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Against the background of actively promoting the reform of mixed ownership in China, this study regards government ownership in private sector enterprises (PSEs) as an important political connection mechanism and examines private holding listed companies in high-polluting industries that sold China A-shares from 2012 to 2019.

Using regression models such as Tobit and negative binomial estimation, the research empirically examines the impact of government ownership in PSEs on the corporate fulfillment of their environmental responsibilities.

Government ownership can effectively promote PSEs to fulfill their environmental responsibilities. Government ownership, as a corporate-level political connection mechanism, enables the government to provide firms with more environmental protection subsidies and environmental tax incentives, encouraging firms to fulfill their environmental responsibilities. When considering the policy risks faced by PSEs, government ownership effectively reduces the impact of policy uncertainty on firms’ fulfillment of environmental responsibilities. Additionally, verifying the economic development level of the city in which the firm is located makes the positive impact of government ownership on fulfillment of environmental responsibilities of PSEs in regions with lower economic development levels more significant.

Unlike existing studies that generally use the personal political identity of entrepreneurs to measure the political connections of PSEs, this study regards government ownership in PSEs as an important political connection mechanism. It provides a useful reference for China to formulate environmental protection policies for PSEs.

The purpose of this paper is to examine whether substantial differences in institutional environment in China lead to different levels of demand for political connection.

Using a data set of 296 listed private sector enterprises (PSEs) in China, the authors empirically investigate the effects of institutional environmental factors upon political connection.

The authors find that the lower the level of regional property right protection, the more powerful the government intervention, and the slower the economic development, the more motivated the PSEs were to build relationship with the government via partial state ownership. However, the degree of local corruption was not correlated with the demand for political connection. The authors also find that partial state ownership in PSEs exerted a positive effect on performance.

Deviating from previous literature that has been mostly concerned about the economic consequences to firms caused by political connections, this paper examines the reasons for political connection among Chinese PSEs. The authors introduce a new dimension of political connection, namely, partial state ownership in PSEs.

This study aims to assess the mediating and driving roles of knowledge cooperation in the effectiveness of G60 Sci-tech Innovation Corridor (G60 STIC) for regional collaborative innovation within the knowledge economy context. Furthermore, it focuses on whether knowledge cooperation is more effective than resource cooperation in terms of spatial spillover and its mediating effects on collaborative innovation.

This study employs multiple statistical and econometric approaches, including social cooperation network, Super-DEA, spatial difference-in-difference model (SDID) and mediating effect model, to measure the effectiveness of knowledge cooperation and resource cooperation paths within the framework of the G60 STIC on regional collaborative innovation in the Yangtze River Delta region (YRD) from 2002 to 2022.

First, the knowledge cooperation networks validate the strengthening of collaborative innovation is primarily centred on provincial cities and leading manufacturing locales, with smaller cities radiating outwards from these centres. The knowledge cooperation network was generally stronger than the resource cooperation network. Second, the G60 STIC significantly enhances collaborative innovation efficiency by intensifying knowledge, resource and interactive cooperation networks. Third, within the context of the knowledge economy, knowledge cooperation presents a stronger spillover and mediating effect in stimulating collaborative innovation than resource cooperation.

This study clarifies the existence of a knowledge cooperation network and its mediating role in stimulating the effectiveness of strategic, innovative platforms on collaborative innovation. This further verifies the stronger role of the knowledge cooperation than the resource cooperation, which serves as a vital element in promoting strategic innovative platforms to optimise collaborative innovation.