# Efficiency and determinants of science and technology investment in Chinese competitive sports: a provincial DEA-Tobit analysis

## TL;DR

This study examines how efficiently science and technology investments improve competitive sports performance in China, finding that resource allocation and regional development are key factors.

## Contribution

The study introduces a novel two-stage DEA-Tobit framework to analyze S&T investment efficiency in competitive sports across Chinese provinces.

## Key findings

- Overall efficiency of S&T investment in Chinese competitive sports is low with significant regional disparities.
- Total factor productivity declined mainly due to limited technological progress.
- Research staff input and R&D emphasis are negatively linked to efficiency, while economic development improves technical efficiency.

## Abstract

The efficiency with which science and technology (S&T) investment is translated into competitive sports performance is a critical yet underexplored issue in China, despite the rapid growth of related funding in recent years.

This study evaluates the efficiency of provincial S&T investment in competitive sports across 31 Chinese provinces from 2018 to 2022. Using a two-stage analytical framework grounded in the Resource-Based View, we integrate Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), the Malmquist productivity index, and Tobit regression to assess static efficiency, dynamic productivity changes, and their key influencing factors.

The results indicate that the overall efficiency of S&T investment in China's competitive sports system remains relatively low, with pronounced regional disparities. Dynamic analysis reveals that total factor productivity declined on average, primarily due to limited technological progress rather than changes in technical efficiency. Tobit regression results show that research staff input and the emphasis on technological R&D are negatively associated with efficiency, while regional economic development improves pure technical efficiency but undermines scale efficiency.

These findings suggest that the main constraint on the effectiveness of S&T investment lies not in the quantity of resources but in their strategic configuration and conversion into athletic outcomes. Policy efforts should therefore shift from expanding investment scale toward optimizing resource orchestration and strengthening the linkage between scientific research and training practice to enhance the overall efficiency and sustainability of competitive sports development in China.