The impact of structural upgrading of the service industry on regional ecologicalization efficiency of Industry: Empirical evidence from 30 Chinese provinces

With the wave of the digital economy and industrial ecological construction, it is more essential for developing countries to focus on improving the structural quality of the service industry rather than just the quantitative aspect of the service industry. This study utilizes panel data from 30 provinces in China and spatial Dubin models to estimate the impact of service industry structure upgrading on industrial ecologicalization efficiency and its spatial effect. Our results reveal that productive and high-end service industries play a vital role in promoting industrial ecological efficiency. At the level of spatial effect, the productive service industry has a negative spatial correlation with the adjacent area, while the effect of the high-end service industry on the adjacent area is not highlighted. This study focuses on clarifying the spatial role of service industry structure upgrading on the improvement of industrial ecological efficiency, further expanding the theory of industrial structure adjustment, and providing insights for developing countries on how to optimize the structure of the service industry and achieve high-quality development of industrial ecologicalization.