The Impact of Intelligent Development on Human Capital Mismatch in Chinese Cities: A Chain Intermediary Effect and Spatial Analysis

This study identifies indicators representing intelligent development across three dimensions: conditions, application, and technology. The objective is to evaluate the progress of intelligent development in Chinese cities from 2011 to 2019. Employing a chain intermediary effect model and spatial model, we find that intelligent development has the ability to mitigate human capital mismatch. Notably, the 'conditions' dimension of intelligent development, which refers to infrastructure improvement, has the greatest impact. This positive effect is achieved through two pathways, namely income structure adjustment and factor flow. Furthermore, areas with similar economic bases benefit from the positive spillover effect of mismatch correction, while proximity in geographical location can exacerbate mismatch due to siphon effect.