Poverty alleviation through government‐led e‐commerce development in rural China: An activity theory perspective

Abstract

This paper uses activity theoretic analyses to investigate the role of governments in developing rural e‐commerce ecosystems and the effects of such ecosystems on poverty alleviation. On the basis of a case study of Longnan, one of the poorest regions in China, this paper reports and analyses the various actions taken by local governments in nurturing, supporting, and regulating the development of a local rural e‐commerce ecosystem and using this ecosystem to transform poverty alleviation. Our study articulates a model of poverty alleviation through e‐commerce. By documenting and theorizing the mechanisms underlying rural e‐commerce development and poverty alleviation through e‐commerce as well as governments' role in developing and sustaining them, this paper contributes to establishing a “theory of the solution” to the grand challenge of poverty alleviation both in China and globally.

How do development actors do “ICT for development”? A strategy‐as‐practice perspective on emerging practices in Ghanaian agriculture

“…Studies concerned with "market efficiency" have focused on the use of contemporary technologies-in particular, mobile-for coordinating access to agricultural inputs, receiving market information, monitoring financial transactions, storing local market trends, and market information systems (Aker, 2010;Aker & Mbiti, 2010;Miller et al, 2013;Owusu, Yankson, & Frimpong, 2017). Outside of Africa, research has also examined technologies such as e-commerce platforms (Li, Du, Zhang, & Mao, 2018) and information kiosks (Ali & Kumar, 2011). This literature shows mixed levels of success and calls into question the impact of mobile technology on smallholders' market-related practices (Aker et al, 2016;Burrell & Oreglia, 2013;Nakasone, Torero, & Minten, 2014;Steyn, 2016;Wyche & Steinfield, 2016).…”

“…The activity system in which strategy-as-practice occurs Source: Jarzabkowski and Wolf (2015, p. 170) allows us to examine the "how" and "why" (Walsham, 1995;Yin, 2003) of development actors' strategic practices. In particular, we follow the interpretive case study approach as set out by Stake (2006) and Walsham (1995), which is particularly well suited to illuminating the use of IS in organisations (Darke, Shanks, & Broadbent, 1998) and findings in the development context (Li et al, 2018;Puri, 2007). Here, we provide a description of the Ghanaian agriculture sector before discussing how our data were collected.…”

“…Within the Ghanaian agricultural sector, we focus on 18 organisations (see Table 2); this approach has been used previously in studies focusing on organisations within a sector or on a region within a country (Atsu, Andoh-Baidoo, Osatuyi, & Amoako-Gyampah, 2010;Li et al, 2018). Drawing on multiple organisations allows us to explore the case from multiple and diverse perspectives (Darke et al, 1998;Yin, 2003).…”

Innovation Mode and Optimization Strategy of B2C E-Commerce Logistics Distribution under Big Data

“…Recently, with the rapid development of e-commerce in our country, the scale of e-commerce transactions continues to expand and the consumption means have also changed for people [1][2][3]. According to the Ministry of Commerce of the People's Republic of China, the e-commerce transaction volume has reached 4.48 trillion USD in 2018, which increased 8.5% year-on-year, the online sales reached 1.28 trillion USD, which increased 23.9% year-on-year [4][5][6][7]. The business volume of national logistics companies has reached 507.1 billion pieces, which increased 26.6% year-on-year.…”

The Digital Silk Road and the Sustainable Development Goals

“…Digital trading platforms or social networks such as Taobao, JD.com, and WeChat have transformed the way enterprises operate and have brought new opportunities and innovations. This has had a notable positive impact on some of the most impoverished communities, which had previously been trapped in poverty through geographic isolation (Li et al 2018), and the disabled (Goggin et al 2019;Zhong 2018).…”