Configural Perspectives on Urban Talent Ecology and Talent Competitiveness: A Dual Analysis Using GQCA and fsQCA

Talent significantly influences urban technological innovation and sustainable economic development. Enhancing urban talent competitiveness (UTC) necessitates a systemic perspective on upgrading and optimizing the combination of both tangible and intangible resources, such as economic vitality, liva...

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Main Authors: Peng Jiang, Zhaohu Dong, Ran Zhang, Yingchun Song
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2025-06-01
Series:Systems
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2079-8954/13/7/499
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author Peng Jiang
Zhaohu Dong
Ran Zhang
Yingchun Song
author_facet Peng Jiang
Zhaohu Dong
Ran Zhang
Yingchun Song
author_sort Peng Jiang
collection DOAJ
description Talent significantly influences urban technological innovation and sustainable economic development. Enhancing urban talent competitiveness (UTC) necessitates a systemic perspective on upgrading and optimizing the combination of both tangible and intangible resources, such as economic vitality, livability, and social harmony, which is a typical configurational issue. This paper utilizes empirical data from 96 Chinese cities and applies an innovative grey quantitative comparative analysis (GQCA) method to investigate the impact and mechanisms of different urban talent ecology (UTE) on talent competitiveness. The findings reveal that there are no bottleneck factors constraining UTC within the sample, interactions, and couplings among six urban talent elements that generated 30 distinct UTEs. By calculating the possibility of each UTE achieving talent competitiveness, it was found that 16 UTEs, characterized by vibrant business-led development, comprehensive development and integrated leadership, regional development leadership, and economy-led international innovation, lead to high UTC. Conversely, 14 UTEs result in low UTC. These findings were further validated through fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) for robustness testing. Finally, the study offers policy recommendations for urban talent strategies from both short-term and long-term perspectives.
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spelling doaj-art-9d1f8c681b154d4ebc4fad4ffee8a89e2025-08-20T03:56:46ZengMDPI AGSystems2079-89542025-06-0113749910.3390/systems13070499Configural Perspectives on Urban Talent Ecology and Talent Competitiveness: A Dual Analysis Using GQCA and fsQCAPeng Jiang0Zhaohu Dong1Ran Zhang2Yingchun Song3School of Business, Shandong University, Weihai 264209, ChinaSchool of Business, Shandong University, Weihai 264209, ChinaSchool of Business, Shandong University, Weihai 264209, ChinaSchool of Business, Shandong University, Weihai 264209, ChinaTalent significantly influences urban technological innovation and sustainable economic development. Enhancing urban talent competitiveness (UTC) necessitates a systemic perspective on upgrading and optimizing the combination of both tangible and intangible resources, such as economic vitality, livability, and social harmony, which is a typical configurational issue. This paper utilizes empirical data from 96 Chinese cities and applies an innovative grey quantitative comparative analysis (GQCA) method to investigate the impact and mechanisms of different urban talent ecology (UTE) on talent competitiveness. The findings reveal that there are no bottleneck factors constraining UTC within the sample, interactions, and couplings among six urban talent elements that generated 30 distinct UTEs. By calculating the possibility of each UTE achieving talent competitiveness, it was found that 16 UTEs, characterized by vibrant business-led development, comprehensive development and integrated leadership, regional development leadership, and economy-led international innovation, lead to high UTC. Conversely, 14 UTEs result in low UTC. These findings were further validated through fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) for robustness testing. Finally, the study offers policy recommendations for urban talent strategies from both short-term and long-term perspectives.https://www.mdpi.com/2079-8954/13/7/499urban talent ecologytalent competitivenessconfiguration comparisongrey qualitative comparative analysis (GQCA)
spellingShingle Peng Jiang
Zhaohu Dong
Ran Zhang
Yingchun Song
Configural Perspectives on Urban Talent Ecology and Talent Competitiveness: A Dual Analysis Using GQCA and fsQCA
Systems
urban talent ecology
talent competitiveness
configuration comparison
grey qualitative comparative analysis (GQCA)
title Configural Perspectives on Urban Talent Ecology and Talent Competitiveness: A Dual Analysis Using GQCA and fsQCA
title_full Configural Perspectives on Urban Talent Ecology and Talent Competitiveness: A Dual Analysis Using GQCA and fsQCA
title_fullStr Configural Perspectives on Urban Talent Ecology and Talent Competitiveness: A Dual Analysis Using GQCA and fsQCA
title_full_unstemmed Configural Perspectives on Urban Talent Ecology and Talent Competitiveness: A Dual Analysis Using GQCA and fsQCA
title_short Configural Perspectives on Urban Talent Ecology and Talent Competitiveness: A Dual Analysis Using GQCA and fsQCA
title_sort configural perspectives on urban talent ecology and talent competitiveness a dual analysis using gqca and fsqca
topic urban talent ecology
talent competitiveness
configuration comparison
grey qualitative comparative analysis (GQCA)
url https://www.mdpi.com/2079-8954/13/7/499
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