Longitudinal Insights into the Industrial IoT–Green Intellectual Capital Nexus in the Post-COVID Era using SEM‑ANN Approach

In the post-covid 19 era, accelerating the integration of industrial internet of things into the tourism industry is crucial to addressing resource mismanagement and mitigating the environmental crisis caused by carbon-intensive operations. However, a key yet underexplored mechanism lies in how the industrial internet of things reconstructs green intellectual through nonlinear dynamic pathways. This study bridges critical empirical gaps by employing a three-wave longitudinal design (543 Chinese star-rated hotels) and a SEM-ANN hybrid model to unravel both linear and nonlinear dynamics among industrial internet of things, green intellectual capital, and green innovation. The findings reveal that industrial internet of things integration directly enhances green innovation (β = 0.214, p < 0.001) while also strengthening key green intellectual capital components: green human capital (β = 0.324) through technology-aligned skill development, green structural capital (β = 0.450) via digital governance frameworks, and green relational capital (β = 0.360) by fostering cross-sector sustainability partnerships. Moreover, green intellectual capital partially mediates the industrial internet of things and green innovation relationship (p < 0.05), with nonlinear analysis highlighting the dominant impact of green relational capital. By extending dynamic capabilities theory to tourism, this research introduces a novel “Industrial Internet of Things-Green Intellectual Capital-Green Innovation” integration model, providing a strategic low carbon transformation pathway for star-rated hotels. In practice, this study aligns with the domestic tourism development planning policies in China for 2023–2025 and holds significant importance in promoting coordinated industrial transformation and fostering green and sustainable regional economic development.