Digital Economy, Rural E-Commerce Development, and Farmers’ Employment Quality
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsThank you for the opportunity to review the manuscript "Digital Economy, Rural E-commerce Development and Farmers' Employment Quality". This study examines the impact of rural e-commerce development on the employment quality of farmers in China, considering the digital economy and education level as moderating factors and the rationalisation of industrial structure as a mediating factor. The topic is highly relevant given the rapid expansion of digital platforms in the rural economy and their potential impact on employment. While the study provides new insights into the quality of employment and not just income improvements, its originality is somewhat limited as it focuses mainly on China without making broader international comparisons. Overall, the work is methodologically sound, but could be improved with a better theoretical foundation, expanded references and clearer explanations of the results.
Specific comments:
Ch. Introduction: The introduction jumps between concepts (employment, digital economy, rural e-commerce) without a smooth transition. The paper does focus on how rural e-commerce affects the quality of employment, but the introduction does not immediately identify this as a key issue. Some parts restate well known facts (e.g. that employment is important for social stability) rather than leading directly into the research gap. The introduction briefly mentions previous studies, but does not clearly explain why this study is different or necessary. In the introduction, it would be good to start with a broader context: Why is this topic important? Mention previous studies that have looked at this topic globally. Point out the existing employment challenges in rural areas (low wages, informal labour, lack of stability). Explain that while e-commerce is growing, its actual impact on the quality of employment is unclear. Explain why this study is unique.
Ch. Materials and Methods - Research design: The materials and methods section is methodologically sound, but the authors have not clearly stated which software was used. Section 3.2.2 needs to be restructured to avoid repetition and unclear sentences.
Ch. Empirical results and analysis: In the results section, the statistical results are presented, but the interpretation is sometimes unclear or lacks depth. For example, the negative role of the digital economy (H3a) is statistically significant, but the explanation does not address alternative explanations (e.g. poor internet infrastructure in rural areas, lack of local digital education programmes). Could internet costs or lack of infrastructure explain this effect? The study claims that rural e-commerce has a greater impact on the quality of employment in the middle and western regions than in the east, but it does not provide a sufficient theoretical explanation as to why this is so. I also suggest adding vocational training and digital infrastructure to the policy recommendations. It would be good if the authors would mention the limitations of their study or suggest broad directions for future research.
Ch. References: Only 28 sources are cited in the study, which is relatively few for an empirical research paper. Most of the literature cited focuses exclusively on China’s economic policy. While China is the focus of this study, rural e-commerce, digital economy and employment quality are global issues. The study does not compare its findings with studies from other developing countries that have experienced a similar digital transformation.
Author Response
Introduction:
Comments 1: The introduction jumps between concepts (employment, digital economy, rural e-commerce) without a smooth transition.
Response 1: We sincerely appreciate your valuable comments. We did have problems with the consistency of the concepts presented. In response to your comments, we have revised the introduction to link the issue of "employment" to "rural development" by using "comprehensively improving the quality of farmers' employment" as a bridge, and finally to "rural e-commerce" by naturally introducing "digital economy" through "the global digitalization process". The "digital economy" is naturally introduced through the "global digitization process", and finally the impact of "rural e-commerce" on employment is introduced, so as to make the transition between the three concepts more fluent. It also emphasizes the changes in the shape of the rural economy as a result of the digital economy and leads to the role of rural e-commerce, avoiding jumps between concepts. This section has been amended in the introductory part of the text. I would be grateful for your review.
Comments 2: Some sections restate well-known facts (e.g., that employment is important for social stability) rather than directly invoking research gaps.
Response 2: We sincerely appreciate your valuable comments. You point out that part of it restates well-known facts (e.g., that employment is important for social stability), which I understand very well. My original intention with regard to the discussion of the importance of employment to social stability was to provide the necessary background to the context of the study so that readers could better understand the implications of the study. Although this view is widely recognized, I believe it is still important to re-emphasize this point in this paper as it provides a key logical foundation for subsequent discussions on the quality of farmers' employment, which can better lead to the research theme of this paper.
Comments 3: The introduction briefly mentions previous studies, but does not clearly explain why this study is different or necessary.
Response 3: We sincerely appreciate your valuable comments. The relationship between rural e-commerce and farmers' employment quality has been extensively explored in the literature, which provides an important reference for the research in this paper. However, most of the existing studies have focused on the impact of rural e-commerce on the quantity of employment, while its mechanism of action in enhancing the quality of employment has been insufficiently explored. What makes us different from previous articles is that this paper reveals the promotion effect of rural e-commerce on farmers' employment quality from a new perspective and analyzes in depth the key role of industrial structure improvement in it. It is found that the digital economy has a certain negative impact on the quality of farmers' employment in the process of rural e-commerce development, but farmers' education level can play a positive role. This suggests that improving farmers' education level and enhancing their internal drive is more effective in promoting the positive impact of rural e-commerce on farmers' employment quality than relying solely on the external support of the digital economy. In addition, this paper finds that the development of rural e-commerce significantly contributes to the employment quality of farmers in the eastern, central and western regions of China, and the impact is more prominent in the central and western regions. This finding provides an important basis for the formulation of regionally differentiated rural e-commerce development policies.
Comments 4: In the introduction, it is advisable to start with a broader context: why is this topic important? Refer to previous research on the topic at the global level. Point out the existing employment challenges in rural areas (low wages, informal labor, lack of stability). Show that although e-commerce is growing, its actual impact on the quality of employment is not yet clear .
Response 4: We sincerely appreciate your valuable comments. Your point that the introduction section does not immediately identify the impact of rural e-commerce on employment quality as a key issue is very pertinent. In the revised draft, I have adjusted this section to explicitly identify the impact of rural e-commerce on the quality of employment as the central issue of the study and present it directly in the opening section of the introduction. We have added the importance of employment issues in the global context, especially the employment challenges faced in rural areas such as low wages, informal labor, and lack of stability, at the beginning of the introduction, and added the importance that foreign researchers have placed on this topic, highlighting the global significance of the research topic. We point out that economic downturns, global uncertainty and unexpected shocks have exacerbated employment pressures and that rural labor often lacks employment opportunities, leading to significant unemployment and underemployment among them. This section has been amended in the introductory part of the text. We invite you to review it.
Materials and Methods –
Comments 5: The materials and methods section is methodologically sound, but the authors have not clearly stated which software was used. Section 3.2.2 needs to be restructured to avoid repetition and unclear sentences.
Response 5: We sincerely appreciate your valuable comments. In response to your suggestion, we have added the software used as Stata 17.0 in the study design section for your review.
We sincerely appreciate your valuable comments. We have corrected the unclear sentence in Section 3.2.2. We added “the level of rural e-commerce development is a core explanatory variable”. Please review it.
Empirical results and analysis:
Comments 6: In the results section, the statistical results are presented, but the interpretation is sometimes unclear or lacks depth. For example, the negative role of the digital economy (H3a) is statistically significant, but the explanation does not address alternative explanations (e.g. poor internet infrastructure in rural areas, lack of local digital education programmes). Could internet costs or lack of infrastructure explain this effect?
Response 6: We sincerely appreciate your valuable comments. In response to your question about the interpretation of the negative effects of the digital economy (H3a), we have carefully considered and added and improved the text.
We have added an analysis of factors such as poor Internet infrastructure in rural areas, lack of digital education programs, and the cost of the Internet in Section 4.5. These factors may contribute to the inability of farmers to fully participate in the digital economy, thus explaining the negative effect of the digital economy on the quality of farmers' employment. For example, inadequate network coverage and bandwidth limitations in rural areas may prevent farmers from effectively participating in e-commerce activities, while the lack of systematic digital education programs limits farmers' ability to master e-commerce operations and digital tools.
Based on the above analysis, we further emphasize in the 5.2. policy recommendations section that the government should increase investment in rural Internet infrastructure, reduce Internet access costs, and promote the spread of digital education programs to mitigate the negative impact of the digital economy on the quality of farmers' employment. We would be grateful for your review.
Comments 7: The study claims that rural e-commerce has a greater impact on the quality of employment in the middle and western regions than in the east, but it does not provide a sufficient theoretical explanation as to why this is so.
Response 7: We sincerely appreciate your valuable comments. In response to your question about the theoretical explanation of the greater impact of rural e-commerce on the quality of employment in the central and western regions than in the eastern regions, we have carefully considered and made additions and improvements in the paper. We have added an analysis of regional development differences, policy support efforts, and labor market structure in Section 4.6. to explain why rural e-commerce has a greater impact on employment quality in the central and western regions. To support these theoretical explanations, we cite relevant literature ([36] Pan S.T., Gong J.W., Gao X.W., et al. The Employment Effects and Mechanisms of The Implementation of Rural E-commerce Development Policy in China. Chinese Rural Economy. 2024, 04, 008.), further demonstrates the unique advantages and mechanisms of the role of the central and western regions in the development of e-commerce. We would be grateful for your review.
Policy recommendations:
Comments 8: I also suggest adding vocational training and digital infrastructure to the policy recommendations.
Response 8: We sincerely appreciate your valuable comments. In response to your suggestion to increase vocational training and digital infrastructure in the Policy Recommendations section, we have carefully considered and made additions and improvements in the text.
The specific changes are as follows:
Vocational training: We have added a new paragraph on vocational training in the Policy Recommendations section, emphasizing the importance of upgrading farmers' digital skills and e-commerce operation capabilities. Specific recommendations include: the government should increase investment in vocational training for farmers, especially for skills related to the digital economy, such as e-commerce operation, logistics management and the use of digital tools, in order to help farmers better adapt to the needs of rural e-commerce development.
Digital Infrastructure: We have added a recommendation on digital infrastructure development, stating that the government should further improve infrastructure such as network coverage, logistics systems and payment systems in rural areas, so as to provide solid support for the development of rural e-commerce.
Please review it.
Comments 9: It would be good if the authors would mention the limitations of their study or suggest broad directions for future research.
Response 9: We sincerely appreciate your valuable comments. In response to the issues about limitations and future research directions mentioned in your review comments, we have carefully considered and made additions and improvements in the article.
The specific modifications are as follows:
Limitations: We have added a new paragraph in the article to discuss the limitations of the study, focusing on the shortcomings of the data scope and other aspects. For example, this article is mainly based on provincial panel data and fails to cover finer-grained county or village-level data;
The section on future research directions: we add a number of potential directions for future research, including introducing finer-grained data, exploring the impact of emerging e-commerce models, and conducting international comparative studies. These directions provide a clear path for subsequent research.
References:
Comments 10: Only 28 sources are cited in the study, which is relatively few for an empirical research paper.
Response 10: We sincerely appreciate your valuable comments. Some of the suggested literature and relevant literature from other countries have been added to the references for your review!
Comments 11: Most of the literature cited focuses exclusively on China’s economic policy. While China is the focus of this study, rural e-commerce, digital economy and employment quality are global issues. The study does not compare its findings with studies from other developing countries that have experienced a similar digital transformation.
Response 11: We sincerely appreciate your valuable comments. While we understand the importance of comparing the findings with other developing countries, it is important to note that the development of rural e-commerce in China is characterized by unique policy contexts and economic environments, such as the 'digital countryside' strategy and a large base of rural Internet users. These factors make China's experience significantly different from that of other developing countries. In addition, after our literature search, we found that there are relatively few studies on rural e-commerce, digital economy and employment quality in other developing countries, and the quality of data and depth of research are limited, making it difficult to make direct comparisons. Therefore, we believe that focusing the study on the Chinese context can reveal the mechanism of rural e-commerce's impact on employment quality in greater depth. In the future, as more relevant data from developing countries become publicly available and research progresses, we will attempt to make international comparisons to further validate the generalizability of this study.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsThe article concerns an interesting phenomenon, which is the relationship between the digital economy, rural e-commerce and the quality of employment of farmers in China. The paper uses secondary statistical materials for the years 2011-2020, based on which econometric models were created. The researchers indicate that the development of rural e-commerce can promote the quality of employment of farmers by improving the industrial structure; the digital economy plays a negative role in the development process of rural e-commerce promoting the quality of employment of farmers, but the level of education of farmers plays a positive role in this. The article has a practical dimension because it indicates that state support is important for the development of rural e-commerce enterprises, e.g. subsidies, strengthening the construction of internet infrastructure in rural areas, appropriate support for rural e-commerce policy to improve the quality of employment for farmers.
I have a few comments:
-There is a lack of showing the contribution of researchers from outside China to the discussed issue by citing international literature: e.g. p. 2 in the paragraph "For a long time, relevant scholars have explored various aspects of the digital economy, ..." or by adding the Discussion of Results section.
-Before formulating hypothesis H3a, the concept of "quality of employment of farmers" must be explained in detail so that this hypothesis is understandable.
-Table 1 requires correction because it is not known which variables are assigned to which type. -Table 2, Table 3 and Table 4 - it is worth giving explanations under the table + and - - it is about the direction of impact (positive or negative) of these indicators, but on what?
Best regards
Author Response
Comments 1: There is a lack of showing the contribution of researchers from outside China to the discussed issue by citing international literature: e.g. p. 2 in the paragraph "For a long time, relevant scholars have explored various aspects of the digital economy, ..." or by adding the Discussion of Results section.
Response 1: We sincerely appreciate your valuable comments. Your suggestions are important guidance for us to further improve the paper. In response to your suggestion of citing international literature to show the contributions of researchers outside China, we have carefully considered it and made additions and improvements in the paper.
We have added references to international research findings in the paragraph "Scholars have long explored various aspects of the digital economy ......" on page 2, for example, Jalali (2011) and Chris (2012) on e-commerce and rural household income levels, and Peng's (2021) study on the relationship between rural e-commerce and rural industrial structure. These literatures provide important international perspectives and theoretical support for the research in this paper. Moreover, we have added a number of new international scholars' research results in the references section to ensure that the research background and discussion sections of this paper can fully reflect the contributions of global academics to the relevant issues. We invite you to review it.
Comments 2: Before formulating hypothesis H3a, the concept of "quality of employment of farmers" must be explained in detail so that this hypothesis is understandable.
Response 2: We sincerely appreciate your valuable comments. The concept of the quality of farmers' employment is explained and described in detail in section 3.2.1. and a specific system of indicators has been constructed, which has been labeled before hypothesis H3a, for your review.
Comments 3: Table 1 requires correction because it is not known which variables are assigned to which type.
Response 3: We sincerely appreciate your valuable comments, the table has been rearranged in Table 1 to put the corresponding variable names with the variable types to make them better recognizable. Please review it. The specific variable correspondences are as follows: the level of farmers' employment quality as the explanatory variable, the level of rural e-commerce development as the core explanatory variable, the index of industrial structure rationalization as the mediating variable, the level of digital economy development, the level of farmers' education as the moderating variable, the level of agriculture's contribution (changed, the original text is the level of agriculture development), the level of urbanization (city or town), the level of human capital, the level of foreign investment, the level of openness to the openness to the outside world, level of social consumption, and intensity of government intervention are control variables.
Comments 4: Table 2, Table 3 and Table 4 - it is worth giving explanations under the table + and - - it is about the direction of impact (positive or negative) of these indicators, but on what?
Response 4: We sincerely appreciate your valuable comments. Explanations about "+" and "-" and the direction of the effects have been added at the bottom of Tables 2, 3, and 4. "+" represents a positive impact on the indicator and “-” represents a negative impact on the indicator. We would be grateful for your review.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 3 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsDear Authors
I rate the idea of the research highly, but in my opinion the way of solving the research problem requires rethinking.
The authors attribute the relationship that the development of rural e-commerce can realize the enhancement of farmers' employment quality by improving industrial structure, is this not a conclusion rather too much, it is hard to imagine that the development of e-commerce in rural areas will have such a significant impact on the economy of the region. Especially since e-commerce has niche significance. Traditional distribution channels have a dominant position in the food economy. There is no doubt that the development of e-commerce in rural areas has a positive impact on farmers. But this should not be overestimated. In my opinion, the article should be constructed differently. The relationship between the quality of human capital and the development of e-commerce should definitely be sought. In addition, the economic development of the regions will also support the development of rural areas, agriculture, the improvement of farmers' income situation and the development of e-commerce. But this development impulse comes from outside, it is exogenous in nature. It causes beneficial changes in agriculture. In my opinion, it is impossible to reverse this situation, that this impulse comes from agriculture, and agriculture changes the structure of the region's economy. The development of agriculture depends on the economic development of non-agricultural sectors. A developing economy is an impulse for the development of various forms of agricultural and non-agricultural activities, including e-commerce. The demand impulse comes from outside agriculture. In my opinion, the manuscript gives the impression that it was the other way around. I believe that the article was not thought through. The research concept is very interesting, but its implementation requires ordering, and above all, thinking about the purpose of the research. A very valuable comment by the authors is to draw attention to the low skills of farmers related to digital skills, which limit the development of e-commerce. It seems to me that a better approach to the analysis would be to draw attention to the opportunities and barriers to the development of e-commerce in rural areas.
The authors write: From the analysis of the actual situation, the development of rural e-commerce has made rural production not only limited to the sale of agricultural products but also led to the development of logistics and distribution, warehousing and processing, packaging design, and other related industries. - but they didn't analyze it.
"Agri - Level of agricultural development - Value added of primary sector/GDP" - does this indicator indicate the level of development of agriculture or is it only the share of agriculture in GDP?
Reviewer
Author Response
Comments 1: The authors attribute the relationship that the development of rural e-commerce can realize the enhancement of farmers' employment quality by improving industrial structure, is this not a conclusion rather too much, it is hard to imagine that the development of e-commerce in rural areas will have such a significant impact on the economy of the region. Especially since e-commerce has niche significance. Traditional distribution channels have a dominant position in the food economy. There is no doubt that the development of e-commerce in rural areas has a positive impact on farmers. But this should not be overestimated. In my opinion, the article should be constructed differently. The relationship between the quality of human capital and the development of e-commerce should definitely be sought. In addition, the economic development of the regions will also support the development of rural areas, agriculture, the improvement of farmers' income situation and the development of e-commerce. But this development impulse comes from outside, it is exogenous in nature. It causes beneficial changes in agriculture. In my opinion, it is impossible to reverse this situation, that this impulse comes from agriculture, and agriculture changes the structure of the region's economy. The development of agriculture depends on the economic development of non-agricultural sectors. A developing economy is an impulse for the development of various forms of agricultural and non-agricultural activities, including e-commerce. The demand impulse comes from outside agriculture. In my opinion, the manuscript gives the impression that it was the other way around. I believe that the article was not thought through. The research concept is very interesting, but its implementation requires ordering, and above all, thinking about the purpose of the research. A very valuable comment by the authors is to draw attention to the low skills of farmers related to digital skills, which limit the development of e-commerce. It seems to me that a better approach to the analysis would be to draw attention to the opportunities and barriers to the development of e-commerce in rural areas.
Response 1:
We sincerely appreciate your valuable comments. Your suggestions are important guidance for us to further improve the paper.
In response to your comments on the impact of rural e-commerce on the quality of farmers' employment, we have carefully considered and revised and improved the paper. We have reorganized part 2.2. to support its role through specific mechanisms. For example, e-commerce promotes the optimization and upgrading of the rural industrial chain by promoting the synergistic development of supporting industries such as production, processing, warehousing and logistics, which in turn accelerates the process of revitalization of rural industry (Literature [22]). We cite a number of literatures (Literature [20-21]), which systematically demonstrate that rural e-commerce realizes the improvement of farmers' employment quality through the improvement of industrial structure, from the perspectives of industrial structure adjustment, the increase of non-farming employment opportunities, and the improvement of circulation efficiency. These literatures provide solid theoretical and empirical foundations to support our conclusions. Relevant content has been added in section 2.2. for your review.
While we understand your point about the relationship between the quality of human capital and e-commerce development, the primary goal of this study is to examine the direct impact of rural e-commerce on the quality of employment, rather than the role of human capital. The current research design (including variable selection and model construction) is designed to answer this question directly. We agree that the relationship between human capital and e-commerce is an important area of research, but this is more appropriate as a topic for future research. We have explicitly mentioned this in section 5.3. to provide direction for subsequent research.
In this paper, we focus on the impact of rural e-commerce on the quality of farmers' employment and try to reveal its mechanism of action through empirical analysis. We understand your point of view that “development impulses come from outside”, that is, the economic development of agricultural and non-agricultural sectors is the external driving force for the development of rural e-commerce. However, the focus of this paper is on the direct impact of rural e-commerce on the quality of farmers' employment. We agree that external factors (e.g., policy support and market demand) play an important role in the development of rural e-commerce, but this does not mean that its development is entirely exogenous. In China, the rapid development of rural e-commerce is closely related to the actual needs of rural residents, such as the sale of agricultural products and the purchase of household goods through e-commerce platforms. In addition, government policies (e.g., the 'digital countryside' strategy) also provide endogenous impetus for rural e-commerce. And our study shows that improving farmers' education and enhancing their internal motivation is more effective in promoting the positive impact of rural e-commerce on the quality of farmers' employment than relying solely on external support from the digital economy. Therefore, we believe that the development of rural e-commerce is the result of a combination of internal and external factors.
Nonetheless, we fully agree with your view on the interdependence of the agricultural and non-agricultural sectors and will further explore the external dynamics of rural e-commerce development and its impacts on the agricultural and non-agricultural sectors in our future research. Thank you again for your valuable suggestions, which provide us with important food for thought.
We are especially grateful for your affirmation of the paper's analysis related to farmers' digital skills, which provides important inspiration for us to further deepen our research.
In response to your comments on the opportunities and barriers to the development of rural e-commerce, we have carefully considered your views and conducted in-depth discussions. In this paper, we focus on the impact of rural e-commerce on the quality of farmers' employment and try to reveal its mechanism of action through empirical analysis. While it is true that the level of farmers' digital skills has an important impact on the development of e-commerce, the focus of this paper is on the direct impact of rural e-commerce on the quality of employment rather than on the opportunities and barriers to its development. Therefore, we believe that this section is less relevant to the research objectives and core questions of this paper. We believe that this design can answer the core research question of this paper more directly and also provides an important empirical basis for future research on the opportunities and barriers to rural e-commerce development. Once again, we would like to thank you again for your valuable suggestions, which provide an important reference for us to further improve our research.
Comments 2: The authors write: From the analysis of the actual situation, the development of rural e-commerce has made rural production not only limited to the sale of agricultural products but also led to the development of logistics and distribution, warehousing and processing, packaging design, and other related industries. - but they didn't analyze it.
Response 2: We sincerely appreciate your valuable comments. In the second paragraph of the introduction, it has been proved in the literature that the rise of rural e-commerce enables farmers to directly participate in sales, logistics, and warehousing through online platforms, which will lead to the development of related industries (Chao 2021 ;Li,2022). Moreover, in part 4.4., we add a specific mechanism analysis of logistics and distribution, warehousing and processing, packaging design and other industries in the paper to explore how e-commerce can promote the development of these industries. Please review it. And, there are real data to prove this, for example, the number of logistics enterprises in rural areas of China will increase by 15% year-on-year in 2022, and the output value of agricultural packaging design industry will increase by 20%. In addition, Jiangsu Province has promoted the construction of local logistics networks through rural e-commerce platforms, adding 5,000 village-level comprehensive service stations for mail delivery logistics and directly creating about 12,000 jobs. Shandong Province, through the rural e-commerce platform to promote the integration of agricultural warehousing and processing, the completion of 20 regional cold chain logistics centers, driving the added value of local agricultural products to increase by 15%. 2023, Zhejiang Province, through the rural e-commerce platform to promote the branding of agricultural products, the number of packaging design enterprises to increase by 30%, leading to the relevant employment of about 8,000 jobs. These phenomena show that rural e-commerce significantly promotes the development of related industries through the extension of the industrial chain and injects new vitality into the rural economy.
Comments 3: "Agri - Level of agricultural development - Value added of primary sector/GDP" - does this indicator indicate the level of development of agriculture or is it only the share of agriculture in GDP?
Response 3: We sincerely appreciate your valuable comments. We fully agree with the reviewers' comments and have revised the relevant parts of the text. Specifically, we have adjusted the expression 'level of agricultural development' to 'level of agricultural contribution' to reflect more accurately and intuitively the contribution of agriculture to the national economy. This modification not only avoids confusion with the concept of 'level of agricultural development', but also makes the definition of the indicator clearer and more standardized. Once again, we thank the reviewers for their valuable comments, which are of great significance in enhancing the rigor and readability of this paper.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
Comments and Suggestions for Authors-
Reviewer 3 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsDear Authors
I consider the responses to my comments in the review satisfactory. Therefore, the manuscript can be published.
Best regards
