Introduction

The Tao Te Ching is a foundational work of Taoist thought (Bai and Li, 2023), attributed to the philosopher Lao Tzu that provides a comprehensive view of Taoist philosophy and spirituality (Hua, 2023). It is regarded as one of the greatest philosophical books in history (Hart, 1980).

Taoist thoughts refer to traditional Chinese philosophy, emphasising living in harmony with the universe. Taoist thoughts continue to influence many personality traits of modern Chinese people (Yang, 2005), particularly in fostering intuition, meditation (Yang, 2005; Kuo, 1996), and creativity (Chen et al., 2023a). For example, the concept ‘the supreme good is like water’ presented by the Tao Te Ching refers to emptying one’s mind and embracing paradoxes, thereby developing a more creative mindset (Yun et al., 2016).

Since 2008, Big Data has become a key driving force in China’s economic development. ‘Data technology’ encompasses the production, collection, storage, processing, and analysis of vast amounts of data. In both operation and production, these stages can enhance efficiency, thereby driving economic development. In recent years, the Chinese government has issued a series of documents, including the Guidelines for the Construction of the National Integrated Government Big Data System, the Guiding Opinions on Accelerating the Construction of the National Integrated Big Data Centre Collaborative Innovation System, and the ‘14th Five-Year Plan’ Big Data Industrial Development Plan, aimed at promoting big data technological innovation for China’s economic development.

Big data transforms traditional production methods by upgrading equipment and reshaping human thinking. Do Taoist thoughts influence big data technological innovation? Taoist thoughts have deeply influenced the Chinese people for thousands of years. The concept of Wu Wei encourages individuals to act decisively and in harmony with the laws of nature, ultimately mastering these laws (Asim, 2023; Xing and Starik, 2017). It encourages embracing patience (von Fircks, 2023), thoughtfully following nature, and respecting individuality. These actions stimulate the personal initiatives of the Chinese people (Kuo, 1996) and create the necessary conditions for big data technological innovation. This study contends that Taoist thoughts may influence big data technological innovation in China. Moreover, climate change has become a pervasive challenge for humanity as a whole. Climate-friendly technological innovation has the potential to address climate change in a precise manner. Taoist thoughts, which emphasises harmony between humanity and nature, are also likely to influence the development of climate-friendly technological innovation. This issue will be addressed in the section “Discussion”.

This study proposes that the positive effect of Taoist thoughts on big data technological innovation is consistent with the theory that positive psychological capital (PsyCap) affects big data technological innovation. This study uses panel models to empirically investigate the impact of Taoist thoughts on big data technological innovation and its underlying mechanisms. Drawing on the work of Chen et al. (2023a), the natural logarithm of the number of Taoist places of worship in a region is used as a proxy variable for the proliferation of Taoist thoughts. This variable is standardised according to (X-Min)/(Max–Min) formula to create rTAO as another proxy variable. The study outlines the number of authorised and applied big data technology patents, takes the natural logarithm of authorised number of big data technology patents plus 1 to obtain DTCH, and takes the natural logarithm of applied number of big data technology patents plus 1 to obatain rDTCH as proxy variables for the level of big data technological innovation.

The remainder of the study is organised as follows: section ‘Literature review’ conducts a literature review; section ‘Theoretical analysis’ presents the theoretical analysis and hypotheses; section ‘Data, method, and variables’ outlines the research design; section ‘Results’ discusses the empirical analysis and robustness checks; section ‘Mechanism test’ describes the mechanism test; section ‘Discussion’ provides a discussion; and the final section offers a summary of the study.

Literature review

This study aligns with literature that investigates the influencing factors crucial for understanding the formation of new big data technology, focusing specifically on three key areas. The first area encompasses government policies that promote technological innovation through factors such as Government Research and Development Funding (R&D), subsidies, and urbanisation policies (Guo et al., 2016; Jiang and Xu, 2023). Additionally, it includes high-tech zones, which help encourage the clustering of urban investments and facilitate technological innovation (Li and Yang, 2019). The second area covers economic factors that promote technological innovation through the agglomeration of finance, education, and manufacturing sectors (Cui and Wang, 2023; Wen et al., 2023; Zhou and Pang, 2019). Strengthening infrastructure and opening high-speed railways are also significant contributors (Bian et al., 2019). Recently, the third aspect—foreign direct investment (FDI)Footnote 1—has garnered increasing attention from researchers. FDI is theorised to either promote, have no impact, or inhibit technological innovation. The promotion theory suggests that FDI fosters technological innovation (Pan et al., 2023), while the irrelevance theory holds that FDI has no significant impact on it (Romijn and Albaladejo, 2002). In contrast, the harmfulness theory posits that FDI may negatively affect technological innovation (Jiang and Xia, 2005). Overall, scholars have conducted a considerable amount of research on the factors that influence technological innovation. However, for big data technological innovation, some scholars have studied its application of big data technological innovation (Shahid & Sheikh, 2021; Wright et al., 2019), but have not examined the influencing factors of it from Taoist thoughts.

Taoist thoughts are an area of research related to the study of influences affecting technological innovation, including personal influences (Xiong and Ju, 2023; Sun et al., 2023) and company management (Xu and Nicolas, 2021). Regarding personal influence, Taoist enlightenment can facilitate self-transformation, thereby enhancing individual development (Xiong and Ju, 2023). This approach not only respects the laws of nature and helps to rationally organise life and health around it, but also nourishes the spirit and calms the mind, thereby promoting both physical and mental well-being (Sun et al., 2023). Principles derived from Taoist thoughts can positively influence the mindset of Chinese people (Lou et al., 2022), enhancing their pro-environmental behaviour (Yang et al., 2019) and improving waste sorting practices. This, in turn, may increase the level of green technology innovation in Chinese cities (Chen and Zhang, 2023). Sum and Whitehead (2021) found that Taoist thoughts encourage individuals to actively engage in sports, thereby enhancing their fitness. Furthermore, Taoism is closely related to management principles, particularly to the respect for the value of people. This offers valuable insights for modern company management practices (Ji, 2018) and serves as a vital reference for Chinese companies (Xu and Nicolas, 2021), helping leaders to manage responsibly (Zu, 2023). Building on the two key Taoist thoughts of balance and flexibility, employee behaviours influenced by Taoism can contribute to the social capital of a company. Overall, while scholars have conducted extensive research on the positive impact of Taoist thoughts, there has been limited discussion on the impact of Taoism on big data technological innovation. Taoist thoughts influence the psychological characteristics of Chinese people (Chen and Zhang, 2023). Therefore, in the next section, we analyse the influence of Taoist thoughts on big data technological innovation based on positive psychological capital theory.

Theoretical analysis

In contemporary society, in addition to traditional forms of capital such as plant and equipment and monetary funds, positive psychological capital (PsyCap) is becoming an increasingly significant concept. Positive PsyCap is a recently proposed form of capital that focuses on the psychological qualities of employees (Luthans et al., 2004). Specifically, it encompasses the four elements of self-confidence, hope, optimism and resilience (Chaffin et al., 2023; Kraus et al., 2023; Nguyen & Ngo, 2020; Luthans et al., 2008). These four elements function in conjunction with one another, creating a synergistic effect that yields a positive impact (Burhanuddin et al., 2019; Kraus et al., 2023). It is posited by scholars that positive PsyCap’s self-confidence, hope, optimism, and resilience contribute to the personal qualities of employees, thereby enabling them to better cope with the workplace (Burhanuddin et al., 2019). The extant literature indicates that positive PsyCap has a positive predictive effect on employees’ work outcomes. For example, positive PsyCap has been demonstrated to increase employees’ job satisfaction (Kraus et al., 2023; Wirawan et al., 2020), which in turn has been shown to lead to increased work engagement (Wang et al., 2024; Wirawan et al., 2020) and improved employee performance (Daraba et al., 2021; Nguyen & Ngo, 2020).

Culture significantly influences people’s decision-making, with individuals’ behaviour in specific situations varying according to the cultural context to which they are exposed (Henrich, 2000). Additionally, culture impacts national institutional systems and management practices (Li et al., 2013), further shaping individuals’ behaviour (Gorodnichenko and Roland, 2017; Lou et al., 2022; Xing and Starik, 2017; Zhang et al., 2022). As an important part of traditional Chinese culture, Taoist thoughts have had a significant impact on Chinese psychology (Yip, 2005), thus influencing Chinese behaviour. This section analyses the PsyCap derived from Taoist thoughts among the Chinese and explores its impact on big data technological innovation (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1
figure 1

The logic map of Taoist thoughts influencing big data technological innovation.

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Impact analysis

As previously stated, scholars concur that positive PsyCap refers to a psychological state that encompasses self-confidence, hope, optimism, and resilience (Loghman et al., 2023; Luthans et al., 2004; Luthans et al., 2008; Sweetman et al., 2011; Suardi et al., 2024). In enterprise production, this state is a form of soft capital that significantly enhances employees’ positive attitudes towards work and enhances overall subjective and spiritual well-being. Notably, Taoist thoughts can enhance employees’ positive PsyCap, thereby promoting big data technological innovation in the following ways:

First, Taoist thoughts enhance individuals’ self-confidence in promoting big data technological innovation. Working with big data technological innovation requires repeated testing. For example, constructing effective predictive models for big data analysis using specific datasets is a key aspect of big data technological innovation. This process requires the modeller to continuously iterate to determine which variables to include in the predictive model and how to calculate them to reduce prediction errors, and enhance precision and accuracy. Repeating these tests is extremely challenging and requires persistence. Individuals with high self-confidence tend to be more motivated to overcome these challenges (Suardi et al., 2024). The Tao Te Ching declares, ‘There is a balance between existence and non-existence, a balance between long and short, a balance between high and low, and a balance between front and back’. This understanding helps individuals to create a centred mindset, strengthening their inner convictions when confronted with difficult tasks. Ultimately, greater self-confidence and persistence, drive innovation forward (Alshebami, 2021; Hameed and Arachchilage, 2021). Consequently, Taoist thoughts improve individuals’ self-confidence and persistence, promoting big data technological innovation.

Second, Taoist thoughts strengthen an individual’s hope for big data technological innovation. Big data technological innovation is fraught with challenges, including the design of effective computer algorithms for processing data from various sources to advance big data technological innovation, and extract knowledge from diverse datasets. When individuals are filled with hope, they are generally more motivated and determined to succeed, which enables them to tackle challenges more effectively (Suardi et al., 2024). Taoist thoughts advocate the pursuit of spiritual fulfilment (Freiberg, 1977)) and maintenance of individual spiritual well-being (Sun et al., 2023). In essence, this philosophy emphasises the pursuit of the essence of life (Hua, 2023; Liang, 2012), encouraging individuals to look forward to the future. The Tao Te Ching states that ‘being able to defeat others is considered strength; being able to defeat oneself is truly strong’. This mindset inspires individuals to nurture hope, even in challenging times (Lv, 2002). Thus, Taoist thoughts can support individuals in implementing big data technological innovations.

Third, Taoist thoughts can encourage individuals to remain optimistic and promote big data technological innovation. Big data technological innovation requires repeated testing and is rife with challenges, including the inevitability of innovation failure. For example, incorrect selection of variables can lead to poor predictive ability, resulting in subsequent failure. Optimists typically attribute positive events to internal, lasting, and significant causes, while viewing adverse events as arising from external, temporary, or specific factors (Luthans et al., 2004). Therefore, this optimistic outlook can play a crucial role in overcoming failures (Suardi et al., 2024). The Tao Te Ching states that ‘misfortunes and blessings depend on each other, that is to say, misfortunes can bring blessings, and vice versa’. There is a popular Chinese fable about an old man who made his living herding horses near the border. One day, one of his horses went missing. However, after some time, the lost horse returned, accompanied by a large herd of horses. This fable illustrates how a misfortune can become a blessing in disguise. This Taoist thought encourages individuals to maintain an optimistic attitude, which can, in turn, foster innovation in big data technology. Optimists often overestimate the resources needed for implementing big data technological innovation—such as personnel, finances, and skills—while underestimating the challenge of actively engaging workers’ PsyCap in the process.

Fourth, Taoist thoughts can enhance individuals’ psychological resilience, thereby promoting big data technological innovation. As noted earlier, big data technological innovation failure is inevitable. Failure is not considered intimidating, and individuals’ ability to quickly recover from setbacks is the key to achieving success in big data technological innovation. Resilience helps individuals cope with failure (Suardi et al., 2024), recover from difficulties and setbacks, and actively grow and adapt to changing conditions (Luthans et al., 2004). According to Taoist thoughts, success and failure are fleeting from a social perspective, while honour and disgrace are relative (Chen and Zhang, 2023; Yip, 2005). This understanding helps individuals overcome challenges and setbacks, ultimately enhancing their resilience. The Tao Te Ching states that ‘misfortune brings happiness and happiness brings disaster’, suggesting that calmly facing both setbacks and blessings in life (Lv, 2002; Wang, 2023; Xi et al., 2015) fosters an individual’s resilience. Therefore, Taoist thoughts can help individuals implement big data technological innovation by strengthening their psychological toughness.

Hypothesis 1 (H1): Taoist thoughts can promote big data technological innovation, and gaining deeper insights into Taoist philosophy can lead to higher levels of innovation.

Analysis of mechanisms

Digital finance results from the deep integration of digital technologies—such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, cloud computing, big data, and the Internet of Things (collectively referred to as ABCDI)—with financial services (Chen et al., 2022a). A representative example of this is WeChat Pay. At the micro-level, financial enterprises must integrate ABCDI with their business processes to implement digital financial innovation. The digital economy is a product of the deep integration of ABCDI with the broader economy (Chen et al., 2022a). Bicycle sharing is one specific example of this integration. Similar to digital finance, brick-and-mortar enterprises must integrate ABCDI with their businesses to implement micro-level digital economy innovation. Both digital finance and digital economy innovations must be continuously tested and improved. For example, WeChat Pay and bicycle sharing require repeated functional and performance testing to minimise software bugs. The analysis in the section “Impact analysis” demonstrates that Taoist thoughts can enhance an individual’s self-confidence and increase their motivation to navigate the challenges of repeated testing. Therefore, this study argues that Taoist thoughts can positively contribute to digital finance and digital economy innovation, promoting development at the macro-level.

Digital finance

The above analysis indicates that Taoist thoughts can promote the development of digital finance by supporting enterprises in implementing big data technological innovations, as discussed below.

First, increasing available financial resources. Big data technological innovations, characterised by long investment cycles, significant capital investments, and high risk (Nie et al., 2021), often require considerable external financial resources. In the past, financial enterprises struggled to maximise the financial contributions of small and medium-sized investors. However, with the development of digital finance, these enterprises can now attract financial resources from investors more quickly and cost-effectively, enabling them to secure additional external funding (Li et al., 2021) for big data technological innovations.

Second, improving risk-taking. Digital finance has been shown to have an adverse effect on banks (Beck et al., 2018). For example, digital wallets, like WeChat Pay and Alipay, have replaced bank payment functions, leading to a significant decrease in profit margins. The Tao Te Ching declares, ‘one should take advantage of something when it’s not there yet’. These words could encourage bank leaders to proactively adopt and improve their risk-taking strategies. By doing so, they can increase the provision of financial resources (Chen et al., 2020a) needed to implement big data technological innovation.

Third, providing flexible support for innovation. By digitalising financial services and integrating AI technologies, financing becomes more accessible due to the diversification of the available forms. The Tao Te Ching declares, ‘The soft overcomes the hard in the world as a gentle rider controls a galloping horse’, encouraging individuals to embrace flexibility by underscoring the benefits of balancing softness and strength (Chen et al., 2023a). Financial enterprises inspired by this notion can flexibly choose the most suitable financial services for enterprises implementing big data technological innovation (Li et al., 2021). This approach eventually leads to the advancement of big data technological innovation.

In summary, Taoist thoughts are conducive to developing digital finance and promoting big data technological innovation; therefore, Hypothesis 2 is proposed.

Hypothesis 2 (H2): Taoist thoughts working in concert with digital finance further big data technological innovation by promoting flexible approaches to funding.

Digital economy

The above analysis indicates that Taoist thoughts can promote the development of the digital economy. Consequently, this support can enable enterprises to effectively implement big data technological innovation, as discussed below.

First, promoting the dissemination of knowledge. Big data technological innovation involves exploring uncharted territories to create new and more complex combinations of knowledge and elements by reconstructing, integrating, and modifying existing knowledge and factors (Peng and Zhang, 2022). It is evident that the dissemination of knowledge is of paramount importance in driving big data technological innovation (Chen and Lu, 2024). The digital economy introduces new products, business forms, and industries, resulting in the development of new knowledge, and promoting the dissemination of knowledge to advance big data technological innovation.

Second, supplying digital talents. Big data technological innovation requires a large number of digitally talented individuals in computer software and hardware. For example, effective big data technological innovation for predictive modelling necessitates digital experts who can master and advance solutions related to computer software. The development of the digital economy largely depends on the availability of digital talents (Huang et al., 2023). This will lead to an increased number of digitally skilled individuals from the demand side. Enterprises can then effectively engage with big data technological innovation.

Third, providing ‘trial-and-error’ technology. The above analysis shows that big data technological innovation necessitates multiple rounds of testing. Certain big data technological innovations require iterative testing in physical space through a constant process of ‘trial and error’. For example, autonomous driving based on big data technology must be repeatedly tested in physical space. The digital economy drives the development of digital simulation technology, which utilises ‘virtual trial and error’ rather than ‘real trial and error’ to effectively reduce trial-and-error selection costs (Peng and Zhang, 2022), thereby promoting big data technological innovation.

In summary, Taoist thoughts are conducive to the advancement of the digital economy, thereby promoting big data technological innovation. Therefore, this study proposes Hypothesis 3.

Hypothesis 3 (H3): Taoist thoughts working in concert with digital economy further big data technological innovation by providing three supports.

Data, method, and variables

In section ‘Theoretical analysis’, we develop hypotheses about the influence of Taoist thoughts on big data technological innovation. In this section, we test whether the hypotheses are valid using the economic paradigm shown in Fig. 2.

Fig. 2
figure 2

Research design flowchart.

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Data

In line with existing literature (Chen et al., 2023a; Ma and Hu, 2022), this study adopts the Peking University Digital Financial Inclusion Index as the proxy variable for digital finance. The first index period is 2011; therefore, the empirical analysis in this study examines data from 2011 to 2019. The number of Taoist places of worship is sourced from the National Religious Affairs Administration. The authorised and applied numbers of big data technology patents are sourced from www.zhihuiya.com by using ‘big data’ + ‘city name’ as search keywords. The remaining data were obtained from the National Bureau of Statistics and the People’s Bank of China. Continuous variables were winsorised at the 1% level for both tails to mitigate the influence of outliers.

Method

Following the approach of Chen et al. (2023a), we developed the following equation:

$${DTC}{H}_{{it}}={\alpha }_{0}+{\beta }_{1}{{\times }}{{TAO}}_{i}+{\boldsymbol{\eta }}{{\times }}{\boldsymbol{X}}+{\alpha }_{t}+{\lambda }_{{ik}}+{\varepsilon }_{{it}}$$
(1)

where DTCHit represents the big data technological innovation level. Additionally, α0 is the constant term, αt represents the year fixed effect, λik denotes the effect of the k-th province in which the i-th city is located, and εit is the stochastic disturbance term. TAOi signifies the proliferation of Taoist thoughts, with β1 as its coefficient. If β1 is significantly positive, it indicates that Taoist thoughts can promote big data technological innovation. Furthermore, X is the set of control variables that influence big data technological innovation.

Variables

Based on the need to test the hypotheses and referring to the existing literature, the dependent variables, independent variables, and control variables are presented in Table 1.

Table 1 Definitions of variables.
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Dependent variables

The dependent variable of this study is the level of big data technological innovation (DTCH), as defined in the existing literature (Bian et al., 2019). DTCH is the natural logarithm of the authorised number of big data patents plus 1. Similarly, rDTCH is obtained by taking the natural logarithm of the number of big data technology patent applications plus 1, followed by the robustness test. In certain cities and years, the number of big data patent applications and authorisations is zero; therefore, one is added to allow for the calculation of the natural logarithm.

Independent variables

The independent variable examined in this study is the proliferation of Taoist thoughts (TAO). Lao Tzu (600–470 BC), the founder of Taoist thoughts, explained his theory of ‘natural thinking’ in his work the Tao Te Ching (Xing and Starik, 2017). The number of Taoist places of worship serves as an accurate reflection of the extent of Lao Tzu’s philosophical legacy and a tangible and lasting manifestations of Taoist thought, carriers and windows for the expression and dissemination of the philosophical tenets of Taoist thoughts(Chen and Zhang, 2023). Taoism is a traditional Chinese philosophy with a rich history, embodying the enduring legacy of Taoist thoughts. A higher number of Taoist places of worship signifies a stronger legacy of Taoist thought in the area. Consequently, in accordance with the methodologies outlined by Chen et al. (2023a) and Chen and Zhang (2023), TAO is calculated by taking the natural logarithm of the number of Taoist places of worship. Furthermore, we performed a robustness check on rTAO as an additional proxy variable after standardising the number of Taoist places of worship using the formula (X-Min)/(Max − Min). The higher the values of TAO and rTAO, the greater the proliferation of Taoist thoughts.

Control variables

In order to isolate the effect of Taoist thoughts on big data technological innovation, the following variables are controlled for.

  1. (1)

    As the economy grows, so too do its carbon emissions (Raihan, 2023), which in turn expose companies to the risk of carbon risk (Chen et al., 2023b). This, in turn, may deplete the resources necessary for big data technological innovation. However, higher levels of urban economic development provide better conditions for technological innovation (Chen et al., 2022b). To this end, this study controls for economic development level, which is measured by the natural logarithm of real GDP per capita based on 2011.

  2. (2)

    Foreign direct investment (FDI) may have two effects on technological innovation. First, it can improve the innovation efficiency of domestic enterprises through technology spillover. Second, foreign direct investment will crowd out the domestic market, thus affecting the development of domestic enterprises and reducing innovation efficiency (Han et al., 2015). According to different conclusions, the best way to judge the relationship between foreign direct investment and big data technology innovation is to find evidence from empirical results. Therefore, we controlled the foreign direct investment.

  3. (3)

    Industry structure upgrade refers to the process of introducing advanced production factors (such as technology, system, etc.) to evolve the industrial structure to a higher level and significantly improve production efficiency through innovation and efficiency improvement (Liang and Zhang, 2019). In China, the secondary industry is the primary driver of technological innovation. An enhancement in the level of industrial structure signifies a reduction in the proportion of the secondary industry, which can probably diminish big data technological innovation. So, we controlled the industrial structure level, which is equal to 1 \({{\times }}\) proportion of the city’s primary industry + 2 \({{\times }}\) proportion of the city’s secondary industry + 3 \({{\times }}\) proportion of the city’s tertiary industry (Chen et al., 2022b).

  4. (4)

    Financial development has the potential to provide external financing for technological innovation (Hsu et al., 2014). This suggests a correlation between financial development and big data technological innovation. Consequently, it is imperative to control the financial development level, which is measured by the loan balance divided by GDP.

  5. (5)

    Given the significant positive externalities of technological innovation, the crucial role of the government in facilitating innovation activities is accentuated, and government expenditure on science and technology can elevate the level of technological innovation (Li and Chen, 2025). Government funding is the primary source of revenue for technological innovation (e.g. big data technological innovation). To encourage technological innovation, the government often implements direct subsidies and indirect tax reductions (Bloom et al., 2019). So, technology expenditure (SCPT), measured as the ratio of fiscal budgetary expenditure on science and technology to the current year’s GDP (Li and Yang, 2019), is added as a control variable.

  6. (6)

    Technological innovation is increasingly characterised by its knowledge-intensive nature (Antonelli et al., 2023). Indeed, it is becoming increasingly dependent on human resources that are endowed with knowledge. Consequently, the level of human resources may improve big data technological innovation. For this reason, human resource level (HCAP), measured by the number of college students divided by the total population of the city (Li and Yang, 2019), is added as a control variable.

  7. (7)

    Technology spillover refers to the diffusion of technological information of enterprises to promote the improvement of technology and productivity of other enterprises, which is a manifestation of economic externality, involuntary and uncontrollable (O’Mahony and Vecchi, 2009). For this reason, we controlled for other levels of technological innovation in the city in order to observe the impact of Taoist thoughts on big data technological innovation.

Results

Based on the economic paradigm designed in section ‘Data, method, and variables’, this section reports the results of the test of the influence of Taoist thoughts on big data technological innovation.

Descriptive statistics

Table 2 provides the descriptive statistics of the main variables. Descriptive statistics show that the average DTCH, measured as the authorised number of big data technology patents, was 0.8983, with a minimum of 0.0000 and a maximum of 5.6937. These results indicate significant differences in big data technology innovation across cities. The average TAO was 2.3079, with a minimum of 0.0000 and a maximum of 5.6419, reflecting the primary national conditions of unbalanced development.

Table 2 Descriptive statistics of main variables.
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Baseline regression

The control variables are gradually increased to estimate Eq. (1), with the results summarised in Table 3. Columns (1) to (5) of Table 3 show that the coefficients for the proliferation of Taoist thoughts (TAO) are positive at the 1% or 5% significance level. The baseline regression results support H1, indicating that Taoist thoughts can promote big data technological innovation.

Table 3 Regression results of Eq. (1).
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Column (5) shows the results. First, PGDP is positive at the 1% level, suggesting that economic development stimulates both regional (Bian et al., 2019) and big data technological innovation. Second, FSIZ is positive at the 1% level, indicating that financial development supports technological innovation by reducing information asymmetry between capital suppliers and minimising transaction costs and financing constraints (Nie et al., 2021), as well as promoting big data technological innovation. Third, HCAP is positive at the 1% level, indicating that human resources significantly contribute to big data technological innovation (Bian et al., 2019) and play a positive role in big data technological innovation. Fourth, the regression coefficient of PFDI is not significant, which statistically implies that it is difficult to reject the coefficient of foreign direct investments is zero. So, this suggests that foreign direct investment (FDI) does not yet have a significant impact on big data technological innovation.

Robustness check

Endogenous treatment

The above discussion presents Taoism as a factor that promotes big data technological innovation. Taoist thoughts have a long history (Yang et al., 2019), making it difficult for big data technological innovation to influence Taoist thoughts. However, the proliferation of Taoist thoughts (TAO) may still be endogenous due to measurement errors or unobservable factors. This study adopts the methodologies of Chen et al. (2023a). We use the mean proliferation of Taoist thoughts in other cities during the same year to derive ivTAO as the instrumental variable. The presence of these thoughts in other cities reduces the likelihood of their influencing big data technology innovation in the studied city, thereby ensuring that ivTAO meets the exogeneity requirements. Simultaneously, the proliferation of Taoist thoughts in each city may be affected by measurement errors or unobservable factors. ivTAO is related to TAO and satisfies relevance requirements. The instrumental variable method (IV) is used to re-estimate Eq. (1). The Cragg–Donald–Wald F-statistic for the weak instrumental variable test is 2024.145, significantly exceeding the critical value of 16.38 at a 10% significance level. This ensures that ivTAO met the criteria of the non-weak instrumental variable test.

Column (1) of Table 4 presents the results obtained from using IV to estimate Eq. (1). To address endogeneity concerns, all control variables are lagged by one period, using IV. Column (2) of Table 4 further displays the results. The findings in Columns (1) and (2) indicate that the coefficients for the proliferation of Taoist thoughts (TAO) are positive at the 1% significance level. Therefore, excluding the effects of endogeneity, it can be concluded that Taoist thoughts are conducive to big data technological innovation, supporting the validity of H1.

Table 4 Robustness check of Eq. (1).
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Other robustness tests

By replacing the dependent variable with rDTCH, Eq. (1) is re-estimated, and the result is presented in Column (3) of Table 4. By replacing the independent variable with rTAO, Eq. (1) is re-estimated, and the results are provided in Column (4) of Table 4. The previous section demonstrated that digital finance and the digital economy promote big data technological innovation. Similarly, the levels of digital financial development (DEFN) and digital economic development level (DECO) also play significant roles. This section discusses the roles of DEFN and DECO, and presents the re-estimation of Eq. (1). The results are presented in Column (5) of Table 4. These results all indicate that hypothesis H1 is valid.

Mechanism test

The previous section demonstrated that Taoist thoughts positively influence digital finance and the digital economy. This study utilises the methodologies of Chen et al. (2022a) and Wen and Ye (2014) to establish the following equations for the mechanism test:

$${DTC}{H}_{{it}}={\alpha }_{0}+{\beta }_{1}{{\times }}{{TAO}}_{i}+{\boldsymbol{\eta }}{{\times }}{\boldsymbol{X}}+{\alpha }_{t}+{\lambda }_{{ik}}+{\varepsilon }_{{it}}$$
(2)
$${M}_{{it}}={\alpha }_{0}+\gamma {{\times }}{{TAO}}_{i}+{\boldsymbol{\varphi }}{{\times }}{{\boldsymbol{X}}}_{{\bf{1}}}+{\alpha }_{t}+{\lambda }_{{ik}}+{\varepsilon }_{{it}}$$
(3)
$${DTC}{H}_{{it}}={\alpha }_{0}+{\beta }_{1}{{\times }}{{TAO}}_{i}+\delta {{\times }}{M}_{{it}}{\boldsymbol{+}}{\boldsymbol{\eta }}{{\times }}{\boldsymbol{X}}+{\alpha }_{t}+{\lambda }_{{ik}}+{\varepsilon }_{{it}}$$
(4)

Mit represents the intermediary variables in this model: DEFN and DECO.

Regarding the level of DEFN, this study draws upon the methodologies of Ma and Hu (2022) and uses the Peking University Digital Inclusive Finance Composite Index as a proxy variable. To ensure dimensional consistency, DEFN is calculated by dividing the Peking University Digital Inclusive Finance Composite Index by 100.

Regarding the development of DECO, we established an indicator system called the City Digital Economy Development Index System (Table 5). The procedure is as follows: we collect data from various cities through the State Administration for Market Supervision and Administration. Subsequently, we employ factor analysis to calculate each city’s digital economy development index score, scoreo. Then, DECO is calculated as a proxy variable for the digital economy development using the natural logarithm of 1 plus scoreo.

Table 5 The City Digital Economy Development Index System.
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The test procedure is as follows: First, Eq. (2) is estimated. The significant coefficient, β1, for the proliferation of Taoist thoughts, (TAOi) indicates that Taoist thoughts have a profound impact on big data technological innovation. We can conduct a subsequent analysis; otherwise, it creates a masking effect. Second, Eq. (3) is used to observe the influence of Taoist thoughts on the intermediary variables. Third, Eq. (4) provides the estimated significant coefficients, \(\gamma\) in Eq. (3) and δ in Eq. (4), indicating that an intermediary effect exists. Fourth, the mediation effect must be determined, using the Sobel test, if either \(\gamma\) in Eq. (3) or δ in Eq. (4) is significant.

X in Eqs. (2) and (4) is the same as in Eq. (1). X1 in Eq. (3) is another variable that affects the mediating variables. Given the close similarity between digital economic innovation and digital financial innovation, this study reviews existing literature (Bian et al., 2019) and controls for key factors, including economic development, technology expenditure, financial development, industrial structure, FDI, and human capital.

The impact of digital finance

Panel A of Table 6 reports the results obtained from using DEFN as the intermediary variable and estimating Eqs. (2–4) in Columns (1)–(3). The findings reveal that Taoist thoughts can enhance digital finance, thereby promoting big data technological innovations and establishing H2.

Table 6 Estimation results of the digital finance effect.
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As for the estimation of Eq. (3), based on the reasons stated in section ‘Endogenous treatment’, it is challenging to find a two-way causality between digital finance and Taoist thoughts. Similarly, the estimation of Eq. (3) may lead to the endogenous proliferation of Taoist thoughts (TAO) due to measurement errors or unobservable factors. Column (4) in Panel A of Table 6 shows the results obtained by using ivTAO as the instrumental variable and re-estimating Eq. (3), using IV. Column (3) in Panel A of Table 6 indicates that digital finance promotes big data technological innovation. However, big data technological innovation serves as a technical driver of digital finance and also promotes its development. Thus, big data technological innovation and digital finance are mutually causal, rendering DEFN endogenous. The results presented in Column (5) in panel A of Table 6 are obtained using ivDEFN, derived in the same manner as ivTAO, as the instrumental variable. Both ivTAO and IV are used to re-estimate Eq. (4). This outcome shows that the digital finance effect exists without endogeneity, confirming that H2 is both reasonable and robust.

rDTCH is used as the dependent variable, and Eqs. (2–4) are re-estimated according to the methodology described above. The results are presented in Panel B of Table 6. When rTAO is used as an independent variable, the results are shown in panel C of Table 6. Both Panels B and C indicate that Taoist thoughts can promote the development of digital finance, which, in turn, promotes big data technological innovation. Therefore, H2 is both reasonable and robust.

The impact of the digital economy

Referring to 6.1, we re-estimated Eqs. (2–4) with the DECO as the intermediary variable and the results are shown in Table 7. All results in Table 7 indicate that H3 is reasonable and robust.

Table 7 Estimation results of the effect of digital finance.
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Discussion

Taoist leadership can nurture pro-environmental attitudes and green behaviours among employees (Xing and Starik, 2017). Zhang et al. (2022) confirm that Taoist thoughts have a direct positive effect on employees’ low-carbon behaviour, while Lou et al. (2022) argue that Taoist thoughts can directly influence residents’ intentions to actively sort waste. The findings of this study are consistent with the conclusions of Gorodnichenko and Roland (2017), Henrich (2000), Li et al. (2013), Lou et al.(2022), Xing and Starik (2017), and Zhang et al. (2022).

Innovation activities, such as big data technological innovation, involve substantial capital investment requirements and inherent risks (Nie et al., 2021; Chen et al., 2022a). These endeavours often require external financial support. Digital finance facilitates credit access for more loan applicants (Li et al., 2021), thereby promoting big data technological innovation. Our conclusions are consistent with those of Chen et al. (2022a) and Nie et al. (2021), providing evidence for the necessity of investment and the inevitable risks associated with implementing big data technological innovations. The digital economy is the result of the profound interpenetration of big data, technological innovation, and other innovations within the economic sphere. The advancement of big data technological innovation serves to facilitate the growth of the digital economy (Chen et al., 2022; Cheng et al., 2023; Chen et al., 2024). Our study has identified that Taoist thoughts can facilitate the advancement of big data technological innovation. As evidenced in the extant literature, Taoist thoughts can also stimulate the growth of the digital economy. This finding aligns with the conclusions of previous studies (Chen et al., 2022; Cheng et al., 2023; Chen et al., 2024). However, a distinctive aspect of our study is that it has also demonstrated that the expansion of the digital economy can, in turn, drive the development of big data technological innovation.

Several theoretical implications can be drawn from the findings of this research. First, previous literature has examined the factors influencing technological innovation (e.g. Cui and Wang, 2023; Jiang and Xu, 2023; Wen et al., 2023), but it has given limited attention to the factors affecting its implementation. This study examines the influence of Taoist thoughts on big data technological innovation and its mechanisms, providing supporting evidence for these influencing factors. Second, this study contributes to the relevant literature by highlighting the positive influence of Taoist thoughts on advancing technological innovation. Previous research has examined this influence (e.g. Xiong and Ju, 2023; Sun et al., 2023) but has not investigated its impact on big data technological innovation. This study explores the influence and mechanisms of Taoist thoughts on big data technological innovation, thereby contributing to the literature on the positive effects of Taoism on contemporary lives. Third, Cao and Li (2022), Chen et al. (2023), Lou et al. (2022), Xing and Starik (2017), and Zhang et al. (2022) used statistical analysis methods to examine the social and economic impact of Taoist thoughts. However, only Chen et al. (2023) specifically examined the economic implications of Taoist thoughts at the city level. This study further explores the influence of Taoist thoughts on big data technological innovation at the city level, thereby broadening the scope of research in this area.

This study should be preliminary groundwork for further research., Taoist thoughts may play a broader role in addressing climate change. The role of Taoist thoughts in addressing climate change is a significant topic that requires further exploration. This study finds that Taoist thoughts can help shape perceptions conducive to tackling climate change. By advocating for the unity of heaven and humanity, Taoism emphasises the importance of harmonious coexistence between humans and the natural environment. This approach posits that humans are part of nature and can only survive and develop by living in harmony with nature (Chan and Lau, 2000; Wang and Juslin, 2009). This suggests that Taoist thoughts may play a broader role in addressing climate change and promoting big data technological innovation.

Climate-friendly technological innovation can be used to combat climate change. So, a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods could be employed to explore the impact of Taoist thoughts on climate-friendly technological innovation. While we are not there yet, there are positive developments that are in the works that will make it easier to track climate change and follow it. Specifically speaking, the European Patent Office (EPO) and the United States Patent Office (USPTO) have jointly released the Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC), in which the Y02 classification is defined as technologies for mitigating or adapting to climate change. In the future, the number of patent applications and the number of authorisations under the Y02 classification in each city can be collected on the basis of theoretical analysis. This will enable the construction of proxy variables of climate-friendly technological innovation, which can then be used to quantitatively study the influence of Taoist thoughts on climate-friendly technological innovation.

Moreover, Chinese financial enterprises are implementing climate finance innovation to help traditional brick-and-mortar businesses address climate change. Since these initiatives also require continuous testing and may involve innovation failures, Taoist thoughts could also influence the climate finance innovations of financial enterprises. The existing literature has primarily focused on the economic impacts of climate finance from the perspective of international climate aid finance (Leal et al., 2023; Lee et al., 2022; Zhao et al., 2022). There is a paucity of literature that explores the issue of the influencing factors of a country’s own independent development of climate finance. Based on the data on climate-friendly technological innovation and synthesising other data, constructing a climate finance development index to study the impact of Taoist thoughts on climate finance is a future research direction.

This study has some limitations. Specifically, it can be demonstrated that digital finance is not without measurement error. In the absence of comprehensive data on the level of digital finance development in China, this study makes reference to the practices of Ma and Hu (2022) and employs the Peking University Digital Inclusive Finance Composite Index as a proxy variable of digital finance. This is the standard methodology employed by scholars when examining digital finance issues in China. Digital inclusive finance represents a pivotal aspect of digital finance, yet a disparity persists between digital inclusive finance and digital finance. Consequently, the measurement of digital finance in this study may be subject to a certain degree of bias if components of digital finance beyond digital financial inclusion are taken into account. The influence of Taoist principles on digital finance may be more or less pronounced.

So, constructing a more comprehensive digital finance index for empirical analysis could advance the research. In the field of digital finance, the extant literature employs two primary methods for constructing proxy variables. The first method utilises the Peking University Digital Inclusive Finance Composite Index, while the second employs keyword frequency. However, both of these approaches have limitations. The former is unable to fully reflect the nuances of digital finance, while the latter often struggles to accurately capture the actual level of digital finance, particularly in the presence of noise. Future research directions include designing a digital finance index system based on the annual report data of all banks, securities companies, and insurance companies in China. This would involve combining the number of patent applications and authorisations of digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and big data, generating index weights using the objective assignment method, constructing a city-level digital finance development index, and conducting an in-depth study of the influence of Taoist thoughts on digital finance.

Conclusion

Data is a new type of production factor that significantly impacts the transformation of traditional modes of production. China is promoting data as one of the key factors driving its economic development, necessitating innovation in big data technology. The Chinese populace, shaped by Taoist thoughts—particularly the philosophy of Wu Wei is motivated to adopt a proactive approach to developing innovative big data technologies. This sense of freedom stimulates creativity and may consequently influence big data technological innovation. However, whether Taoist thoughts can promote big data technological innovation still warrants further research. This study investigates the promotion of big data technological innovation for economic development in China and developing countries, employing the positive PsyCap theory and econometric methods.

Theoretical analyses demonstrate that Taoist thoughts have the capacity to enhance individuals’ self-confidence in promoting big data technological innovation, strengthen their hope for big data technological innovation, encourage them to remain optimistic when engaging in big data technological innovation, and strengthen their psychological resilience in the face of failure in big data technological innovation. Therefore, Taoist thoughts have the potential to promote big data technological innovation. Furthermore, the influence of Taoist thoughts on the psychological characteristics of the Chinese populace is such that it also contributes to the development of digital finance and digital economy, which in turn promotes big data technological innovation.

The empirical results provide support for the conclusion of the theoretical analysis that Taoist thoughts can indeed promote big data technological innovation. It can be concluded from the empirical results that there is a positive correlation between the Taoist thoughts in a city and the level of big data technological innovation. Furthermore, the empirical results suggest that Taoist thoughts promote the development of digital finance and digital economy, which in turn promote further progress in big data technological innovation.

Practical implications drawn from the present study are as follows: First, the findings of this study offer a novel perspective for policymakers. The issue of green and low-carbon development represents a significant concern for policymakers. Technological innovation by brick-and-mortar enterprises and digital financial innovation by financial institutions are pivotal to the advancement of low-carbon green development. Such innovations frequently entail a process of continual testing. The findings of this study indicate that Taoist thoughts can facilitate the engagement of innovators in iterative testing. Consequently, policymakers may wish to consider introducing the core concepts of Taoist thoughts through cultural exchanges and other forms as a means of promoting technological and digital financial innovation within their own countries or regions, thereby facilitating the realisation of low-carbon green development. Second, the findings of this study present a novel option for enterprises. Technological innovation and digital financial innovation are the keys for brick-and-mortar and financial enterprises to gain a competitive advantage and grow stronger, respectively. Both types of innovation rely on increased work engagement from employees in both types of enterprises. Our study finds that Taoist thoughts are conducive to increasing employees’ positive PsyCap, which can motivate employees to increase their work engagement. Therefore, both brick-and-mortar and financial enterprises can incorporate Taoist thoughts into their enterprise cultures to enhance the positive PsyCap of their employees. Finally, our research provides support for developing countries seeking to transform their economic development models in response to climate change. Technology-driven models can reduce carbon emissions (Saxena et al., 2024). So, developing countries should shift from scale-driven to technology-driven economic development models. This study finds that Taoist thoughts can support enterprises in implementing big data technological innovations. Consequently, promoting Taoist thoughts could help developing countries transform their economic development models.