Drivers of the Sustainable Development of Agro-industrial Parks: Evidence from Jiangsu Province, China

The agro-industrial park (AIP) is developing rapidly all over the world and their industrial ecological characteristics have extensively promoted the development of the agricultural industry. However, academia and industry still lack a complete evaluation system to guide the sustainable development of AIPs. This study constructs a sustainable development evaluation system of the AIP that includes four parts of economic, social, technical, and sustainable criteria. Then, a multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) method is employed for quantitative analysis based on a primary survey dataset; that is, the decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL). In addition, a secondary dataset of 153 national AIPs in China from 2012 to 2014 is taken as a case study. The results of the DEMATEL analysis reveal some interesting findings. First, economic criteria still play an essential role in the sustainable development of AIP, and it is affected by almost all causal factors, which in turn affect most of the influencing factors. Second, there is no significant causal relationship between the criteria criterion and other criteria. Last, the case study reveals that the level of sustainable development of AIP in economically developed areas is significantly higher than the national average. The results of this study can also provide managers and policy planners with support for the sustainable management of AIP.