Enabling the green total factor productivity of the construction industry with the prospect of digital transformation

This research study adopts 30 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions in China as the research object in order to explore the green total factor productivity (GTFP) of the construction industry with the prospect of digital transformation. Based on construction industry panel data from 2011 to 2017, the CCR model and PCE model evaluation model are used to measure the GTFP of the construction industry in the context of digital transformation. The results of the research study identify the following: (A) the PCE model was able to differentiate all decision units and complete ranking. (B) The GTFP of the construction industry in East, North, South-Central and Southwest China is relatively high, while that in Northeast and Northwest China is low. Thus, there is room for improvement in Northeast and Northwest China to a certain extent. (C) The higher the optimism of decision makers about the digital transformation of the construction industry is, the higher the GTFP of the construction industry; additionally, when decision makers become increasingly more optimistic about the digital transformation of the construction industry, the GTFP of the construction industry decreases to a certain extent, while when decision makers become increasingly less optimistic about the digital transformation of the construction industry, the GTFP of the construction industry increases to a certain extent.