IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecanpo/v83y2024icp749-765.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

E-commerce and rural women entrepreneurship ——Based on the quasi-natural experiment of “comprehensive demonstration policy” for E-commerce in rural areas

Author

Listed:
  • Dong, Siyuan
  • Wang, Na
  • Fan, Chengwei
  • Chen, Shi
  • Zhang, Lei

Abstract

The importance of information and communication technology in rural areas has gradually become prominent, and rural e-commerce has emerged as a crucial driver for promoting agricultural and rural development. This paper takes the comprehensive demonstration policy for e-commerce in rural areas as a quasi-natural experiment. It is based on five-period panel data from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) and employs the staggered difference-in-differences method to examine the impact of e-commerce on rural women entrepreneurship and its mechanisms. The research results indicate that the implementation of the comprehensive demonstration policy for e-commerce in rural areas significantly increases the probability of rural women engaging in entrepreneurship by 1.6 %. The entrepreneurial promotion effect of this demonstration policy is more pronounced for rural women in the central and western regions and those with lower educational levels, demonstrating the inclusiveness of e-commerce in rural development. Additionally, this promotion effect is also significantly influenced by marital heterogeneity. Mechanism analysis results suggest that the comprehensive demonstration policy for e-commerce in rural areas can stimulate the use of information and communication technology by rural women, leverage the crucial role of non-traditional education in skill development, alleviate financial and social capital constraints for rural women, and inspire a wave of rural women entrepreneurship. The paper argues that the construction of rural e-commerce has the potential to empower rural women entrepreneurship.

Suggested Citation

  • Dong, Siyuan & Wang, Na & Fan, Chengwei & Chen, Shi & Zhang, Lei, 2024. "E-commerce and rural women entrepreneurship ——Based on the quasi-natural experiment of “comprehensive demonstration policy” for E-commerce in rural areas," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 749-765.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecanpo:v:83:y:2024:i:c:p:749-765
    DOI: 10.1016/j.eap.2024.07.018
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0313592624001851
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.eap.2024.07.018?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Clément de Chaisemartin & Xavier D'Haultfœuille, 2020. "Two-Way Fixed Effects Estimators with Heterogeneous Treatment Effects," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 110(9), pages 2964-2996, September.
    2. Jacobson, Louis S & LaLonde, Robert J & Sullivan, Daniel G, 1993. "Earnings Losses of Displaced Workers," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 83(4), pages 685-709, September.
    3. Evans, David S & Jovanovic, Boyan, 1989. "An Estimated Model of Entrepreneurial Choice under Liquidity Constraints," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 97(4), pages 808-827, August.
    4. Qiuxia Qin & Hongdong Guo & Xinjie Shi & Kevin Chen, 2023. "Rural E‐commerce and County Economic Development in China," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 31(5), pages 26-60, September.
    5. Eliana La Ferrara & Alberto Chong & Suzanne Duryea, 2012. "Soap Operas and Fertility: Evidence from Brazil," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 4(4), pages 1-31, October.
    6. Bhimani, Hardik & Mention, Anne-Laure & Barlatier, Pierre-Jean, 2019. "Social media and innovation: A systematic literature review and future research directions," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 251-269.
    7. Wang, Wei & Liang, Qiaozhuan & Mahto, Raj V. & Deng, Wei & Zhang, Stephen X., 2020. "Entrepreneurial entry: The role of social media," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    8. Yi Chen & Ziying Fan & Xiaomin Gu & Li-An Zhou, 2020. "Arrival of Young Talent: The Send-Down Movement and Rural Education in China," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 110(11), pages 3393-3430, November.
    9. Goodman-Bacon, Andrew, 2021. "Difference-in-differences with variation in treatment timing," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 225(2), pages 254-277.
    10. Yuanyuan Li & Jing Tan & Binyang Wu & Jingwen Yu, 2022. "Does digital finance promote entrepreneurship of migrant? Evidence from China," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(19), pages 1829-1832, November.
    11. Song, Ying & Yang, Lu & Li, Lu, 2024. "A study on the impact mechanism of internet embedding on rural E-commerce entrepreneurship," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    12. Mario Cruz-Gonzalez & Iván Fernández-Val & Martin Weidner, 2017. "Bias corrections for probit and logit models with two-way fixed effects," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 17(3), pages 517-545, September.
    13. Li, Fanghua & Zang, Dungang & Chandio, Abbas Ali & Yang, Dongmei & Jiang, Yuansheng, 2023. "Farmers' adoption of digital technology and agricultural entrepreneurial willingness: Evidence from China," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    14. Joshua A. Jackman & Douglas A. Gentile & Nam-Joon Cho & Yuhyun Park, 2021. "Addressing the digital skills gap for future education," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 5(5), pages 542-545, May.
    15. Petri Böckerman & Pekka Ilmakunnas, 2009. "Unemployment and self‐assessed health: evidence from panel data," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 18(2), pages 161-179, February.
    16. Hu, Debao & Zhai, Chenzhe & Yan, Zhen, 2023. "Do social interactions foster household entrepreneurship? Evidence from online and offline data from China Family Panel Studies," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    17. Salma Jabeen & Sanam Haq & Arif Jameel & Abid Hussain & Muhammad Asif & Jinsoo Hwang & Abida Jabeen, 2020. "Impacts of Rural Women’s Traditional Economic Activities on Household Economy: Changing Economic Contributions through Empowered Women in Rural Pakistan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-23, March.
    18. Yong Qin & Yingfeng Fang, 2022. "The Effects of E‐Commerce on Regional Poverty Reduction: Evidence from China's Rural E‐Commerce Demonstration County Program," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 30(3), pages 161-186, May.
    19. Gary S. Becker, 1964. "Human Capital: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis with Special Reference to Education, First Edition," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number beck-5.
    20. Rodgers, Shelly & Harris, Mary Ann, 2003. "Gender and E-Commerce: An Exploratory Study," Journal of Advertising Research, Cambridge University Press, vol. 43(3), pages 322-329, September.
    21. Baker, Andrew C. & Larcker, David F. & Wang, Charles C.Y., 2022. "How much should we trust staggered difference-in-differences estimates?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 144(2), pages 370-395.
    22. Rachel S. Shinnar & Olivier Giacomin & Frank Janssen, 2012. "Entrepreneurial Perceptions and Intentions: The Role of Gender and Culture," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 36(3), pages 465-493, May.
    23. Callaway, Brantly & Sant’Anna, Pedro H.C., 2021. "Difference-in-Differences with multiple time periods," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 225(2), pages 200-230.
    24. Yiwu Zeng & Hongdong Guo & Yanfei Yao & Lu Huang, 2019. "The formation of agricultural e‐commerce clusters: A case from China," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(4), pages 1356-1374, December.
    25. Fan, Gang-Zhi & Li, Han & Li, Jiangyi & Zhang, Jian, 2022. "Housing property rights, collateral, and entrepreneurship: Evidence from China," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    26. Lu, Jing & Xiao, Qinglan & Wang, Taoxuan, 2023. "Does the digital economy generate a gender dividend for female employment? Evidence from China," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(6).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Emma Verónica Ramos Farroñán & Marco Agustín Arbulú Ballesteros & Francisco Segundo Mogollón García & Flor Delicia Heredia Llatas & Gary Christiam Farfán Chilicaus & María de los Ángeles Guzmán Valle , 2024. "Sustainability and Rural Empowerment: Developing Women’s Entrepreneurial Skills Through Innovation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(23), pages 1-17, November.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Xufei Zhang & Hongsheng Fang & Lin Guo, 2023. "Corporate Endowment Insurance Fee Reduction and Employee Wages: Evidence from China," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 31(2), pages 192-222, March.
    2. Huang, Xuhui & Zhou, Tao & Zhang, Ning, 2025. "How does the carbon market influence the marginal abatement cost? Evidence from China's coal-fired power plants," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 378(PA).
    3. Conor Lennon & Johanna Catherine Maclean & Keith F. Teltser, 2024. "Ridesharing and Substance Use Disorder Treatment," NBER Working Papers 33077, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Bas Scheer & Wiljan van den Berge & Maarten Goos & Alan Manning & Anna Salomons, 2022. "Alternative Work Arrangements and Worker Outcomes: Evidence from Payrolling," CPB Discussion Paper 435, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.
    5. Ichev, Riste & Valentinčič, Aljoša, 2025. "The effect of impact investing on performance of private firms," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 73(PA).
    6. Rik Chakraborti & Gavin Roberts, 2023. "How price-gouging regulation undermined COVID-19 mitigation: county-level evidence of unintended consequences," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 196(1), pages 51-83, July.
    7. Simon Freyaldenhoven & Christian Hansen & Jorge Perez Perez & Jesse Shapiro, 2021. "Visualization, Identification, and stimation in the Linear Panel Event-Study Design," Working Papers 21-44, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.
    8. Mikhail Mamonov & Anna Pestova & Steven Ongena, 2023. "“Crime and Punishment”? How Banks Anticipate and Propagate Global Financial Sanctions," CERGE-EI Working Papers wp753, The Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education - Economics Institute, Prague.
    9. Julie Moschion & Jan C. van Ours, 2025. "Lifting up the lives of extremely disadvantaged youth: The role of staying in school longer," Papers 2025-02, Centre for Health Economics, Monash University.
    10. Asatryan, Zareh & Baskaran, Thushyanthan & Birkholz, Carlo & Hufschmidt, Patrick, 2023. "Favoritism by the governing elite," Ruhr Economic Papers 1029, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    11. Chen, Jidong & Shi, Xinzheng & Zhang, Ming-ang & Zhang, Sihan, 2024. "Centralization of environmental administration and air pollution: Evidence from China," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    12. Cl'ement de Chaisemartin & Xavier D'Haultf{oe}uille, 2021. "Two-Way Fixed Effects and Differences-in-Differences with Heterogeneous Treatment Effects: A Survey," Papers 2112.04565, arXiv.org, revised Jun 2022.
    13. Shanqing Liu & Shaolong Wang & Huwei Wen & Congxian He & Huan Liu, 2024. "Public support policies and entrepreneurship in less-developed areas: a study of China’s revolutionary base areas," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 57(4), pages 1-29, August.
    14. Freise, Diana & Schmitz, Hendrik & Westphal, Matthias, 2022. "Late-career unemployment and cognitive abilities," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    15. Marco Compagnoni & Marco Grazzi & Fabio Pieri & Chiara Tomasi, 2025. "Extended Producer Responsibility and Trade Flows in Waste: The Case of Batteries," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 88(1), pages 43-76, January.
    16. Romain Baeriswyl & Alex Oktay & Marc-Antoine Ramelet, 2023. "Exchange rate shocks and equity prices: the role of currency denomination," Working Papers 2023-05, Swiss National Bank.
    17. Davidson, Carl & Heyman, Fredrik & Matusz, Steven & Sjöholm, Fredrik & Chun Zhu, Susan, 2022. "How International Experience Helps Shape Labor Market Outcomes," Working Paper Series 1453, Research Institute of Industrial Economics, revised 09 Jun 2024.
    18. Paul Bingley & Lorenzo Cappellari & Marco Ovidi, 2023. "When it hurts the most: timing of parental job loss and a child’s education," LISER Working Paper Series 2023-12, Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER).
    19. Marcus Roller, Daniel Steinberg, 2023. "Differences-in-Differences with multiple Treatments under Control," Diskussionsschriften credresearchpaper41, Universitaet Bern, Departement Volkswirtschaft - CRED.
    20. Melnik, Walter & Smyth, Andrew, 2024. "R&D tax credits and innovation," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 236(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    E-commerce; Rural women entrepreneurship; staggered difference-in-differences method; Quasi-natural experiment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • R58 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Regional Government Analysis - - - Regional Development Planning and Policy
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • Q16 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - R&D; Agricultural Technology; Biofuels; Agricultural Extension Services
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ecanpo:v:83:y:2024:i:c:p:749-765. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/economic-analysis-and-policy .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.