Does the Digital Economy Promote the Balanced Development of Regional Ecological Well-Being Performance? Evidence from Cities in the Yellow River Basin

Continuously advancing regional coordination is crucial for the high-quality development of the Yellow River Basin, and the rise of the digital economy will create new opportunities for this endeavor. Using 78 prefecture-level cities in the Yellow River Basin, a region characterized by developmental imbalances, as the research sample, this study examines the dual effects of the digital economy on spatial spillover and convergence in ecological well-being performance to assess its role in improving the balanced development of regional ecological well-being performance and promoting balanced regional development based on sentiment big data and spatial econometric model analysis. Results show that under geographical–technological–industrial and cultural–technological–industrial spatial linkage conditions, the spatial distributions of the digital economy and ecological well-being performance in cities within the Yellow River Basin exhibit a significant positive spatial correlation. The development of the local digital economy can enhance the ecological well-being performance of spatially connected cities in the Yellow River Basin. Regardless of socioeconomic factors, the digital economy can promote a convergence pattern in ecological well-being performance. The development of the digital economy can drive the balanced development of ecological well-being performance, with virtual spatial proximity represented by cultural distance, emerging as a key factor influencing this effect. This study quantifies the spatial equilibrium effects of the digital economy on urban ecological well-being performance in the Yellow River Basin, providing empirical evidence and policy insights from a digital economy perspective to promote balanced spatial development of ecological well-being performance and support regional sustainable development.