earticle

영어

The development of digitalized rural communities has injected fresh vitality into the modernization process of China's agricultural sector and countryside regions. This integration not only bridges the gap between contemporary information technology and traditional agriculture but also opens up unprecedented entrepreneurial opportunities for rural youth. By leveraging digital tools and platforms, these young individuals can tap into new markets, enhance productivity, and create sustainable livelihoods. However, the question arises as to whether this ambitious construction of digital villages actually enhances the entrepreneurial intentions of rural youth and what specific mechanisms are at play. To address these critical questions, this paper delves deeply into how digital villages influence rural youth entrepreneurship. This study utilizes survey data from Zhejiang Province, one of the pioneering regions in China's digital transformation, to provide a nuanced understanding of the phenomenon. The research employs a range of sophisticated methodologies, including the entropy weight-TOPSIS method for evaluating digital village development, multiple linear regression models to isolate the impact of various factors, ridge regression to handle potential multicollinearity, mediation effect tests to explore underlying mechanisms, and moderating effect tests to identify contextual influences. Additionally, this study explores the differential impacts stemming from digital heterogeneity across various dimensions of digital villages, as well as comparisons between pilot and non-pilot areas. The findings suggest that: (1) the establishment of digital villages significantly promotes the enhancement of entrepreneurial intentions of rural youth, with significant direct influence effects from level of development of the digital economy, level of digital livelihood construction, level of digital governance implementation, and level of digital infrastructure development. (2) The mechanism tests indicate that digital village construction enhances entrepreneurial intentions of rural youth by improving their digital literacy, and native cultural affection, social capital and entrepreneurial environment positively moderates the influence of building digital villages. (3) The effect of digital village initiatives on entrepreneurial aspirations of rural youth is subject to significant heterogeneity in the effect of genders, educational attainment, level of economic development, and whether it is a pilot region for digital village construction. This conclusion offers empirical evidence to support the promotion of building digital villages., offering practical implications for China and other developing nations.