Abstract:

The construction of a modern industrial system holds urgent practical significance for breaking through traditional growth bottlenecks and reshaping the international competitiveness of industries. Based on panel data from 30 Chinese provinces spanning from 2012 to 2023, this study applies Necessary Condition Analysis (NCA) and dynamic Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) to analyze the configurational effects of the elements of new quality productive forces in driving the modern industrial system. The findings reveal that during the sample period, no single condition constitutes a necessary condition for the construction of the modern industrial system, while the driving effect of intangible means of labor is particularly prominent; three types of path configurations are identified: the“laborer-dominated”pattern, the“laborer–subject of labor synergistically empowered”pattern, and the“laborer– means of labor coupling-driven”pattern; between-group and within-group consistency analyses indicate that none of the six configurations exhibit significant spatiotemporal heterogeneity; sub-period analysis demonstrates that configurational paths evolve from early single-factor drivers to multi-factor synergy, with both“dominant trajectories”and“mixed trajectories”jointly promoting the upgrading of the industrial system. This study provides theoretical and practical bases for different regions to formulate adaptable strategies for building a modern industrial system based on their own factor endowments, thereby facilitating the construction of a modern industrial system that is both innovative and competitive.

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