Configurational Pathways of Digital Empowerment Enabling Green Technology Innovation Under the TOE Framework

In the context of the global green transition, enhancing regional green technology innovation capabilities through digital empowerment has emerged as a pressing challenge. Grounded in the TOE (Technology-Organization-Environment) framework, this study integrates three dimensions—technological, organizational, and environmental—to empirically investigate the configurational pathways across 30 Chinese provinces using fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA). Key findings reveal: (1) No single condition independently drives high-level green technology innovation, requiring synergistic interactions across multiple dimensions; (2) Three distinct pathways emerge—an industry-oriented with environmental synergy type, a dual-core innovation-finance type, and a multidimensional integration type; (3) Digital innovation capacity, digital industrial clustering, and digital financial ecosystems serve as universal core conditions, while other factors establish adaptive mechanisms through complementary or substitutive relationships. Theoretical contributions are threefold: (1) A configurational TOE framework integrating technological, organizational, and environmental dimensions is proposed, addressing the prior literature's overemphasis on isolated micro-level variables and linear causality; (2) Methodologically, we pioneer the application of fsQCA to decode the synergistic mechanisms of digital empowerment in GTI, overcoming the limitations of conventional regression in capturing nonlinear interactions and equifinality; (3) Contextually, we validate the TOE framework in China’s regional governance context by incorporating localized indicators, offering a reference for developing countries’ sustainability transitions. Practically, this study challenges the "one-size-fits-all" governance paradigm by proposing three differentiated pathways (industry-environment synergy, innovation-finance dual-core, and multidimensional integration), emphasizing adaptive policy portfolios tailored to regional digital maturity.