Maping Zhang

Purpose: This study aims to improve the utilization levels of provincial open government data (OGD) portals in China by examining the key factors and pathways that influence their utilization.Design/methodology/approach: The study employs the technology–organization–environment theoretical framework and combines necessary condition analysis (NCA) with the fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA). This mixed-method approach is used to analyze necessary and sufficient causal relationships and to identify the key factors affecting the utilization levels of 16 provincial OGD portals in China.Findings: The results show no single necessary and sufficient condition that determines the utilization levels of provincial OGD portals. Instead, three independent variables – data resource development level, data portal development level and organizational readiness – are key factors influencing these levels. The study also identifies four pathways that lead to high utilization levels of provincial OGD portals and provides detailed analyses of typical case studies.Originality/value: The originality of this study lies in its innovative methodological application, combining the NCA method with fsQCA to empirically investigate the utilization levels of OGD portals. This approach provides a comprehensive understanding of the factors and pathways that enhance OGD portal utilization. Still, this study had a small sample size and used static cross-sectional data, which could affect the selection of independent variables.

Under the conditions of economic integration and globalization, the importance of national innovation competitiveness is rapidly increasing. In order to study what combination of conditions can generate higher national innovation competitiveness, this study proposes an improved integrated framework for national innovation competitiveness and it examines the allocation conditions that affect the innovation competitiveness of countries with different income levels using data from the Global Competitiveness Report 2019. This research finds that, first, the means of achieving high innovation competitiveness output are more diversified for high-income and upper-middle-income countries, with countries at these two economic levels achieving high innovation competitiveness output in three scenarios. Second, lower-middle-income countries have a more homogeneous configuration for achieving high innovation competitiveness outputs, with only one scenario, which still holds after a series of robustness tests. Third, for high-income countries, commercialization is a key element affecting their innovation competitiveness enhancement. The study not only bridges the gap between existing theories and research methods but also provides a useful reference for countries at different levels of economic development to improve their innovation competitiveness.