Data element marketization, financial flexibility, and corporate value creation

The marketization of data elements accelerates the release and circulation of data value, enabling enterprises to more easily access and utilize data resources, thereby providing a key driving force for corporate value creation. Using the establishment of data trading platforms as a quasi-natural experiment, this paper employs the difference-in-differences method to empirically examine the impact of data element marketization on corporate value creation. The study reveals that marketization of data elements significantly enhances corporate value creation capabilities, and the conclusions remain robust following robustness and endogeneity tests. Mechanistic analysis indicates that data element marketization improves corporate value creation through enhanced financial flexibility. Heterogeneity analysis demonstrates that this effect is more pronounced in enterprises with low managerial short-termism, high-tech industries, and regions with more developed digital infrastructure. Further analysis shows that logistics standardization can amplify the positive impact of data element marketization on corporate value creation. This research provides decision-making support for governments to optimize data element allocation policies, offering practical significance for high-quality economic development.