Search Results (82)

This study aimed to analyze the influence of local politics, village facilitators, recruitment of administrators, training and education, and organizational culture on work motivation and management performance. The study was conducted in Wajo Regency, South Sulawesi Province, Indonesia, utilizing primary data collected from 250 participants, including administrators of village-owned enterprises (BUMDES), community leaders, and representatives from the private sector. The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM) with the LISREL program. The results indicated that the latent variables of local politics, village facilitator, recruitment of administrators, training and education, and organizational culture had a positive and significant impact on work motivation and management performance. These findings are valuable key indicators and provide essential insights for promoting and driving the BUMDES as a pillar of rural development strategies. Based on these findings, it is recommended that the local government revitalize the local political system, reorient the organizational culture of the BUMDES toward a modern business-oriented culture suited to rural conditions, and enhance the training and education of village facilitators to improve their motivation and performance. This recommendation will empower the BUMDES to promote rural economic improvement and sustainable rural development by enhancing work motivation and management performance. Full article

Against the dual backdrop of the “digital countryside” initiative and the development of ecological civilization, the construction of smart green villages has increasingly emerged as a vital pathway for improving rural ecological environment. This study utilizes a three-dimensional framework—including strategic choice, influencing factors, and simulation practice—to construct an evolutionary game model involving the government, enterprises, and villagers. A systematic simulation is conducted based on a field case from Village P in the hilly region of Hunan Province, China. The results of the study reveal the following: (1) Under the combination of high financial incentives, low technical support, and high villager participation, the ecosystem achieves the most stable and positive evolution. Moreover, collaborative governance outperforms unilateral control. (2) Financial support, technological provision, and environmental awareness constitute the three core variables driving the evolution of ecological governance. (3) Cognitive feedback mechanisms significantly influence the dynamic trajectory of green behaviors in enterprises. (4) The simulation results indicate a risk of “sub-stable” divergence in the collaborative mechanism. Furthermore, the stability of the governance system heavily relies on the alignment between policy configuration and information structure. This study offers theoretical support and empirical validation for the institutional design of and strategic interventions for smart green villages, serving as a valuable reference for local-level implementation. Full article

This paper critically examines the consequences of land grabs for livelihoods and agrarian change, based on a case study of rubber plantations in ethnic minorities in the uplands in Northwest Vietnam. Building upon Scoones’ agrarian political economy of livelihood framework, an integrated conceptual framework of a ‘livelihood pathway’ is developed to analyze the impact of rubber plantation land grabs on livelihoods and the agrarian political economy. Drawing on qualitative analysis and survey data from 205 households across six villages inhabited by Thai, Hmong, and Kho Mu communities, this study finds that rubber plantation land grabs have led to differentiated livelihood strategies—ranging from subsistence farming and wage labor to commercial agriculture—shaped by each group’s socioeconomic status, political connections, and access to resources. Consequently, the land grabbing undertaken by a domestic state-owned enterprise has caused the emergence of a set of distinctive livelihood pathways within a complex web of intersections across class and ethnicity in the upland area. This study concludes by arguing that an integrated conceptual framework of a ‘livelihood pathway’ offers a useful tool for analyzing the long-term socio-political consequences of land grabbing in similar contexts across developing countries and beyond. Full article

Common prosperity is the fundamental driving force of rural revitalization, as well as the foundation for achieving sustainable economic development. The e-commerce to the countryside policy has energized the rural economy, helping to improve household economic resilience and reduce income stratification, thereby promoting the inclusive and sustainable development of the digital economy. Drawing on panel data collected from rural fixed observation points in Henan Province during 2009–2022, this study employs a staggered difference-in-differences (DID) approach to evaluate the impact of China’s e-commerce to the countryside policy on farmers’ income and income inequality. The empirical results reveal that the rural e-commerce policy significantly increases farmers’ income while mitigating income inequality. The underlying mechanisms function through three synergistic pathways: industrial structural upgrading, manifested through tri-sector integration driven by rural enterprise development; factor allocation restructuring, evidenced by productivity gains from optimized labor–capital reallocation; and enhanced market inclusion through digital technology empowerment that lowers participation barriers. Heterogeneity analysis indicates that the e-commerce to the countryside policy exhibits pro-poor characteristics, with its income-enhancing and equalizing effects being particularly pronounced in agricultural areas, traditional villages, county-level civilized villages, underdeveloped regions, registered poverty-stricken villages, and households with low human, physical, and financial capital endowments. These findings confirm the inclusive development efficacy of rural e-commerce among vulnerable populations. Consequently, the study provides a replicable policy implementation framework for achieving common prosperity objectives. Full article

This study employs the social–ecological system (SES) framework to investigate the operational mechanisms of farmer apartment housing in Village L, demonstrating how such mechanisms ensure housing security for villagers in land-constrained contexts. Through a case analysis of Village L, we reveal that the effective implementation of farmer apartments relies on four interconnected elements: socio-political and economic conditions, homestead resource allocation within the resource system, institutional governance rules, and collaborative interactions among the government, village collectives, villagers, and enterprises. By integrating fragmented resources, optimizing participatory governance, and fostering multi-stakeholder cooperation, Village L has established a closed-loop operational model of “resource intensification–democratic decision-making–synergistic co-construction”. This model preserves villagers’ homestead entitlements and addresses housing demands through centralized construction, striking a balance between equity and efficiency in land-scarce areas. The findings underscore that farmer apartment housing represents a viable pathway for achieving “housing-for-all” in resource-limited areas, contingent upon institutionalizing village collectives’ self-governance capabilities and incentivizing broader societal participation (e.g., NGOs and enterprises) to form a diversified investment framework. Policy refinements should prioritize scaling context-specific governance innovations while safeguarding farmers’ land rights during urbanization transitions, offering replicable insights for regions facing similar land use challenges. Full article

This study aims to understand community empowerment by utilizing open innovation through Village-Owned Enterprises (VOE) to enhance sustainable public welfare. To achieve both economic and social missions, VOE must develop the ability to engage in open innovation by leveraging external knowledge sources, both inbound and outbound. This research employs a literature review method, analyzing previous studies indexed in the Scopus Database and processed using the VOSviewer software. The findings indicate that open innovation, which utilizes inbound external knowledge sources such as markets, knowledge, open resources, and cooperative networks, has already been adopted. However, the utilization of knowledge has not yet been fully optimized as a foundation for producing goods and services due to limitations in human resources. Similarly, outbound open innovation derived from technology has been implemented, although the utilization of patents remains suboptimal. This study recommends that village-owned business entities evaluate their operations, particularly in the utilization of knowledge and commercialization to ensure sustainability. Furthermore, this research contributes to the discussion on open innovation by emphasizing that leveraging market-driven knowledge, openness, cooperation, and technology should be a major focus for VOE in the context of business activities, where increased public participation plays a crucial role in sustainable economic development. Full article

This study examines the main determinants influencing the commitment of tourism village managers and business stakeholders to implement digital transformation. It will test the impact of perceived benefits, attitudes towards change, consumer behavior change, and the technological context on the intentions and commitments of tourism village managers and enterprises in Bogor Regency, Indonesia. The Causal Step multiple linear regression analysis examined 146 respondents selected through saturated sampling. The findings indicated that attitudes towards change, consumer behavior change, and the technological context significantly influenced the commitment to implement a digital transformation, mediated by the intention to implement digital transformation. The intention to implement digital transformation became a perfect part of the technological context of the commitment to implement digital transformation. It became a partial mediator of the influence of digital attitudes towards change and consumer behavior change on the commitment to implement transformation. Perceived benefits only directly affected the commitment to implement digital transformation. This research has at least two novelties, conceptual and contextual novelties. Conceptual novelty is studied in digital transformation, focusing on tourism villages. The contextual novelty is that the findings offer a more thorough understanding of the conditions and stages of technological transformation embraced by stakeholders and managers of tourism villages. Full article

With the rapid development of China’s rural economy, rural collective economic organizations have played a significant role in increasing farmers’ income and promoting rural revitalization. This study aims to explore the impact of farmers’ participation in skills training organized by rural collective economic organizations on their livelihood capital and the underlying mechanisms. Using tracking survey data from rural households in Chongzhou City, Sichuan Province, in 2023, the paper employs empirical analysis methods, including OLS and mediation effect analysis. The results show that participation in skills training organized by rural collective economic organizations enhances farmers’ livelihood capital. The effectiveness of public service delivery by village committees, the network role of farmers’ cooperatives, and the linkage effect of leading agricultural enterprises in driving rural development act as mediating factors. Additionally, the impact of skills training on farmers’ livelihood capital varies according to household characteristics and the attributes of the rural collective economic organizations involved. Therefore, this paper proposes the following policy recommendations: (1) Further strengthen the public service and resource allocation functions of the village committees. (2) Support and optimize the operating entities such as farmer cooperatives and leading agricultural industrialization enterprises. (3) Address the training needs of different groups and enhance the focus and support of grassroots governments for skills training in collective economic organizations. Full article

The Village Fund program was started by the Indonesian government in 2015 and had a budget of USD 19.14 billion for the years 2015–2019. This research aims to provide novel insights into the importance of village-owned enterprises (BUMDes) in promoting rural entrepreneurship in rural areas of Indonesia. The investigation employs an approach that specifically emphasizes qualitative data. The individuals under investigation include the Director of the Office for Community Empowerment, Village, Population, and Civil Registration (Dispermadesdukcapil), along with five administrators/managers from BUMDes. In the “Synergy and Involvement” category, the results suggest that BUMDes are more inclined to collaborate with Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) and other BUMDes at a similar or slightly higher level in their organizational structure rather than with large-scale companies. This is due to the fact that SMEs and other BUMDes are more inclined to have a strong and interconnected bond with each other. Full article

This study investigates the factors driving micro, small, and medium enterprise (MSME) empowerment, tourism development, and sustainable tourism villages, focusing on Ponggok Tourism Village as a case study. The purpose is to address gaps in understanding how leadership, innovation, governance, collaboration, capacity building, and technology contribute to empowering MSMEs and achieving sustainability in rural tourism contexts. Using a mixed-methods approach, the study combines quantitative analysis of survey data and thematic analysis of interviews with MSME actors, facilitators, and local government officials. Key findings reveal that leadership and innovation are critical drivers of MSME empowerment, with technology in service quality significantly impacting tourism development. However, technology in governance and transparency shows limited direct influence on tourism, emphasizing the need for better alignment with tourism strategies. Additionally, MSME empowerment strongly influences both tourism development and the sustainability of tourism villages, creating a mutually reinforcing relationship. This study provides a novel framework for integrating leadership, technological advancements, and governance improvements with local tourism strategies. By highlighting Ponggok’s village potential as a model, the findings offer practical insights for policymakers and practitioners seeking to enhance rural tourism through MSME empowerment. Future research could explore scaling this framework to other contexts and refining technological tools for governance in tourism. Full article

With the rapid advancement of drone technology, modern drones have achieved high levels of functional integration, alongside structural improvements that include lightweight, compact designs with foldable features, greatly enhancing their flexibility and applicability in photogrammetric applications. Nevertheless, limited research currently explores data collected by such compact UAVs, and whether they can balance a small form factor with high data quality remains uncertain. To address this challenge, this study acquired the remote sensing data of a peri-urban area using the DJI Mavic 3 Enterprise and applied Object-Based Image Analysis (OBIA) to extract high-density buildings. It was found that this drone offers high portability, a low operational threshold, and minimal regulatory constraints in practical applications, while its captured imagery provides rich textural details that clearly depict the complex surface features in urban villages. To assess the accuracy of the extraction results, the visual comparison between the segmentation outputs and airborne LiDAR point clouds captured by the DJI M300 RTK was performed, and classification performance was evaluated based on confusion matrix metrics. The results indicate that the boundaries of the segmented objects align well with the building edges in the LiDAR point cloud. The classification accuracy of the three selected algorithms exceeded 80%, with the KNN classifier achieving an accuracy of 91% and a Kappa coefficient of 0.87, which robustly demonstrate the reliability of the UAV data and validate the feasibility of the proposed approach in complex cases. As a practical case reference, this study is expected to promote the wider application of lightweight UAVs across various fields. Full article

Rural domestic sewage management is a crucial pathway for achieving Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6 targets. Addressing the crucial challenge of prioritizing administrative villages for rural domestic sewage treatment at the county scale requires dedicated planning. However, county-level comprehensive evaluation models designed specifically for this purpose are currently limited. To address this gap, we developed a model based on 13 evaluation indicators encompassing village distribution characteristics, villager demographics, rural economic levels, and sanitation facility conditions. To gauge the varying emphasis on these factors by different groups, a questionnaire survey was conducted among experts, enterprises, and government departments involved in the rural sewage sector in China. Two counties from distinct regions were then chosen to validate these models. The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) coupled with the Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) method was employed to rank the importance of the factors and determine the prioritization of rural domestic sewage management in each area. The model results indicated that priority should be given to the county government, township government, ecologically sensitive areas, and administrative villages near tourist attractions in the two selected empirical counties for governance. A sensitivity analysis showed that altitude consistently exhibited high sensitivity in influencing the ranking results across all scenarios (0.4–0.6). In addition, the empirical results obtained were largely consistent with the priorities of local governments. The proposed framework offers a practical application for decision-making systems in rural domestic sewage management at the county level, providing theoretical support and scientific strategies. This holds great significance for achieving SDG 6. Full article

This study aims to explore the pivotal role of rural tourism in addressing the “three rural issues” and promoting rural revitalization. This study selects two representative villages in China that adopt different models of tourism development: Shibadong Village in Huayuan County, Hunan Province, which adopts a government-led model, and Yuanjia Village in Lixian County, Shaanxi Province, which follows a community-led model. This study evaluates the impact of rural tourism on rural revitalization using the Entropy-TOPSIS method. Utilizing the IPA (Importance–Performance Analysis) method and an independent samples t-test, a comparative analysis of the two models was conducted to reveal the differences in the effects of rural tourism in promoting rural revitalization between the different models. This study reveals that rural tourism positively impacts the revitalization of rural industries, ecology, culture, talent, and organization. However, the effects of tourism in promoting rural revitalization vary across different tourism development models. This study further suggests that the “multiple interlocking model” may be the future trend of rural tourism development as it can better integrate the resources of the government, communities, and enterprises to achieve more effective rural revitalization. This study deepens the theoretical link between rural tourism and rural revitalization, providing concrete guidance for practice, especially in strategies that drive comprehensive rural revitalization through tourism. Future research should further explore the corporate-led model and the multiple interlocking model and track the evolution of tourism development models through longitudinal comparisons to adapt to the changing needs of rural development. Full article

Capital plays a crucial role in driving rural sustainable development. Some rural areas have achieved revitalization through capital intervention, while others have experienced failure. It is possible that the purposes of capital intervention initiated by different parties (such as government, enterprises, and individual investors) in rural areas differ, which leads to the divergence of development routes and effectiveness. Yet, the questions of why and how this phenomenon occurs have not been well studied. Based on observation and an in-depth interview conducted in two suburban villages near Wuhan, we have established an analytical framework with which to compare the route and effectiveness of rural developments driven by capital intervention. The results are as follows: (1) The sources of capital and the embedded purposes determine the modes of rural resource reconfiguration and the arrangement of the relevant industrial sectors. The answer to the question of how to allocate capital gains among different interest groups engaged in rural development determines whether a community of shared interests with respect to sustainable rural development can be established and operate effectively. (2) As the profit-making process differs among capital originating from different sources, it is necessary to evaluate this process such that the pursuit of capital gains and its influence upon rural sustainable development can be clarified and coordinated. (3) Throughout the capital intervention process, villagers’ participation is crucial as it is the prerequisite for the establishment of a mutually beneficial win–win relationship between external capital investors and local villagers. This comparative study of the two villages can provide insights into policy formulation for the purpose of rural revitalization in China and other countries in the Global South undergoing rapid urbanization. Full article

In recent years, with rapid economic development, the importance of environmental governance has gradually been overlooked. The increasing pollution caused by rural sewage discharge has posed a significant threat to the local ecological environment. In this context, this paper treats the local governments, village enterprises, and farmers as the game subjects, integrating them with prisoner’s dilemma theory to construct a tripartite game model. By analyzing the equilibrium points and stability of the model, as well as the effects of the parameters in the dynamic equations, this paper reveals the evolution of strategic choices made by different participants. The results indicate that the optimal strategy for local governments is strict regulation, and village enterprises tend to adopt purification measures, while farmers weigh the costs and benefits and exhibit a negative attitude toward participating in governance. Finally, from a practical perspective, this paper offers suggestions for improving rural ecological environmental protection by engaging local governments, village enterprises, and farmers, aiming to promote the sustainable development of the ecological environment. Full article