Accelerating the digital transformation of resource-based cities is a key measure for breaking the “resource curse” and fostering new drivers of development. Based on TOE theory and employing the fsQCA method, this paper explores the driving mechanisms of digital transformation in resource-based cities through the synergistic interaction of multiple factors. The findings reveal that: (1) The digital transformation of resource-based cities is not driven by a single condition, but rather results from the synergistic interaction of multiple factors. (2) There are six configuration pathways leading to high levels of digital transformation, which can be further categorised as technology-driven, innovation–organisational synergy, collaborative composite linkage, and technology–environmental linkage; there are four configurations leading to non-high levels of digital transformation, which exhibit asymmetric characteristics relative to those of high digital transformation. (3) Technological conditions form the core foundation of the transformation and play a central role in most pathways leading to high levels of digital transformation; environmental pressures act as important catalysts for the transformation; organisational conditions exhibit strong characteristics of flexible substitution. The study reveals the synergistic mechanisms of multiple conditions in the digital transformation of resource-based cities, providing pathway options and theoretical references for these cities to advance their transformation in a manner suited to local conditions.
Zheng et al. (Mon,) studied this question.