How New Quality Productive Forces Drive SMEs’ Collaborative Innovation Performance in China?

Abstract

This study focuses on the Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle, a key area in China’s national regional integration strategy, to examine how new quality productive forces (NQPF) and digital transformation (DT) affect the collaborative innovation performance (CIP) of SMEs. Based on dynamic capability and collaborative innovation theory, this study employs a purposive sampling strategy and conducts a cross-sectional questionnaire survey among 314 SMEs. The findings reveal that NQPF significantly enhances CIP and has a positive impact on DT; meanwhile, DT directly promotes CIP, DT mediates the relationship between NQPF and CIP. This study includes recommendations, limitations and future research prospects.