Configural Pathways of Digital Empowerment for Green Innovation: Evidence from China

Against the backdrop of sustainable development, green innovation is a strategic choice to achieve the dual goals of economic growth and environmental protection. Using panel data of enterprises from 31 provincial-level regions in China from 2011 to 2022, this study explores the synergistic configuration effects of digital finance, digital transformation, digital infrastructure, and executives' digital background on regional green innovation from a configurational perspective using fsQCA. The findings reveal that digital finance is the most critical condition, as high levels of regional green innovation are largely inseparable from it. Four pathways to enhancing regional green innovation are identified, including a capital-driven path and a multi-factor combination path for green innovation invention patents, as well as a capital-driven path and a dual-element path for green utility model patents. For green innovation invention patents, high-level digital finance is the most significant promoting factor, while digital transformation and executives’ digital background require high levels in the multi-factor combination path, but no high-level requirement is observed for digital infrastructure in either path. For green utility model patents, digital finance remains the most significant factor, while executives’ digital background plays a certain role in the dual-element path, and neither digital transformation nor digital infrastructure shows high-level requirements. This study investigates the coupling effects of multiple factors and how various digital forms of enterprises influence regional green innovation levels, providing a novel perspective and pathway for green innovation development in regions with low overall digitalization levels and resource-constrained small and medium-sized enterprises.