Digital Technologies Empowering Regional Resilience Construction: Measuring Effectiveness and Testing Mechanisms

Digital technology serves as a key driver in the development of a modern governance system for regional resilience. Drawing on panel data covering 31 Chinese provinces from 2012 to 2023, this study empirically examines the impact of digital technology on regional resilience and explores its underlying transmission mechanisms. The results reveal a significant positive correlation between digital technology and the level of regional resilience governance, a finding that remains robust after addressing endogeneity concerns and a series of robustness checks. Mechanism analysis suggests that digital technology indirectly contributes to enhancing regional resilience governance through three transmission mechanisms: stimulating technological innovation, unlocking the talent dividend, and facilitating industrial structure upgrading. Heterogeneity analysis further reveals that the effect of digital technology on regional resilience is more pronounced in less economically developed areas and in the central and western regions of China. With respect to the sub-dimensions of digital technology, digital factor support and the scale of the digital economy exert particularly strong positive effects on regional resilience. Building on these findings, this study recommends that future efforts to strengthen regional resilience should fully harness the platform advantages of digital technology and capitalize on its transmission mechanisms. Policies promoting digital technology and resilience-building should be tailored to local conditions, thereby advancing the development of a more advanced regional resilience governance system.