Linking farmers to markets: Does cooperative membership facilitate e-commerce adoption and income growth in rural China?

Chen Chen, Christopher Gan, Junpeng Li, Yao Lu and Dil Rahut

Economic Analysis and Policy, 2023, vol. 80, issue C, 1155-1170

Abstract: This study uses the 2020 China Rural Revitalization Survey to investigate the associations between cooperative membership, E-commerce adoption, and household income. Using the conditional mixed process framework, we find that cooperative membership promotes rural households’ e-commerce adoption, and cooperative membership and e-commerce adoption significantly increase rural household income. The two-stage predictor substitution approach confirms this result. Further, participating in different types of cooperatives has heterogeneous effects on the e-commerce adoption decision and household income growth. However, regardless of whether or which cooperative households participate in, e-commerce adoption significantly increases household income. Policymakers can work with e-commerce enterprises, leverage the current cooperatives, especially the village stock economic and market cooperative, and set up e-commerce cooperatives to popularize e-commerce-related knowledge to encourage e-commerce adoption among rural households. Further, considering the regional disparities in e-commerce adoption, it is essential to strengthen the policy support for the rural households residing in Central and Western China to narrow the “digital divide.”

Keywords: Cooperative membership; e-commerce adoption; Household income; CMP framework; Market participation; Rural China (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D10 I30 J54 Q13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecanpo:v:80:y:2023:i:c:p:1155-1170

DOI: 10.1016/j.eap.2023.09.040

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