Table 1 Definitions of variables.

Dependent variables

Big data technology innovation

DTCH

Ln (1 + authorised number of big data technology patents) sourced from Smart Teeth (www.zhihuiya.com)

Bian et al. (2019)

rDTCH

Ln (1 + number of patent applications for big data technology) sourced from Smart Teeth (www.zhihuiya.com)

Independent variables

Proliferation of Taoist thoughts

TAO

Ln (number of Taoist places of worship) sourced from the National Religious Affairs Administration

Chen et al. (2023a), Chen and Zhang (2023),

Yuan (2019)

rTAO

Number of Taoist places of worship normalised and collected from the National Religious Affairs Administration

Control variables

Economic development level

PGDP

Ln (real GDP per capita) (based on 2011 data) collected from the National Bureau of Statistics

Bian et al. (2019), Chen et al. (2022b)

Foreign direct investment

PFDI

FDI/GDP collected from the National Bureau of Statistics

Bian et al. (2019), Chen et al. (2022b), Li and Yang (2019)

Industrial structure level

INSR

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 collected from the National Bureau of Statistics

Chen et al. (2022a), Li and Yang (2019)

Financial development level

FSIZ

Loan balance/GDP, sourced from the National Bureau of Statistics and the People’s Bank of China

Technology expenditure

SCPT

Government budget expenditure on scientific and technological activities/GDP, sourced from the National Bureau of Statistics

Li and Yang (2019)

Human resource level

HCAP

Number of college students/total population collected from the National Bureau of Statistics

Other levels of technological innovation in the city

INNO

(Total number of patent applications the number of non-big data technology patent applications)/total population, sourced from the National Bureau of Statistics

Yao and Wu (2022)