Evolution of the Construction Industry in China from the Perspectives of the Driving and Driven Ability

The construction industry has been developing in recent years, facilitating economic development in China. However, the industry’s development has been confronted by a series of challenges. Exploring the characteristics of the influences of power and the association structure and their level of correlation in the construction industry is important to improve the understanding of the status and development of laws, to optimize industrial structure, and to improve the efficiency of the construction industry—factors that are fundamental to the realization of an optimized, upgraded construction industry. Therefore, the total consumption coefficient and the total distribution coefficient were calculated to reveal the influencing power of the construction industry. Based on the total consumption coefficient and the total distribution coefficient, the driven coefficient and driving coefficient are used to reflect the general effect on the entire industry network. The driven and driving networks were constructed using the total consumption coefficient and the total distribution coefficient to reveal the critical positions of the networks. The results show that the construction industry has significant driven and driving effects on other industries, which facilitate the improvement of the entire economic industry. However, an obvious gap exists between the driven ability and the driving ability as measured by the complex network. The point degree, betweenness degree, and subgroup cohesive characteristics show that the effect of the driven ability is much greater than that of the driving ability for the construction industry in 30 provinces. The findings provide information for policymaking related to the sustainable development of the construction industry in China