“Active Government + Effective Market” Collaboration Driving the Improvement of Public Sports Service Efficiency: Mechanisms and Pathways Based on Empirical Evidence from 30 Provinces

Background Against the backdrop of the ongoing “Healthy China” strategy and the construction of a sports power, how to improve the efficiency of public sports services through the collaboration of government and market has become an important issue in the modernization of the sports governance system. Methods This paper integrates the active government and effective market into the same analytical framework, and empirically tests the impact and mechanism of their collaboration on the efficiency of public sports services using panel data from 30 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) in China from 2015 to 2022. Results The study finds that: (1) The benchmark regression test shows that the collaboration between the government and market can significantly improve the efficiency of public sports services.(2) Mechanism analysis indicates that the collaboration promotes financial development, industrial structure upgrading, and the concentration of innovative talent, which empowers the improvement of public sports service efficiency.(3) Further research finds that the collaboration has a more significant impact on improving the efficiency of public sports services in the central and western regions; at the same time, increases in education, culture, and healthcare expenditures can further enhance the promotion effect of their collaboration on the efficiency of public sports services. Conclusions The research conclusions reveal the intrinsic logic of government-market collaboration in promoting the improvement of public sports service efficiency, providing empirical evidence and policy references for improving the public sports service system and promoting the high-quality development of the sports industry.