A Configurational Pathway Analysis of Digital Economy and Green Technology Innovation
- 1 School of Economics and Management, Wenzhou University of Technology, Zhejiang, China
Abstract
Green technological innovation is essential for promoting high-quality regional economic growth. The digital economy, characterized by penetration, integration, and sustainability, significantly enhances the efficiency of green innovation. However, existing research has largely focused on singular aspects of green development, overlooking comprehensive configurational analyses and the varied development pathways of cities. This gap hinders the identification of optimal and suboptimal strategies. To examine the configurational effects and driving mechanisms of urban digital economy development within the context of green technological innovation, 25 cities in the Jiangsu-Zhejiang-Shanghai region were selected as the research sample. Four key dimensions were analyzed: digital infrastructure, digital information development, digital innovation, and digital inclusive finance. The fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) method was employed, and multiple high-efficiency configurational pathways among these cities were identified. Significant variation in the core and auxiliary conditions of these pathways was observed, underscoring the importance of multidimensional synergies in the digital economy as a driving force for enhancing the efficiency of green technological innovation. It was found that the relationship between digital economy development and green technological innovation is complex, with no single factor driving the prosperity of green innovation. Two high-efficiency pathways for green technological innovation were identified: the “information infrastructure-financial inclusion” pathway and the multi-factor integrated driving models of “information-innovation-inclusion”. Constructive recommendations were provided for cities with high-efficiency and low-efficiency pathways to enhance green innovation outcomes.
- Cui, B., Liu, Y., & Wu, J. (2023). Digital Economy, Green Technology Innovation and Carbon Reduction Effect. In Proceedings of the 2023 2nd International Conference on Artificial Intelligence, Internet and Digital Economy (ICAID 2023) (pp. 215-224). Atlantis Press International BV. https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6463-222-4_21
- Ding, C., Liu, C., Zheng, C., & Li, F. (2021). Digital Economy, Technological Innovation and High-Quality Economic Development: Based on Spatial Effect and Mediation Effect. Sustainability, 14, Article 216. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14010216
- Faisal, F. F., Muhammad, K., & Ghani, E. K. (2022). The Effect of Innovation in Business Model, Services and Technology on Firm Sustainability: An Examination Using Triple Bottom Line Theory. The Economics and Finance Letters, 9, 170-179. https://doi.org/10.18488/29.v9i2.3095
- Fan, D., & Li, M. (2024). Digital Economy Development and Green Innovation Efficiency from a Two-Stage Innovation Value Chain Perspective. Sustainability, 16, Article 4421. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16114421
- Fu, Y. (2024). Digital Economy and Urban Green Innovation: Empirical Evidence from Chinese Prefecture-Level Cities. Highlights in Business, Economics and Management, 34, 108-121. https://doi.org/10.54097/dfhpnv13
- Peng, G., Meng, F., Ahmed, Z., Oláh, J., & Harsányi, E. (2022). A Path Towards Green Revolution: How Do Environmental Technologies, Political Risk, and Environmental Taxes Influence Green Energy Consumption?. Frontiers in Environmental Science, 10, Article 927333. https://doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2022.927333
- Gao, Y., & Liu, H. (2022). How to Enhance Psychological Security of Enterprise Employees during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Based on MRA and FSQCA. Current Psychology, 43, 14802-14817. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-022-03775-8
- Guo, Y., Xia, X., Zhang, S., & Zhang, D. (2018). Environmental Regulation, Government R&D Funding and Green Technology Innovation: Evidence from China Provincial Data. Sustainability, 10, Article 940. https://doi.org/10.3390/su10040940
- Haller, A., Ștefănică, M., Butnaru, G. I., & Butnaru, R. C. (2023). Climate Neutrality through Economic Growth, Digitalisation, Eco-Innovation and Renewable Energy in European Countries. Kybernetes, 53 , 1250-1280. https://doi.org/10.1108/k-09-2022-1254
- Hao, X., Wen, S., Li, Y., Xu, Y., & Xue, Y. (2022). Can the Digital Economy Development Curb Carbon Emissions? Evidence from China. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, Article 938918. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.938918