborative innovation mode, all of which provide comprehensive support for digital innovation. In addition, the development of financial technology and the strengthening of financial supervision positively regulate the impact of bank competition on enterprise digital technology innovation.

Key words:  bank competition, spatial distribution of branches, digital technology innovation, financing constraint

摘要： 银行竞争有助于降低银企信息不对称，显著影响企业数字技术创新活动。在拓展的内生经济增长模型基础上，理论阐释了银行竞争影响企业数字技术创新的微观机理，利用企业周边银行分支机构的数量表征银行竞争水平，并以2011~2021年中国A股上市公司数据作为研究样本进行实证检验。研究发现：银行竞争显著促进企业数字技术创新，即周边银行分支机构数量增加对企业数字技术创新具有积极影响。相较于策略性数字技术创新，实质性数字技术创新受银行竞争的影响更加显著。同时，在拥有数字背景高管的企业中，银行竞争对企业数字技术创新的促进作用更加明显。机制分析表明：银行竞争主要通过缓解融资约束来驱动企业数字技术创新。研究还发现：融资约束缓解能够提升研发强度、提升人力资本质量、增强数字技术创新积极性和培育联合数字创新模式，为企业数字技术创新提供全方位支持。此外，发展金融科技和强化金融监管对于企业数字技术创新具有积极的调节效应。

关键词: 银行竞争, 分支机构空间分布, 数字技术创新, 融资约束