How does digital governance affect the level of domestic waste separation for rural residents? Empirical evidence from rural areas in Jiangsu Province, China

Abstract

IntroductionThe management of rural domestic waste is directly related to the quality of China's rural habitat and the ecological security of the countryside, and is one of the important tasks of rural revitalization.MethodsBased on the perspective of digital technology empowering rural governance, this study uses the China Land Economic Survey (CLES) data to empirically test the impact of digital governance on the level of domestic waste separation for rural residents by constructing the ordered probit model.Results and discussionThe results show that in the process of rural governance modernization, digital governance helps to improve the level of domestic waste separation for rural residents in the process of rural governance modernization, and the findings still hold after robustness tests. Mechanistic tests showed that digital governance can impact the level of domestic waste separation for rural residents through cadre-mass relationship and institutional trust. The findings of this study provide a new perspective on good environmental governance in China's countryside and have important implications for promoting the improvement of rural habitat quality.

The deviation of farmers’ willingness and behavior of domestic waste separation: a study on neighborhood effects and policy interventions

“…If no action is taken, the amount of global waste will increase by 70% to as much as 3.4 billion tons by 2050 (World Bank, 2018). Especially after global outbreaks of infectious diseases, the need for public health governance has received increasing human attention (Chen et al, 2023a). China is one of those countries.…”

“…International management experience tells us that source separation is a viable program for waste management (Paglietti et al, 2016;Manomaivibool et al, 2018). Unfortunately, source separation of domestic waste in China's rural areas has only just begun and is in a small-scale pilot phase (Chen et al, 2023a). Then, how can rural domestic waste management be effectively achieved?…”

“…From the perspective of governance models, Chinese government advocates public-private partnership (PPP) project, which involves a number of entities. But the most prominent problem faced by this project is the low level of farmer participation (Chen et al, 2023a). From the perspective of the main body of governance, farmers are not only the main participants but also the direct beneficiaries.…”

Guest editorial: Digital health and governance: implications and challenges

“…for both high-income and lower-and middle-income countries (HICs and LMICs) (Bloom et al, 2023;Chen et al, 2023;Shaw and Sekalala, 2023;Haig et al, 2022;Huang et al, 2017).…”

“…This involves the development of organizational capacity and policy infrastructure to address topics such as data privacy, security, accountability and oversight, data management and interoperability, public trust and standards and training strategies for ICT skills acquisitions by providers and patients using various digital health applications. As demonstrated by recent studies, digital health governance presents numerous challenges for both high-income and lower- and middle-income countries (HICs and LMICs) (Bloom et al ., 2023; Chen et al ., 2023; Shaw and Sekalala, 2023; Haig et al ., 2022; Huang et al ., 2017).…”