Spatio-temporal characteristics of regional sustainable economic growth drivers of China

doi:10.1016/j.regsus.2021.11.004

Abstract

Abstract:

Intellectual capital (IC) has become a universal performance indicator for the socioeconomic development of countries and regions. Based on a review of national intellectual capital (NIC) and regional intellectual capital (RIC) evaluation literature, we used the regional intellectual capital indicator (RICI) as a model for China’s RIC evaluation to indirectly understand China’s potential economic growth drivers. Specifically, we collected statistical data of 31 provinces (including municipalities and autonomous regions) in China from 2004 to 2016 to measure RICI and analyze its dynamic characteristics from temporal and spatial perspectives. In this paper, Delphi analysis was used to construct RICI model, and cluster analysis and exploratory spatial data analysis were used to analyze the temporal and spatial characteristics of RICI in China. The results showed that RICI, which represents China’s overall economic growth drivers, increases annually and is consistent with economic development level during the study period. Regarding the geo-spatial space, RICI follows the trend of “high in the east and low in the west”, gradually decreasing from eastern to western China. For RIC structure, the shape of the radar chart of IC structure located in the eastern coastal areas is usually biased towards strong external relational capital, while that in western China is generally biased towards structural capital. For spatial correlation, China’s RICI has dependence on geographical adjacent space and economic space. Our research can provide policy suggestions for the sustainable development of regional economy from an IC perspective.

Key words: Regional intellectual capital, Intellectual capital structure, Spatial correlation, Moran’s I, Economic growth drivers, Sustainable economic growth

WANG Linchuan, WU Cisheng, ZHAO Xuyang, LIU Duanyong, ZHANG Tao. Spatio-temporal characteristics of regional sustainable economic growth drivers of China[J]. Regional Sustainability, 2021, 2(3): 239-255.

Figures/Tables 15

Table 1

Elements included in the existing intellectual capital (IC) measurement models."

Reference	Model	Element
Reference	Model	Human capital	Structural capital	Relational capital	Market capital	Renewal capital
Bounfour (2003)	IC-dVAL	√	√		√
Bontis (2004)	NICI	√		√	√	√
Andriessen and Stam (2005)	ICM	√	√	√
Weziak-Bialowolaska (2007)	ICI	√	√	√		√
Lin and Edvinsson (2008)	ICN	√			√	√
Schiuma et al. (2008)	RICI	√	√	√
Navarro et al. (2011)	NIKC	√	√
Käpylä et al. (2012)	MSNICP	√	√	√
Atkinson and Wu (2017)	NEI	√	√	√	√	√
Frequency of each capital		9	8	7	4	4
Reference	Model	Element
Reference	Model	Social capital	Process capital	Customer capital	Cultural capital	Innovation capital
Bounfour (2003)	IC-dVAL	√				√
Bontis (2004)	NICI		√
Andriessen and Stam (2005)	ICM
Weziak-Bialowolaska (2007)	ICI
Lin and Edvinsson (2008)	ICN		√
Schiuma et al. (2008)	RICI	√		√	√
Navarro et al. (2011)	NIKC
Käpylä et al. (2012)	MSNICP	√
Atkinson and Wu (2017)	NEI		√
Frequency of each capital		3	3	1	1	1
Reference	Model	Element
Reference	Model	Human capital	Structural capital	Relational capital	Market capital	Renewal capital
Bounfour (2003)	IC-dVAL	√	√		√
Bontis (2004)	NICI	√		√	√	√
Andriessen and Stam (2005)	ICM	√	√	√
Weziak-Bialowolaska (2007)	ICI	√	√	√		√
Lin and Edvinsson (2008)	ICN	√			√	√
Schiuma et al. (2008)	RICI	√	√	√
Navarro et al. (2011)	NIKC	√	√
Käpylä et al. (2012)	MSNICP	√	√	√
Atkinson and Wu (2017)	NEI	√	√	√	√	√
Frequency of each capital		9	8	7	4	4
Reference	Model	Element
Reference	Model	Social capital	Process capital	Customer capital	Cultural capital	Innovation capital
Bounfour (2003)	IC-dVAL	√				√
Bontis (2004)	NICI		√
Andriessen and Stam (2005)	ICM
Weziak-Bialowolaska (2007)	ICI
Lin and Edvinsson (2008)	ICN		√
Schiuma et al. (2008)	RICI	√		√	√
Navarro et al. (2011)	NIKC
Käpylä et al. (2012)	MSNICP	√
Atkinson and Wu (2017)	NEI		√
Frequency of each capital		3	3	1	1	1

Table 1

Fig. 1.

Table 2

Components and indicators of regional intellectual capital (RIC) structure in this study."

First-level indicator	Second-level indicator	Third-level indicator
Regional human capital (RHC)	Regional human capital investment	1. Social donation education funding (×10⁴ CNY) 2. Private school funding (×10⁴ CNY) 3. Corporate training investment (×10⁴ CNY) 4. Proportion of funds for science, education, culture, and health care in the total fiscal expenditure (%)
	Regional human capital structure	5. Proportion of high school education population in the total population (%) 6. Proportion of the undergraduate population to the total population (%) 7. Number of R&D scientists and engineers per 10,000 people 8. Proportion of corporate R&D scientists and engineers in the total R&D scientists and engineers in society (%)
	Regional human capital accumulation	9. Per capita disposable income of urban residents (CNY) 10. Per capita disposable income of rural residents (CNY) 11. Number of hospital beds per 10,000 people 12. Number of traffic accidents 13. Number of fires per year 14. Per capita medical and health care fiscal expenditure (CNY) 15. Proportion of social security and employment expenditure in the total fiscal expenditure (%) 16. Per capita possession of public library collections 17. Number of people participating in urban basic medical insurance 18. Ecological environment level
Regional relational apital (RRC)	Regional external relational capital	19. Foreign trade volume (×10⁸ USD) 20. Number of inbound tourists (×10⁴) 21. Foreign direct investment (×10⁸ USD) 22. Contract amount of foreign contracted project and labor cooperation 23. Number of internet users (×10⁴)
Regional relational apital (RRC)	Regional internal relational capital	24. Freight volume (×10⁴ t) 25. Post and telecommunications business volume (×10⁸ CNY) 26. Transaction value of commodity market above 1.0×10⁸ CNY (×10⁸ CNY) 27. Total retail sales of social consumer goods (×10⁸ CNY) 28. Number of buses per 10,000 people 29. Number of employed persons in railway and air transport industry
Regional structural capital (RSC)	Regional technical structural capital	30. Number of scientific papers per 10,000 R&D people 31. Coefficient of national science and technology achievement award 32. Proportion of high-tech industrial added value in the total industrial added value (%) 33. Labor productivity of employment in high-tech industry (×10⁴ CNY/person) 34. Technology market turnover (×10⁴ CNY) 35. Number of patent grants per 10,000 people 36. Proportion of large and medium-sized industrial enterprises’ experimental development expenditures in the total R&D expenditures of a region (%)
Regional structural capital (RSC)	Regional cultural structural capital	37. Number of household cars per 100 households in town 38. Number of computers per 100 households in town 39. Number of art performance venues 40. Number of public libraries 41. Number of museums 42. Number of urban community service facilities 43. Per capita urban road area (m²) 44. Total profit of industrial enterprises above designated size in the region (×10⁸ CNY) 45. Number of listed companies

Table 2

Table 3

Table 4

Table 5

Main functions of experts’ scores of the third-level indicators in RIC structure."

Second-level indicator	Third-level indicator	C_i	k_i	S_i	V_i
Regional human capital investment	1. Social donation education funding	6.40	0.60	0.84	0.13
	2. Corporate training investment	6.10	0.50	1.10	0.18
	3. Proportion of funds for science, education, culture, and health care in the total fiscal expenditure	5.90	0.30	0.99	0.17
	4. Private school funding	5.60	0.30	1.17	0.21
	5. Number of books per 10,000 people	2.70	0.00	0.67	0.25
Regional human capital structure	6. Proportion of junior high school education population in the total population	3.00	0.00	0.67	0.22
	7. Proportion of high school education population in the total population	6.10	0.50	1.20	0.20
	8. Proportion of the undergraduate population to the total population	5.30	0.20	1.25	0.24
	9. Number of R&D scientists and engineers per 10,000 people	5.20	0.20	1.23	0.24
	10. Proportion of corporate R&D scientists and engineers in the total R&D scientists and engineers in society	5.90	0.40	1.20	0.20
	11. Number of persons engaged in scientific and technological activities	3.90	0.10	1.52	0.39
Regional human capital accumulation	12. Number of professional and technical personnel in state-owned enterprises and institutions	2.50	0.00	0.85	0.34
	13. Per capita disposable income of urban residents	6.00	0.40	1.15	0.19
	14. Per capita disposable income of rural residents	5.20	0.20	1.32	0.25
	15. Number of hospital beds per 10,000 people	6.20	0.50	1.03	0.17
	16. Number of traffic accidents	5.40	0.10	1.14	0.21
	17. Number of fires	5.40	0.30	1.26	0.23
	18. Per capita medical and health fiscal expenditure	5.60	0.30	1.17	0.21
	19. Proportion of social security and employment expenditure in the total fiscal expenditure	5.60	0.40	1.35	0.24
	20. Per capita possession of public library collections	5.90	0.40	1.20	0.20
	21. Number of people participating in urban basic medical insurance	6.20	0.40	0.79	0.13
	22. Ecological environment level	5.70	0.20	0.95	0.17
Regional external relational capital	23. Foreign trade volume	5.80	0.40	1.23	0.21
	24. Export volume	3.20	0.00	1.23	0.38
	25. Number of inbound tourists	5.50	0.20	1.27	0.23
	26. Foreign direct investment	6.20	0.50	1.03	0.17
	27. Contract amount of foreign contracted project and labor cooperation	5.60	0.30	1.17	0.21
	28. Number of internet users per 10,000 people	6.20	0.50	1.03	0.17
Regional internal relational capital	29. Freight volume	5.90	0.40	1.10	0.19
	30. Passenger volume	2.60	0.00	0.70	0.27
	31. Total amount of telecom service	3.00	0.00	0.82	0.27
	32. Post and telecommunications business volume	5.40	0.20	1.17	0.22
	33. Transaction value of commodity market above 1.0×10⁸ CNY	5.60	0.40	1.43	0.26
	34. Total retail sales of social consumer goods	5.63	0.20	1.19	0.21
	35. Number of buses per 10,000 people	6.00	0.40	1.05	0.18
	36. Number of employed persons in the railway and air transport industry	6.10	0.50	1.10	0.18
Regional technical structural capital	37. Number of scientific papers per 10,000 R&D person	5.70	0.20	0.95	0.17
	38. High-tech industry employment labor productivity	6.00	0.40	1.05	0.18
	39. Technology market turnover	5.50	0.40	1.35	0.25
	40. Proportion of large and medium-sized industrial enterprises’ experimental development expenditures in the total R&D expenditures of a region	5.60	0.20	1.07	0.19
	41. Number of patent grants per 10,000 people	5.70	0.30	1.06	0.19
	42. National science and technology achievement award coefficient	5.80	0.40	1.23	0.21
	43. Proportion of high-tech industrial added value in industrial added value	5.70	0.40	1.25	0.22
Regional cultural structural capital	44. Number of household cars per 100 households in town	5.70	0.40	1.25	0.22
	45. Number of computers per 100 households in town	5.20	0.20	1.69	0.32
	46. Number of art performance venues	4.67	0.20	1.73	0.37
	47. Number of public libraries	6.30	0.50	0.95	0.15
	48. Number of museums	5.67	0.30	1.22	0.22
	49. Number of urban community service facilities	6.20	0.30	0.63	0.10
	50. Proportion of expenditure on culture, education and entertainment in urban families	2.40	0.00	0.52	0.22
	51. Per capita urban road area	5.44	0.20	1.13	0.21
	52. Volume of books in public libraries	2.30	0.00	0.82	0.36
	53. Number of listed companies	5.60	0.10	0.84	0.15
	54. Total profit of industrial enterprises above designated size in the region	5.50	0.10	1.35	0.25

Table 5

Fig. 2.

Fig. 3.

Table 6

Table 7

Fig. 4.

Table 8

Fig. 5.

Table S1

Table S2

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Judgment basis	C_a	Familiarity	C_b
Practical experience	0.8	High familiarity	1.0
Theoretical analysis	0.6	Moderate familiarity	0.8
Peer understanding	0.4	Familiarity	0.4
Intuitive judgment	0.2	Unfamiliarity	0.2
		Very unfamiliarity	0.0

Cluster number	RICI level	Eastern China	Central China	Western China
Cluster 1	High-level	Guangdong
Cluster 2		Beijing
Cluster 3		Jiangsu
Cluster 4	Medium-level	Shanghai, Zhejiang, and Shandong
Cluster 5			Hubei
Cluster 6		Tianjin, Fujian, Hebei, and Liaoning	Henan	Sichuan and Shaanxi
Cluster 7	Low-level		Anhui, Hunan, and Jiangxi	Chongqing
Cluster 8			Heilongjiang, Jilin, and Shanxi	Guangxi, Inner Mongolia, Yunnan, Xinjiang, Gansu, and Guizhou
Cluster 9		Hainan		Tibet, Qinghai, and Ningxia

Classification	Region
Strong external relational capital	Guangdong
Strong technical structural capital and external relational capital	Beijing and Shanghai
Strong external relational capital and cultural structural capital	Jiangsu, Shandong, and Zhejiang
Strong external relational capital and technical structural capital	Hubei, Tianjin, and Shaanxi
Strong external relational capital and weak human capital structure	Liaoning, Sichuan, and Fujian
Weak human capital	Chongqing, Hunan, Anhui, and Jiangxi
Strong cultural structural capital, strong internal relational capital, and weak human capital structure	Henan and Hebei
Strong cultural structural capital, and weak human capital investment	Guangxi, Yunnan, Inner Mongolia, Shanxi, and Guizhou
Strong technical structural capital, weak human capital investment, and weak human capital structure	Heilongjiang, Jilin, Xinjiang, and Gansu
Strong human capital accumulation, weak human capital investment, and weak internal relational capital	Qinghai, Hainan, Ningxia, and Tibet

Year	w₁		w₂		w₃
Year	MI	P	MI	P	MI	P
2004	0.215	0.017^**	0.058	0.006^***	0.286	0.010^**
2005	0.219	0.015^**	0.061	0.005^***	0.277	0.012^**
2006	0.213	0.017^**	0.058	0.006^***	0.271	0.013^**
2007	0.204	0.021^**	0.054	0.009^***	0.261	0.016^**
2008	0.208	0.020^**	0.054	0.008^***	0.271	0.013^**
2009	0.205	0.022^**	0.056	0.007^***	0.263	0.016^**
2010	0.189	0.032^**	0.048	0.015^**	0.243	0.025^**
2011	0.212	0.018^**	0.053	0.010^**	0.249	0.022^**
2012	0.207	0.020^**	0.051	0.011^**	0.249	0.021^**
2013	0.187	0.031^**	0.043	0.021^**	0.235	0.027^**
2014	0.198	0.026^**	0.047	0.016^**	0.263	0.016^**
2015	0.181	0.038^**	0.044	0.020^**	0.262	0.016^**
2016	0.167	0.052^*	0.039	0.030^**	0.257	0.018^**
Average value	0.200	-	0.051	-	0.261	-