Resource-based cities thrive on their natural endowments, but they also face the challenges of a single industrial structure and uneven development, making them highly prone to falling into the “resource curse”. It is urgent to promote the upgrading of industrial structure. Under the notion of high-quality development, the upgrading of the industrial structure should not merely encompass the alteration of the scale ratio among industries, but also incorporate the enhancement of the quality of industrial development, reflecting the green production capacity of the industry. As a new productive force, digital transformation has become a key force in upgrading urban industrial structure. It can not only directly promote the upgrading of industrial structure through industrial digitalization and digital industrialization, but also have an impact on the upgrading of industrial structure through the mediating role of social factors such as human resources and technological innovation. From the dual dimensions of “scale” and “quality”, the paper reconstructs the index of industrial structure supererogation based on the green total factor productivity. Utilizing panel data from 113 resource-based regions in China from 2011 to 2022, the paper employs two-way fixed effect and mediation effect models to conduct an empirical analysis, exploring the mechanism by which digital transformation influences the upgrading of industrial structures in resource-based cities. The findings are as follows: ①During the study period, the overall level of industrial structure exhibits an upward trend, albeit with significant disparities among different types of cities. ②The development of digital transformation has a markedly positive effect on the supererogation of industrial structures, though the impact varies significantly across different city types. ③Human resources and technological innovation serve as crucial conduits through which digital transformation affects the industrial structures. Consequently, resource-based cities must enhance their digital infrastructure, elevate the level of digital technology development, and fully leverage the roles of human resources and technological innovation. They should adopt a “locally adapted”approach to utilize digital technology development to propel the upgrading of their industrial structures.
Liu et al. (2026) studied this question.