From Growth to Quality: Evaluating the Green Transformation of Regional Manufacturing through Spatial Econometrics

From Growth to Quality: Evaluating the Green Transformation of Regional Manufacturing through Spatial Econometrics | 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 Research Article From Growth to Quality: Evaluating the Green Transformation of Regional Manufacturing through Spatial Econometrics Zhen Guo, Hu Li This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8061225/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Promoting the green transformation of the manufacturing sector from high-speed growth to high-quality development is of great significance for achieving sustainable development goals. This paper employs an Epsilon-Based Measure model with undesirable outputs to evaluate the green development efficiency of the manufacturing sector across 16 prefecture-level cities in Shandong Province from 2016 to 2023. Spatial econometric models are applied to explore the spatial spillover effects and driving mechanisms behind the green development efficiency. The empirical analysis reveals three key findings: (1) R&D expenditure by industrial enterprises above designated size exhibits a significant positive spatial spillover effect, suggesting that increased R&D investment in neighboring regions can enhance efficiency values. (2) Industrial electricity consumption and the number of employees show significantly negative direct effects, indicating that excessive reliance on traditional input factors hinders efficiency improvement. (3) The reduction of industrial waste gas emissions has a positive spatial spillover effect, whereas the spatial impact of industrial wastewater emissions is statistically insignificant. This paper contributes to the understanding of how spatial factors and environmental and technological considerations to influence the quality-oriented transformation of regional manufacturing industries. Green development efficiency Data envelopment analysis Undesirable outputs Spatial spillover effects Spatial econometric model Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted 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-8061225","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":547388079,"identity":"bc40017f-7cf7-431c-8e22-7b36f73a4971","order_by":0,"name":"Zhen Guo","email":"data:image/png;base64,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","orcid":"","institution":"Jiangnan University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Zhen","middleName":"","lastName":"Guo","suffix":""},{"id":547388080,"identity":"9b1e266a-5cc4-448d-8dbc-5e7e094ac1b5","order_by":1,"name":"Hu Li","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Qingdao Fihonor Chemical Science \u0026 Technology Co., Ltd. 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