earticle

영어

Entrepreneurship plays a pivotal role in advancing agricultural modernization and rural revitalization. However, the mechanisms through which village cadres’ authority configurations stimulate entrepreneurial vitality remain underexplored. In the contemporary era, the interplay between traditional elite governance models and emerging new quality productive forces has given rise to the intricate authority characteristics of village cadres. Grounded in Weber’s Authority Theory, this study utilizes fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to explore the relationship between village cadres’ authority configurations and rural entrepreneurial vitality. The research yields several key findings: First, a high degree of legal-rational authority is identified as a necessary condition for enhancing rural entrepreneurial vitality, while low traditional authority serves as a necessary condition for suppressing such vitality. Second, educational attainment (a core dimension of charismatic authority) consistently appears across all high-vitality configurations, demonstrating its pervasive role in fostering entrepreneurial vitality. Third, three distinct configurations of village cadres’ authority have been uncovered as drivers of high levels of entrepreneurial vitality: (1) the education-experience synergistically-driven model empowered by democratic election; (2) tripartite authority collaborative-driven model underpinned by democratic election; and (3) multi-dimensional factor coordinated-driven model dual-supported by democratic election and membership in Communist Party of China (CPC Membership). Notably, the prevalence of the holistic authority integration configuration highlights the importance of considering multi-dimensional and composite forms of authority when selecting village cadres. Finally, the study reveals two separate pathways driving non-high levels of entrepreneurial vitality: (1) legitimacy and resource integration dilemma underpinned by unidimensional experience, and (2) capabilities and resources shortcoming underpinned by singular advantage of inclusive openness. These pathways demonstrate an asymmetric relationship with the pathways associated with high entrepreneurial vitality. This paper constructs a multi-dimensional authority integration framework to elucidate the synergistic mechanisms of authority interactions, transcending the limitation of traditional research focusing on singular authority element. Furthermore, it introduces the fsQCA method into rural research, thereby expanding the analytical perspectives in rural revitalization research.