The Spatiotemporal Evolution and Driving Factors of the Coupling Coordination of Manufacturing Digitalization and Servitization

The coordinated development of digitalization and servitization in manufacturing is a driving force for the transformation and high-quality development of the manufacturing industry. There is a lack of existing research, however, on the coupling coordination relationship between digitalization and servitization from a macro perspective. Based on the panel data of China manufacturing industry, our study explored the spatial-temporal evolution, regional differences, spatial effects, and driving factors of coupling coordination of digitalization and servitization. Our research conclusions are as follows. First, the degree of coupling coordination of digitalization and servitization in manufacturing is moderate and is gradually increasing year by year. There are, though, significant differences between regions with a pattern of strong in the east and weak in the west; Second, the overall difference in the degree of coupling coordination shows a U-shaped distribution characteristic of first decreasing and then increasing, and regional differences are the main source of these differences; Third, there is a positive spatial autocorrelation in the degree of coupling coordination, and the spatial agglomeration effect gradually increases, showing high–high and low–low agglomeration. Fourth, the level of economic development, investment in research and development innovation, and financial development and the level of opening-up promote the coupling coordination of digitalization and servitization in manufacturing and have positive spatial spillover effects, while human capital has a negative spatial spillover effect.