Electronic Commerce for Sustainable Rural Development: Exploring the Factors Influencing BoPs’ Entrepreneurial Intention

Lijuan Huang,Raoyi Huang,Guokai Li,Guojie Xie,Weiwei Cai,Chrysostomos Apostolidis

doi:10.3390/su131910604

Abstract

Rural e-commerce entrepreneurship is an effective and credible means to alleviate poverty and promote sustainable social development, particularly in the Base of the Pyramid (BoP). Understanding how to encourage BoPs’ entrepreneurial intention in the rural e-commerce market has become a key issue for private enterprises and local governments. Based on the entrepreneurial event model, we constructed a research framework to evaluate the factors influencing BoPs’ entrepreneurial intention in rural e-commerce. We conducted an online survey of rural e-commerce practitioners from Jieyang and Chaozhou in Guangdong Province, China, and empirically analyzed the survey results using SmartPLS software. The results show that professional knowledge, resource endowment, information and communication technology, and logistics infrastructure have a significant positive impact on BoP entrepreneurship in rural e-commerce, while previous market channels had a significant negative impact. Based on the findings, we recommend that BoPs should focus more on cultivating professional knowledge in e-commerce entrepreneurship and capitalize on local resource advantage. E-commerce enterprises and local governments should strengthen and improve information communication technology and logistics infrastructure among BoP communities. Policymakers should support BoP entrepreneurship in rural e-commerce by creating a favorable environment.

Highlights

Given the emergence of information and communication technology and the growing ubiquity of mobile smartphone applications, e-commerce is no longer limited to cities and is becoming a major driver of sustainable economic development in rural areas [1].E-commerce giants from China, such as Alibaba, JingDong, and Pinduoduo, are targeting rural markets while expanding in urban markets
Gao and Liu [11] concluded that start-up costs, internet use, start-up seeds, and professional knowledge are important factors impacting rural e-commerce entrepreneurship
This study focuses on the building of theoretical models and the identification of influencing variables in order to better understand the factors influencing Bottom of the Pyramid (BoP)’ entrepreneurial intention in rural e-commerce

Summary

Introduction

Given the emergence of information and communication technology and the growing ubiquity of mobile smartphone applications, e-commerce is no longer limited to cities and is becoming a major driver of sustainable economic development in rural areas [1].E-commerce giants from China, such as Alibaba, JingDong, and Pinduoduo, are targeting rural markets while expanding in urban markets. 2021, China had reached 309 million rural internet users, representing 55.9% internet penetration rate in the country’s rural population [2]. 70% of the national population, rural areas are considered the Bottom of the Pyramid (BoP) region. The BoP generally refers to a community where a low-income population lives on a per capita income of less than $2 per day and where the population has limited skills, knowledge, and insufficient financial resources [4]. While these communities have significant low-income and poor populations, they hold huge market potential [4]

Results

Discussion

Conclusion