Abstract: With the increasing competition in the market and the rapid changes in the business environment,innovation has become one of the indispensable factors that determine the competitive advantage,return on investment,and long-term development of an organization.The attention that managers allocate to the topic of innovation determines the innovation of the firm. In this paper,based on the Attention-based View of the Firm,we analyze the MD&A sections from the annual reports of all Chinese listed companies from 2009 to 2021.Using the Word2Vec algorithm,we construct a comprehensive and objective innovation dictionary,which allows us to calculate an indicator for top management team attention to innovation (TMTAI) and analyze its impact on corporate innovation inputs and outputs.To explore whether external environments affect the role of TMTAI in corporate innovation,we measure the innovation environment of each province from four aspects:infrastructure,human resources,technology market,and government system.This helps us construct an indicator for the innovation environment and analyze its influence on the relationship between TMTAI and corporate innovation.Lastly,we examine how TMTAI affects corporate performance and the specific mechanisms behind this impact,providing an in-depth understanding of its overall impact on corporate development. Our empirical analyses reveal the following findings:① TMTAI positively impacts corporate innovation inputs,total innovation outputs,substantive innovation outputs,and strategic innovation outputs.② In an innovation-friendly environment,TMTAI has a stronger positive effect on innovation inputs,total innovation outputs,and strategic innovation outputs.However,the enhanced positive impact on substantive innovation outputs is insignificant.This may be because strategic innovation mainly involves improvements in product design,appearance,and usage,which are more susceptible to external support.In contrast,substantive innovation,involving new technologies,methods,or products,relies more on a companys internal technological reserves and innovation capabilities,thus receiving less external support.③ TMTAI positively affects future corporate performance with a lagged effect.Innovation inputs,total innovation outputs,substantive innovation outputs,and strategic innovation outputs partially mediate this impact,with innovation outputs playing a more crucial role in enhancing performance than innovation inputs. Our study has three main innovations compared to previous research:① Using the MD&A text from annual reports,we construct an innovation dictionary via word embedding.This method is more objective,comprehensive,and efficient than manual word selection and has proven more robust.It offers a reference for building attention-related indicators and new ideas for applying machine learning in business research.②Unlike existing literature focusing solely on innovation inputs or outputs,we examine the comprehensive impact of TMTAI on innovation inputs,total innovation outputs,and different innovation outputs.We also explore the role of the innovation environment in the relationship between TMTAI and corporate innovation,providing insights into how external environments can better promote corporate innovation.③ We analyze the impact and mechanisms of TMTAI on corporate performance,expanding research on the economic consequences of TMTAI.