Research on the Effect of Digital Economy on Agricultural Labor Force Employment and Its Relationship Using SEM and fsQCA Methods

Abstract

The development of the digital economy has alternative and complementary effects on employment in the agricultural labor force. While replacing a large part of the agricultural labor force, digital agricultural technology is also expected to create new jobs and multiply the economic development effect. Finally, it will have a large number of positive spillover effects on rural development. To better understand the effects and relationships of digital agriculture on agricultural labor employment in this process, we gathered microdata from 1098 agricultural laborers in 122 counties (cities and districts) of 16 cities in Shandong Province, China. Compared with previous research, the advantage of our study is that structural equation modeling (SEM) and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) are jointly applied to assess the effects of digital agriculture on agricultural labor force employment and the combinatorial path of inter-effect relationships. The analysis results demonstrate that the effects of digital agriculture on agricultural labor force employment mainly include substitution, complementary, flywheel, agglomeration, structural, synergistic, and spillover effects. Through substitution and complementing effects in a chain reaction, which have effects through intermediate links, the first six effects can lead to spillover effects. We determine two modes with a total of eight configurations that can trigger the spillover effect of digital agriculture on agricultural labor force employment. Therefore, it is necessary to choose an effective combination of paths to improve the utilization rate of agricultural resources and promote the diffusion of improved agricultural technologies. If the positive effects of digital agriculture on agricultural labor force employment are reasonably exerted, the development of sustainable agriculture could be accelerated. This would promote the overall development of the agricultural labor force and lead to the revitalization of rural areas and the integration of urban and rural areas.