Industrial design and green digital transformation in small and medium-sized enterprises: A configurational analysis

This study examines how configurations of industrial design-related conditions are associated with high green digital transformation (GDT) among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Drawing on the technology–­organization–environment framework, this study classifies six industrial design-related conditions under the technological, organizational and environmental dimensions and examines how they combine using fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis. With support from the SME Bureau and the Industrial Culture Development Centre under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, this study conducted a questionnaire survey using purposive sampling and obtained 470 valid responses from SMEs across 24 provincial-level regions in China. The analysis identifies two principal pathways associated with high GDT: a design innovation-driven pathway and a design policy-enabling pathway. It also identifies a supplementary pathway based on external design cooperation. These findings suggest that high GDT is associated with different alignments of technological, organizational and environmental conditions.