Multiple Paths to Green Building Popularization Under the TOE Framework—A Qualitative Comparative Analysis of Fuzzy Sets Based on 26 Chinese Cities

Green buildings are a crucial element in achieving sustainable development. The use of green buildings can save energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Promoting the widespread adoption of green buildings has become a significant concern in many countries or regions. Although previous studies have identified a range of key factors influencing the promotion of green buildings, further analysis of the combination of these critical factors needs to be conducted. Therefore, based on the technology–organization–environment (TOE) framework, this study utilizes the fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) method to analyze survey data from 26 cities in China, resulting in four high-level configuration paths for the widespread adoption of green buildings. The results indicate that (1) achieving high levels of widespread adoption of green buildings does not depend on any single factor; instead, it relies on the collaborative interaction of multiple elements across technological, organizational, and environmental dimensions; (2) the potential substitution relationships between conditional variables among different configurations within the TOE framework indicate that science and technology expenditure and gross domestic product play more significant roles in the path combinations for the promotion of green buildings; (3) through the study of the substitutive relationships of four configuration paths, it was found that when a city faces challenges in the widespread adoption of green buildings, such as an insufficient number of green building technology patents or underdeveloped green finance incentive systems, it can still achieve efficient green building adoption by formulating corresponding policies and enhancing cultural value guidance for groups like developers, contractors, and consumers. Conversely, the same is true. This paper explores the combination of critical factors in green building adoption, providing insights into addressing the differing foundational conditions of cities in the process.