A tale of three cities: the varied trajectories of knowledge economy transition in Hefei, Hangzhou and Tianjin

Chen, Hao (2026) A tale of three cities: the varied trajectories of knowledge economy transition in Hefei, Hangzhou and Tianjin. PhD thesis, University of Glasgow.

Abstract

Some cities in China are undergoing the transition to the knowledge economy: they are moving away from reliance on labour-intensive industries and beginning to facilitate economic growth through innovation and knowledge-intensive industries. Despite attempts to explain through either governmental or market forces, current research still lacks a systematic explanation for why some cities can make the knowledge economy transition while others cannot. Through building a process-based framework and tracing the creation of strategic emerging industries in Hefei, Hangzhou, and Tianjin, this thesis addresses this research gap and examines the causal mechanisms underlying varied trajectories of China’s knowledge economy transition. This thesis argues that in the Chinese context, the formation of local government’s change agency is the decisive trigger for regional knowledge economy transition. Regardless of the abundance of innovation resources, the absence of such change agency may result in the failure of the transition. The local government change agency is either formed exogenously through transmission from innovative enterprises, or endogenously, originating from the top leader(s) and subsequently diffusing downward through institutional reforms. This heterogeneous mechanism of agency formation causes the varied trajectories of China’s knowledge economy transition. This thesis demonstrates that region’s innovation resource endowment is not deterministic for its knowledge economy transition, and indicates that the role of government can extend far beyond merely providing institutions or services in this process. Furthermore, by shifting the analytical focus from agency to its formation, this thesis also offers new theoretical insights for the theory of industrial path creation.

• Item Type: Thesis (PhD)
• Qualification Level: Doctoral
• Subjects: H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor
• Colleges/Schools: College of Social Sciences > School of Social and Political Sciences
• Supervisor's Name: Munro, Dr. Neil and Waite, Dr. David
• Date of Award: 2026
• Depositing User: Theses Team
• Unique ID: glathesis:2026-86187
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 18 Aug 2026 08:45
• Last Modified: 18 Aug 2026 08:48
• Thesis DOI: 10.5525/gla.thesis.86187
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/86187