With the deepening of global division of labor in services and the increasing servitization of the economy in China, the service industry has become a critical area for attracting foreign investment. China has placed great emphasis on attracting foreign investment in the service industry, which holds significant practical implications for promoting further opening up of the service industry. In recent years, the Chinese government actively promotes public data access—a crucial driver for unleashing data value, expanding investment opportunities, and fostering high-quality economic growth. This raises critical questions: Can public data access effectively attract foreign investment in the service industry? What are the underlying mechanisms? And are there any heterogeneous effects in this process?

Based on the data from China’s A-share listed companies from 2010 to 2023, this paper utilizes a quasi-natural experiment of city-level public data platform access to examine the causal impact of public data access on foreign investment in the service industry. The results show that public data access significantly promotes the proportion of foreign ownership in service enterprises. Mechanism testing suggests that enhancing the level of the digital economy in cities, entrepreneurial vitality in the service industry, and digital decision-making capability in enterprises constitute the underlying mechanisms through which public data access contributes to foreign investment. Meanwhile, the internationalization level of executive teams positively moderates the impact of public data access. In addition, the positive impact of public data access is more significant in non-information enterprises, productive service industries, and modern service industries. Furthermore, public data access related to public services and economic construction is more conducive to promoting foreign investment in service enterprises.

This paper makes three key contributions: First, it extends the impact of public data access on foreign investment in the service industry, revealing specific mechanisms and providing targeted policy recommendations. Second, it utilizes listed company samples to demonstrate the multidimensional mechanisms of public data access affecting foreign investment, focusing on the level of the digital economy in cities, entrepreneurial vitality in the service industry, and digital decision-making capability in enterprises. Third, it reveals the moderating role of executive team internationalization, the positive role of foreign investment in promoting the upgrading of the service industry, and the heterogeneous effects of different types of enterprises, industries, and themes.