"Curse" Or "Gift": Urban Historical Duration And Enterprises’ R&D Innovation

Innovation is the first driving force of development,and enterprises are important subjects of innovation activities.There are many factors influencing the R&D innovation of enterprises,among which,the research on informal institutional factors such as history and culture still needs to be further explored.China has unique historical and cultural resources that cannot be replicated by other countries and regions in the world.Some studies believe that history is a "curse" that hinders the economic development of cities;at the same time,some studies found that history is a "gift" : the longer the history,the more it can promote the economic development of cities.However,the impact of historical duration on R&D innovation at a more micro level remains to be explored.In addition,Confucianism,as the most important culture accompanying the development of China’s history,not only intersects and blends with historical time,but also influences human thinking and their behavioral choices,which in turn affects enterprises’ R&D innovation activities.Therefore,in the context of building a strong cultural country,in order to enrich the relevant research literature and guide enterprises’ R&D innovation,it is important to understand the relationship between urban historical duration and enterprises’ R&D innovation,and the mediating role of Confucian culture between them two.Based on the data of Chinese A-share listed companies from 2009 to 2020,this paper examined the relationship between urban historical duration and enterprises’ R&D innovation.The study found that the longer the historical duration of the city,the higher the level of R&D innovation of the firms located there;and the Confucian cultural atmosphere has a partial mediating effect between them two: the longer the history of the city,the stronger the Confucian cultural atmosphere,which can promote the R&D innovation of the firms;in addition,the results of the city heterogeneity analysis showed that the R&D innovation of enterprises in non-reform and opening-up pilot cities is more significantly influenced by historical duration and Confucian culture than that of pilot cities.The results of the study provided supplementary information on the influencing factors of enterprises’ R&D innovation from the perspectives of historical duration and Confucian culture,and also provided a support for enhancing local historical and cultural confidence and promoting enterprise and socio-economic development with Chinese management.