Research on Farmers' Willingness to Participate in Rural E-commerce Activities and Influencing Factors Based on a Multivariate Logistic Model

Abstract

The development of rural e-commerce has become a new driving force for the transformation of rural economic development and the realization of rural revitalization. In the process of promoting rural e-commerce, the willingness of farmers to participate has played a decisive role in the effectiveness of the promotion. Based on the literature and field investigation, this paper identifies farmers’ willingness to participate in e-commerce activities based on the survey data of 762 farmers in Xinhua County, Hunan Province, and uses a multivariate Logistic model to analyze the influencing factors of farmers' willingness to participate in aspects of farmers’ learning talents, e-commerce development, and government support. The research results show that farmers are more willing to participate in e-commerce activities. From the perspective of farmers’ learning talents, farmers’ cognition of e-commerce and their educational level have a positive and significant impact on farmers’ willingness to participate in e-commerce activities. From the perspective of e-commerce basics, it can be seen that the degree of network coverage, the popularity of smart devices, the degree of standardization of agricultural special products, and the popularity of agricultural products are significantly positively correlated with farmers’ willingness to participate. The government’s publicity and training of rural e-commerce and financial support policies for rural e-commerce activities have a significant role in promoting farmers' participation in rural e-commerce activities. In order to further increase the confirmation of e-commerce by farmers, and to better promote the development of e-commerce in rural areas, there are three key points to realize. The first is to increase farmers’ cognition of rural e-commerce, the second is to improve network coverage and focus on brand building, and the third is to give full play to the guiding and supporting role of the government.