{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,10]],"date-time":"2025-10-10T01:35:48Z","timestamp":1760060148449,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":58,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"8","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,13]],"date-time":"2025-08-13T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1755043200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"\u201cInnovation Yongjiang 2035\u201d Key R&amp;D Programme","award":["2024H032","JZW2025140","[2023] General 139"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2024H032","JZW2025140","[2023] General 139"]}]},{"name":"Research Project of Logistics Teaching Reform in National Universities and Vocational Colleges","award":["2024H032","JZW2025140","[2023] General 139"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2024H032","JZW2025140","[2023] General 139"]}]},{"name":"Guizhou Provincial Key Technology R&amp;D Program","award":["2024H032","JZW2025140","[2023] General 139"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2024H032","JZW2025140","[2023] General 139"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Systems"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The economic efficacy of logistics infrastructure is being reshaped by the dual forces of digitalization and the labor market. However, a new-era \u201cinvestment return paradox\u201d has emerged. Digitalization and an abundant labor force are theoretically positive forces, so why does their combination, when coupled with capital investment, paradoxically engender negative emergence that suppresses growth? Conceptualizing the regional economy as a Socio-Technical System (STS), this paper unravels this paradox by identifying and theorizing an \u201cadaptive lag trap\u201d. Using provincial panel data from China, we first provide empirical validation for this trap, identifying a significant negative three-way interaction involving labor quantity (coef. = \u22120.218, p &lt; 0.05). We then demonstrate that high-skilled labor quality is the key to mitigating this trap. While its direct interactive effects are not statistically significant, our analysis uncovers a robust and theoretically potent pattern: a higher-skilled workforce systematically reverses the negative trend of the interaction effect. The split-sample test provides the clearest evidence of this pattern, showing the coefficient pivoting from negative (\u22120.0572) in the low-skill subsample to positive (+0.109) in its high-skill counterpart. Our findings establish that high-skill human capital is a necessary condition to circumvent the \u201cadaptive lag trap\u201d, underscoring the imperative for a policy shift from investing in the scale of labor to cultivating its skill structure within a co-evolutionary framework.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/systems13080693","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,13]],"date-time":"2025-08-13T15:53:27Z","timestamp":1755100407000},"page":"693","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["An Adaptive Lag Trap in Socio-Technical Systems: The Paradoxical Effect of Digitalization and Labor on Logistics Investment in China"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"13","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0002-6672-7977","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Keming","family":"Chen","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Maritime and Transportation, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Chunxiao","family":"Huang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Maritime and Transportation, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Ting","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Maritime and Transportation, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Tianqi","family":"Zhu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Maritime and Transportation, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1756-8570","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Tingting","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Maritime and Transportation, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Dan","family":"Zhao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Maritime and Transportation, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,13]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Liu, F., Li, B., and Zhu, M. 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