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…(Scopus)The Impact of Rural E‑Commerce Development on Farmers’Income: A Multi‑Dimensional Empirical Study
Mengze Zhang
Department of Economics, Sejong University, Seoul 05006, South Korea
Jiaxuan Dong
Department of Korean Language Education, Daegu University, Gyeongsan 38453, South Korea
Yizhou Zhang
Department of Economics, Sejong University, Seoul 05006, South Korea
DOI: https://doi.org/10.36956/rwae.v5i4.1273
Received: 26 August 2024; Published: 21 November 2024
Copyright © 2024 Mengze Zhang, Jiaxuan Dong, Yizhou Zhang. Published by Nan Yang Academy of Sciences Pte. Ltd..
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Abstract
This study investigates the impact of rural e-commerce adoption on farmers' income in China, employing a multi-dimensional empirical approach. Utilizing data from 2,000 rural households across five Chinese provinces, we examine the direct effects of e-commerce adoption on income and explore the moderating roles of participation intensity and regional economic development. Our findings reveal a significant positive association between e-commerce adoption and farmers' income, with an elasticity of 0.237 (p < 0.001). Notably, smallholder farmers exhibit the highest income elasticity (0.312, p<0.001), suggesting e-commerce's potential as an equalizing force in rural economies. The study uncovers a non-linear relationship between e-commerce participation intensity and income gains, indicating an optimal level of digital market involvement. Furthermore, regional economic development significantly moderates the e-commerce-income relationship, highlighting the importance of local economic contexts. These results, robust to various econometric specifications, provide valuable insights for policymakers and practitioners engaged in promoting digital agriculture and rural development. The study contributes to the growing literature on digital transformation in rural areas, offering empirical evidence on the heterogeneous effects of e-commerce across different farmer typologies and regional contexts, and emphasizing the need for tailored strategies in fostering inclusive rural e-commerce development.
Keywords: Rural E‑Commerce; Farmers’ Income; Digital Agriculture; China; Regional