How can China's pilot free trade zones achieve high-quality development? Take Tianjin City as an example

High-quality development of China's pilot free trade zones is essential for economic transformation and supports progress to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, limited research has systematically explored the multi-dimensional drivers of high-quality development under varying institutional and environmental contexts. This paper focuses on the Tianjin Pilot Free Trade Zone to investigate key influencing factors and configuration paths. A hybrid method integrating the Technology–Organization–Environment (TOE) framework, Analytic Hierarchy Process–Fuzzy Comprehensive Evaluation (AHP-FCE), and fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) was applied to data from 2016 to 2024, including official statistics and targeted survey responses. Results show the Tianjin Pilot Free Trade Zone's average micro-level high-quality score is 3.26, reflecting overall improvement but revealing deficiencies in innovation, green finance, and regulatory capacity. Four configuration paths were identified for achieving high-quality, while three distinct non-high-quality paths reveal path asymmetry, indicating asymmetric causal relationships. Notably, comprehensive environmental regulation is an important factor across most high-quality configurations. These findings offer theoretical and practical insights for advancing diversified high-quality development strategies in pilot free trade zones and contribute evidence-based support for achieving the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals.