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What kind of urban brand ecology attracts talent best? Grey configuration analysis of 98 Chinese cities

Zhaohu Dong (School of Business, Shandong University, Weihai, China)
Peng Jiang (School of Business, Shandong University, Weihai, China)
Zongli Dai (School of Business, Shandong University, Weihai, China)
Rui Chi (School of Business, Shandong University, Weihai, China)

Grey Systems: Theory and Application

ISSN: 2043-9377

Article publication date: 10 June 2024

Issue publication date: 24 September 2024

42

Abstract

Purpose

Talent is a key resource for urban development, and building and disseminating urban brands have an important impact on attracting talent. This paper explores what kind of urban brand ecology (UBE) can effectively enhance urban talent attraction (UTA). We explore this question using a novel grey quantitative configuration analysis (GQCA) model.

Design/methodology/approach

To develop the GQCA model, grey clustering is combined with qualitative configuration analysis (QCA). We conducted comparative configuration analysis of UTA using fuzzy set QCA (fsQCA) and the proposed GQCA.

Findings

We find that the empirical results of fsQCA may contradict the facts, and that the proposed GQCA effectively solves this problem.

Practical implications

Based on the theory of UBE, we identify bottleneck factors for improving UTA at different stages. Seven configuration paths are described for cities to enhance UTA. Theoretically, this study expands the application boundaries of UBE.

Originality/value

The proposed GQCA effectively solves the problem of inconsistent analysis and facts caused by the use of a binary threshold by the fsQCA. In practical case studies, the GQCA significantly improves the reliability of configuration comparisons and the sensitivity of QCA to cases, demonstrating excellent research performance.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

Funding: This research was funded by the Humanities and Social Sciences Foundation of the Ministry of Education of China, GRANT No. 22YJC840012, the Graduate Science Research Fund of School of Business, Shandong University.

Citation

Dong, Z., Jiang, P., Dai, Z. and Chi, R. (2024), "What kind of urban brand ecology attracts talent best? Grey configuration analysis of 98 Chinese cities", Grey Systems: Theory and Application, Vol. 14 No. 4, pp. 770-788. https://doi.org/10.1108/GS-03-2024-0035

Publisher

:

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2024, Emerald Publishing Limited

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