The Configurational Paths in BoP Rural E-Commerce Entrepreneurial Opportunity: A Fuzzy-Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis

Abstract

Bottom of the pyramid (BoP) e-commerce entrepreneurship has emerged as a new phenomenon in China’s rural regions, but its origins have not been thoroughly explored. This study analyzed the shaping of entrepreneurial opportunity (EO) based on the entrepreneurial ecosystem theory as the study framework. A questionnaire survey was conducted among 213 rural e-commerce practitioners in Guangdong and Wuling Mountains, China, using the fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis approach to study the various factors and causal mechanisms affecting EOs. Our findings highlight the following: 1) there is no single necessary condition for high BoP rural e-commerce EO formation. However, low human capital leads to nonhigh BoP rural e-commerce EO formation; 2) the driving mechanisms for high BoP rural e-commerce EO are of three types (five paths): government-led, dual-interaction between government and potential subjects, and market-led; and 3) there is an asymmetry between the driving mechanisms of high and nonhigh entrepreneurship opportunity formation in rural e-commerce. The findings of this article contribute to the expansion of the entrepreneurial ecosystem theory’s application in rural e-commerce entrepreneurship and provide practical implications for the BoP population in effectively obtaining EOs in rural e-commerce.