IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v15y2023i15p11929-d1209579.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Research on the Development Level, Spatiotemporal Evolution Characteristics, and Sustainable Development Path of the Digital Business Environment

Author

Listed:
  • Songliang Guo

    (School of Economics and Management, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Beijing 100876, China)

  • Chunhui Yuan

    (School of Economics and Management, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Beijing 100876, China)

  • Xiaolong Li

    (School of Modern Post, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Beijing 100876, China)

Abstract

This paper aims to measure the development level and dynamic evolutionary characteristics of the digital business environment, and explore its sustainable development strategies, which would contribute to the sustainable development of the digital economy. This study employs ecosystem theory to construct evaluation indicators for the digital business environment. Utilizing panel data from 272 cities in China between 2011 and 2020, the study applies the entropy weight method to measure the development level of China’s digital business environment. It further examines the spatiotemporal evolution characteristics and sustainable development strategy of the digital business environment using methods such as kernel density estimation, Markov chain analysis, Moran’s I index analysis, Dagum’s Gini coefficient calculation and decomposition, and fsQCA analysis. The results indicate that the digital business environment steadily increased during the study period. Furthermore, there has been a gradual acceleration in the upward trend since 2017, with a higher probability of transition from cities with lower levels of the digital business environment to neighboring cities with higher levels. Cities with higher development levels are experiencing an increasing gap compared to the average level. There is a significant spatial positive autocorrelation in the efficiency of the digital business environment among Chinese cities, exhibiting a distribution pattern of “high-high” and “low-low” in spatial terms. Dagum’s Gini coefficient reveals that the regional differences serve as the primary source of spatial distribution disparities in the digital business environment, and there are four configuration paths to promote a sustainable digital business environment. Moreover, our findings have implications for policy makers, such as increasing investment in digital infrastructure, leveraging the spatial spillover effects of regions with a high level of digital business environment development, and enhancing the diffusion mechanism for optimizing the digital business environment.

Suggested Citation

  • Songliang Guo & Chunhui Yuan & Xiaolong Li, 2023. "Research on the Development Level, Spatiotemporal Evolution Characteristics, and Sustainable Development Path of the Digital Business Environment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(15), pages 1-31, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:15:p:11929-:d:1209579
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/15/11929/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/15/11929/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Shuming Ren & Lianqing Li & Yueqi Han & Yu Hao & Haitao Wu, 2022. "The emerging driving force of inclusive green growth: Does digital economy agglomeration work?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(4), pages 1656-1678, May.
    2. Hanisch, Marvin & Goldsby, Curtis M. & Fabian, Nicolai E. & Oehmichen, Jana, 2023. "Digital governance: A conceptual framework and research agenda," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    3. Straathof, Sebastiaan M., 2007. "Shannon's entropy as an index of product variety," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 94(2), pages 297-303, February.
    4. Christian Hildebrand & Anouk Bergner, 2021. "Conversational robo advisors as surrogates of trust: onboarding experience, firm perception, and consumer financial decision making," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 49(4), pages 659-676, July.
    5. Verhoef, Peter C. & Broekhuizen, Thijs & Bart, Yakov & Bhattacharya, Abhi & Qi Dong, John & Fabian, Nicolai & Haenlein, Michael, 2021. "Digital transformation: A multidisciplinary reflection and research agenda," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 889-901.
    6. Shaheer, Noman Ahmed & Li, Sali, 2020. "The CAGE around cyberspace? How digital innovations internationalize in a virtual world," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 35(1).
    7. Magistretti, Stefano & Dell’Era, Claudio & Messeni Petruzzelli, Antonio, 2019. "How intelligent is Watson? Enabling digital transformation through artificial intelligence," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 62(6), pages 819-829.
    8. Müller, Julian Marius & Buliga, Oana & Voigt, Kai-Ingo, 2018. "Fortune favors the prepared: How SMEs approach business model innovations in Industry 4.0," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 2-17.
    9. Estevão, João & Lopes, José Dias & Penela, Daniela & Soares, José Miguel, 2020. "The Doing Business ranking and the GDP. A qualitative study," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 435-442.
    10. Martins, João & Veiga, Linda Gonçalves, 2022. "Digital government as a business facilitator," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    11. Stav Fainshmidt & Michael A Witt & Ruth V Aguilera & Alain Verbeke, 2020. "The contributions of qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) to international business research," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 51(4), pages 455-466, June.
    12. Sutherland, Will & Jarrahi, Mohammad Hossein, 2018. "The sharing economy and digital platforms: A review and research agenda," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 328-341.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Junping Yang & Ruiqi Wu & Haochun Yang, 2023. "Digital Transformation and Enterprise Sustainability: The Moderating Role of Regional Virtual Agglomeration," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-21, May.
    2. Ancillai, Chiara & Sabatini, Andrea & Gatti, Marco & Perna, Andrea, 2023. "Digital technology and business model innovation: A systematic literature review and future research agenda," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 188(C).
    3. Qiao, Penghua & Liu, Siting & Fung, Hung-Gay & Wang, Chen, 2024. "Corporate green innovation in a digital economy," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 870-883.
    4. Qiao, Penghua & Chang, Ming & Zeng, Yuping, 2024. "The influence of digitalization on SMEs’ OFDI in emerging countries," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 177(C).
    5. Feng, Yanchao & Liu, Gaoxiang & Meng, Xiangxu & Jiang, Kai & Huang, Rongbing & Zhang, Ci & Shi, Jiaxin & Pan, Yuxi, 2024. "How does digital government affect carbon intensity at the global level? New perspective of resource allocation optimization," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    6. Merín-Rodrigáñez, Joan & Dasí, Àngels & Alegre, Joaquín, 2024. "Digital transformation and firm performance in innovative SMEs: The mediating role of business model innovation," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    7. Xinfeng Chang & Jian Su & Zihe Yang, 2022. "The Effect of Digital Economy on Urban Green Transformation—An Empirical Study Based on the Yangtze River Delta City Cluster in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-19, October.
    8. Annosi, Maria Carmela & Capo, Francesca & Appio, Francesco Paolo & Bedetti, Ivan, 2023. "Unveiling micro-foundations of digital transformation: Cognitive models, routines, and organizational structures in agri-food SMEs," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 197(C).
    9. Radicic, Dragana & Petković, Saša, 2023. "Impact of digitalization on technological innovations in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    10. Feliciano-Cestero, María M. & Ameen, Nisreen & Kotabe, Masaaki & Paul, Justin & Signoret, Mario, 2023. "Is digital transformation threatened? A systematic literature review of the factors influencing firms’ digital transformation and internationalization," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    11. Xue, Yan & Chen, Li & Feng, Zhiying & Huang, Yunying, 2024. "Breaking the resource curse: Heterogeneous effects of digital government," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    12. Franzè, Claudia & Paolucci, Emilio & Pessot, Elena, 2024. "Sustained value creation driven by digital connectivity: A multiple case study in the mechanical components industry," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    13. Bhandari, Krishna Raj & Zámborský, Peter & Ranta, Mikko & Salo, Jari, 2023. "Digitalization, internationalization, and firm performance: A resource-orchestration perspective on new OLI advantages," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 32(4).
    14. Marino-Romero, Jorge Alberto & Palos-Sánchez, Pedro R. & Velicia-Martín, Félix, 2024. "Evolution of digital transformation in SMEs management through a bibliometric analysis," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 199(C).
    15. Samuli Laato & Matti Mäntymäki & A. K.M. Najmul Islam & Sami Hyrynsalmi & Teemu Birkstedt, 2023. "Trends and Trajectories in the Software Industry: implications for the future of work," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 25(2), pages 929-944, April.
    16. Gillani, Fatima & Chatha, Kamran Ali & Jajja, Shakeel Sadiq & Cao, Dongmei & Ma, Xiao, 2024. "Unpacking Digital Transformation: Identifying key enablers, transition stages and digital archetypes," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 203(C).
    17. Xiaoyan Teng & Zhong Wu & Feng Yang, 2022. "Research on the Relationship between Digital Transformation and Performance of SMEs," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-17, May.
    18. Cicchiello, Antonella Francesca & Pietronudo, Maria Cristina & Perdichizzi, Salvatore & Cheng, Yue, 2024. "Does a rising tide lift all boats? An empirical analysis of the relationship between country digitalization and low-tech SMEs performance," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 207(C).
    19. María-Luz Martín-Peña & Pablo Cabanelas Lorenzo & Natanya Meyer, 2024. "Digital platforms and business ecosystems: a multidisciplinary approach for new and sustainable business models," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 18(9), pages 2465-2482, September.
    20. Linlin Fan & Jinghua Ou & Gongyan Yang & Shujie Yao, 2024. "Digitalization and outward foreign direct investment of Chinese listed firms," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(2), pages 604-634, May.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:15:p:11929-:d:1209579. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.