Professor Zhang Qunzi’s Team Makes Important Research Progress in the Economic Value of Data Elements

Recently, the team paper The Impact of Data Elements on Enterprise Specialized Division of Labor — Evidence from Local Governments' Establishment of Public Data Open Platforms by Professor Zhang Qunzi’s team was published in Issue 1, 2026 of Accounting Research, an authoritative economics and management journal. This research points out that data elements have a significant promoting effect on enterprise specialized division of labor, which is reflected in the significant improvement of the specialized division of labor level of local enterprises after the launch of local government public data open platforms. Mechanism analysis shows that data elements drive specialized division of labor through dual paths of reducing market transaction costs and institutional transaction costs. Further analysis finds that this effect is more significant in regions with high-quality data element supply, which also confirms that data quality is a key prerequisite for exerting the value of data elements.

In the era of digital economy, data elements have become a new core production factor driving economic development. Exploring the economic and social value of data elements has become an important practical proposition. As a key measure to unblock the circulation of data elements and release the value of data elements, public data opening has a wide and profound impact on economic and social development. Through public data opening, massive government, industrial and market data can be gathered and shared, providing a new channel for enterprises to obtain information and carry out market transactions. This inspires us: transaction cost is a key factor affecting division of labor. Can the supply of data elements brought by public data opening reduce transaction costs and promote division of labor? Based on this, this research focuses on the exogenous impact of public data opening and explores the impact and mechanism of data elements on specialized division of labor.

This research incorporates data elements into the enterprise boundary analysis framework, which not only expands the research on the driving factors of enterprise specialized division of labor but also enriches the research on the social and economic value of data elements, providing empirical evidence for China to further promote the market-oriented allocation of data elements and transform data resource advantages into economic development advantages.