Pathways to low-carbon rural tourism: entrepreneurial agency and configurational drivers under China’s Dual Carbon goals

Rural tourism represents a critical frontier for advancing China’s "Dual Carbon" goals, yet the micro-foundations of its low-carbon transformation— particularly the role of entrepreneurial agency—remain undertheorized. Existing studies have predominantly focused on macro-level policies, often overlooking the nuanced processes through which grassroots operators navigate institutional pressures, resource constraints, and market demands to enact sustainable change.Employing a sequential mixed-methods design that integrates grounded theory and fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA), this study examines 15 rural tourism entrepreneurs in Anji County, Zhejiang Province—a national model of ecological development. The grounded theory analysis reveals an interwoven triad of agency—endogenous driving forces, external empowerment, and innovative development—that forms the basis of the transition. Building on these insights, the fsQCA identifies three equifinal pathways to high low-carbon transformation performance: L1 (policy-driven), anchored in regulatory compliance and economic incentives; L2 (system-integration), characterized by comprehensive operational greening across accommodation, dining, and waste management; and L3 (innovation-led), centered on experiential value creation through circular design and guest engagement. All pathways feature economic benefits as a reinforcing mechanism, yet differ fundamentally in their reliance on awareness, support structures, and innovation. Low-carbon transformation in rural tourism does not follow a one-size-fits-all prescription; rather, it emerges from context-specific configurations of conditions. The findings highlight the centrality of heterogeneous entrepreneurial logics and call for differentiated policy support tailored to distinct operator profiles. By integrating institutional theory, the multi-level perspective, and livelihood approaches, this study advances a nuanced understanding of agency in sustainability transitions. This work contributes to a comprehensive, policy-relevant understanding of the global carbon cycle by revealing how grassroots entrepreneurial configurations can serve as intervention points for decarbonizing the tourism sector—a critical yet underexplored component of China’s carbon balance. The findings offer transferable insights for scaling low-carbon practices in rural tourism under China’s carbon neutrality agenda and beyond.