The Impact of Digital Services on Economic Resilience: Evidence from China

The Impact of Digital Services on Economic Resilience: Evidence from China | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article The Impact of Digital Services on Economic Resilience: Evidence from China Tonglian Ren, Yimeng Wu, Jiazhen Ren, Suping Cui This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8040017/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted 5 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Digital services (DS) represent a critical innovation direction for the service industry within the digital economy, providing sustained and robust momentum for enhancing economic resilience (ER). Leveraging a panel dataset of 30 Chinese provinces from 2012 to 2023, this paper examines the impact of DS on ER and its underlying mechanisms. Results confirm that DS significantly enhance regional ER, a finding robust to multiple tests. Mechanism analysis suggests that DS enhance ER by facilitating industrial structure optimization and spurring technological innovation. The heterogeneity tests identify that the benefits of DS are particularly acute in regions with elevated levels of urbanization, factor abundance, and industrial agglomeration.Additionally, threshold effect tests demonstrate that the impact of DS on ER intensifies once a region’s economic development level and market size exceed specific thresholds. These findings offer valuable policy implications for developing countries seeking to leverage DS to enhance ER and support sustainable economic development. Business and commerce/Economics Social science/Economics Earth and environmental sciences/Environmental social sciences Digital Services Economic Resilience Industrial Structure Technological Innovation Threshold Effect Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted Reviewers invited by journal 08 Dec, 2025 Editor assigned by journal 03 Dec, 2025 Editor invited by journal 03 Dec, 2025 Submission checks completed at journal 20 Nov, 2025 First submitted to journal 20 Nov, 2025 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8040017","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":557129031,"identity":"cc03da53-d642-46c4-94e6-2e967987e373","order_by":0,"name":"Tonglian Ren","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA5ElEQVRIiWNgGAWjYBACPjBZISHHxt4AZjI2ENLCBibP2Bjz8xwgRQtjW1rizBkJxGph7058XMB2mHHDzefPJH4w2MhuOMD87AFeLTxnNxvP4DnMbHA7IU2yhyHNeMMBNnMDvFokcrdJ80gcZgNqOSbBw3A4ccMBHjYJvFrk3wK1GBzmMbh5sE3yD8N/IrRI8AK1JKRJSM5gZpPmYThAhBae3M3GPAdsDPh50pitZQySjWceZjPDq4Wf/ezGx7z/JOrb2I8/vPmmwk6273jzM7xa0AAoqJhJUD8KRsEoGAWjADsAAH7lQv/6oywyAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"","institution":"Zhengzhou University of Aeronautics","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Tonglian","middleName":"","lastName":"Ren","suffix":""},{"id":557129032,"identity":"9bad45fe-2160-4c83-950f-fcfad4289ca0","order_by":1,"name":"Yimeng Wu","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Zhengzhou University of Aeronautics","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Yimeng","middleName":"","lastName":"Wu","suffix":""},{"id":557129033,"identity":"87df21a6-c0f9-4910-81d4-71114b2ae38f","order_by":2,"name":"Jiazhen Ren","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Yantai University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Jiazhen","middleName":"","lastName":"Ren","suffix":""},{"id":557129035,"identity":"89979c7f-892d-452c-966a-a1a106ff27da","order_by":3,"name":"Suping Cui","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Zhengzhou University of Aeronautics","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Suping","middleName":"","lastName":"Cui","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-11-05 15:38:06","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8040017/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8040017/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":97900319,"identity":"7bbac50d-7bf3-4833-8f3f-ce458377846b","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-12-10 15:45:22","extension":"docx","order_by":0,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":1135692,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Manuscript.docx","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8040017/v1/d11ffe2f9e8474ea358657d0.docx"},{"id":97900381,"identity":"f3d1809e-bdd8-4191-838a-1168e803c5a3","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-12-10 15:45:26","extension":"json","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":5267,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"fe90e7a6a6814af8a6f3118dc00762f0.json","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8040017/v1/8f488f4ba1b7c95c705b7fd6.json"},{"id":97899882,"identity":"d5be54d4-bf40-4994-956d-8ee7ce0c9b96","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-12-10 15:45:02","extension":"xml","order_by":2,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":188375,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"fe90e7a6a6814af8a6f3118dc00762f01enriched.xml","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8040017/v1/d66dc5c27dc3a07c85084b93.xml"},{"id":97862022,"identity":"a4f8e6d7-3b7b-450d-8333-f704838b10b0","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-12-10 09:03:43","extension":"emf","order_by":3,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":78236,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"floatimage1.emf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8040017/v1/f71070f63551188357a44196.emf"},{"id":97899423,"identity":"d55e3e99-d464-4a87-9eae-de0af8bdb96d","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-12-10 15:44:28","extension":"emf","order_by":4,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":64324,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"floatimage2.emf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8040017/v1/0af7b963b606e1cf0ffd0b6f.emf"},{"id":97899902,"identity":"265db2b2-e70a-4d3f-b123-7720e49d068b","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-12-10 15:45:02","extension":"jpeg","order_by":5,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":650298,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"floatimage3.jpeg","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8040017/v1/dce93b279c6b8f8586d3dd92.jpeg"},{"id":97862017,"identity":"3450d849-d5a3-45fa-847d-c79269ee400a","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-12-10 09:03:43","extension":"jpeg","order_by":6,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":695782,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"floatimage4.jpeg","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8040017/v1/9855fbb160494f6ca57a59b0.jpeg"},{"id":97862013,"identity":"0126df45-407a-4186-af2d-72418400b266","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-12-10 09:03:42","extension":"png","order_by":7,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":22441,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Onlinefloatimage1.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8040017/v1/d755d2be647fc1ac007a1aa2.png"},{"id":97862011,"identity":"77a69132-d058-4a45-8bfb-7bad82344803","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-12-10 09:03:42","extension":"png","order_by":8,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":12267,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Onlinefloatimage2.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8040017/v1/ab25af937f61d4b305bed297.png"},{"id":97862023,"identity":"3243f60d-6d3f-4404-b290-47e8f2423ff0","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-12-10 09:03:43","extension":"png","order_by":9,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":165951,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Onlinefloatimage3.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8040017/v1/f5fdb960b06e028facd089a4.png"},{"id":97862024,"identity":"81ab9e4c-8e82-4c34-9489-c1c4e800664a","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-12-10 09:03:43","extension":"png","order_by":10,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":179383,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Onlinefloatimage4.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8040017/v1/c9db46ee59277f968eb7d618.png"},{"id":97897870,"identity":"8c06ca8e-5fe6-4cc9-bc69-93a74d6878d6","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-12-10 15:38:22","extension":"xml","order_by":11,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":181364,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"fe90e7a6a6814af8a6f3118dc00762f01structuring.xml","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8040017/v1/0a05b54e6a5111a7ec66e396.xml"},{"id":97900196,"identity":"2e23b0ed-e781-4298-a6d4-fa183167d884","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-12-10 15:45:17","extension":"html","order_by":12,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":200248,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"earlyproof.html","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8040017/v1/83d4e8316d3a21a945f762ae.html"},{"id":97903372,"identity":"85e195db-5112-4c8f-8d77-9fff5b6e4fb4","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-12-10 15:55:11","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":740186,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Manuscript.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8040017/v1_covered_3452a3e9-24d9-41ac-a732-777893e7f2b2.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"The Impact of Digital Services on Economic Resilience: Evidence from China","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"humanities-and-social-sciences-communications","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"palcomms","sideBox":"Learn more about [Humanities \u0026 Social Sciences Communications](http://www.nature.com/palcomms/)","snPcode":"41599","submissionUrl":"https://submission.springernature.com/new-submission/41599/3","title":"Humanities and Social Sciences Communications","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"Nature AJ","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false},"keywords":"Digital Services, Economic Resilience, Industrial Structure, Technological Innovation, Threshold Effect","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8040017/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8040017/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eDigital services (DS) represent a critical innovation direction for the service industry within the digital economy, providing sustained and robust momentum for enhancing economic resilience (ER). Leveraging a panel dataset of 30 Chinese provinces from 2012 to 2023, this paper examines the impact of DS on ER and its underlying mechanisms. Results confirm that DS significantly enhance regional ER, a finding robust to multiple tests. Mechanism analysis suggests that DS enhance ER by facilitating industrial structure optimization and spurring technological innovation. The heterogeneity tests identify that the benefits of DS are particularly acute in regions with elevated levels of urbanization, factor abundance, and industrial agglomeration.Additionally, threshold effect tests demonstrate that the impact of DS on ER intensifies once a region\u0026rsquo;s economic development level and market size exceed specific thresholds. These findings offer valuable policy implications for developing countries seeking to leverage DS to enhance ER and support sustainable economic development.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"The Impact of Digital Services on Economic Resilience: Evidence from China","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2025-12-10 09:03:38","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8040017/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0},{"type":"reviewersInvited","content":"","date":"2025-12-08T08:10:57+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorAssigned","content":"","date":"2025-12-03T07:28:17+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvited","content":"","date":"2025-12-03T05:10:31+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"checksComplete","content":"","date":"2025-11-20T10:03:38+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"submitted","content":"Humanities and Social Sciences Communications","date":"2025-11-20T09:59:33+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"humanities-and-social-sciences-communications","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"palcomms","sideBox":"Learn more about [Humanities \u0026 Social Sciences Communications](http://www.nature.com/palcomms/)","snPcode":"41599","submissionUrl":"https://submission.springernature.com/new-submission/41599/3","title":"Humanities and Social Sciences Communications","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"Nature AJ","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"d21b016e-713e-4d9b-97fa-c5ab5530bb2b","owner":[],"postedDate":"December 10th, 2025","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"under-review","subjectAreas":[{"id":59294850,"name":"Business and commerce/Economics"},{"id":59294851,"name":"Social science/Economics"},{"id":59294852,"name":"Earth and environmental sciences/Environmental social sciences"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2025-12-10T09:03:38+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2025-12-10 09:03:38","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-8040017","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-8040017","identity":"rs-8040017","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"8U1c8b4HqxoKbykW_rLl7","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}