A Study on the Measurement and Evolutionary Dynamics of Resilience in the Construction Industry Ecosystem: A Mixed Method Analysis Based on Cusp Catastrophe Model and fsQCA

Against the background of profound transformation within the construction industry, the construction industry ecosystem serves as a vital vehicle for regional economic development. Its resilience has become a key factor in influencing the sustainable development of industry. From an ecological perspective, this paper integrated the cusp catastrophe model and Fuzzy-Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) method, using data from Shandong Province to investigate the evolutionary state of the construction industry ecosystem and the diverse concurrent paths driving the system toward high levels of functionality. This study found that: (1) the resilient development of the construction industry ecosystem in Shandong Province presented a differentiated pattern, characterized by dual-core leadership, relative strength in the east, and weakness in the west, and localized catch-up. (2) The results from the cusp catastrophe model indicated that construction industry ecosystems in different regions were primarily undergoing stable evolution, though some cities faced the risk of functional degradation due to the combined effects of insufficient resilience and severe shocks. (3) fsQCA identified three equivalent configuration paths for achieving high system functionality: the “resilience accumulation path”, “resilience synergy path”, and “resilience transition path”, as well as three equivalent configuration paths for low system functionality: the “low resilience-low shocks dependency path”, “low-resilience, fixed-type path”, and “low resilience-high shocks imbalance path”. (4) These paths demonstrated that recovery was the key factor determining a system’s level of functionality.