A study on the path of improving the performance of China’s provincial circular economy—An empirical study based on the fsQCA method

Abstract

Circular economy is an important trend in the development of the world economy. The establishment of a sound green and low-carbon circular economy system is an important way and method for China to promote sustainable development. Based on the Technology-Organization-Environment (TOE) framework, this paper investigates the linkage effects of technological, organizational, and environmental conditions on the performance of the circular economy and their configuration paths using the fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis method (fsQCA) with 30 provincial-level circular economy development levels in China as a case study. The study found that: 1) China’s circular economy performance in 2019 shows regional differences of “high in the east, medium in the centre and low in the west,” and there are also imbalances in development between different dimensions. 2) There is no single necessary condition that affects the circular economy, but rather the result of the combined influence of multiple condition variables. And the combination of different conditions has the characteristic of “different ways and the same way”. 3) There are obvious differentiations in the performance-driven paths of circular economy in eastern, central and western regions of China. Based on the research results, policy recommendations are provided for the development of China’s circular economy to promote the balanced development of the circular economy in the east, central and west.