Abstract
Abstract
In the context of accelerated digital development, investigating the impact of e-commerce operation on rural residents’ well-being is crucial for enhancing overall well-being. Using data from 3487 rural residents across 10 provinces in China, this study empirically analyzes the impact of e-commerce operations on rural residents’ well-being by utilizing the ordered Probit model and mediation effect model. Considering the potential endogeneity issues, this paper conducts endogeneity tests using the instrumental variable method and propensity score matching, respectively. The study also explores the heterogeneous impacts of e-commerce operation on rural residents’ well-being. Building on this foundation, the study further explores the impact difference across different operation products, operation models, operation scales, and operation motivations. The findings indicate that e-commerce operation significantly improves rural residents’ well-being, as confirmed by robustness and endogeneity tests. Mechanism analysis reveals that e-commerce operation enhances rural residents’ well-being by strengthening class belonging. Heterogeneity analysis indicates that the positive effect of e-commerce operation on well-being is more pronounced among rural residents with lower educational attainment, married, and residents in suburban, eastern, and western regions. Further analysis results show that the well-being effect of operating e-commerce for primary processed product, platform e-commerce, scale e-commerce and opportunistic operation is higher. Our finding enrich the analysis across different e-commerce scenarios and provides a micro-level perspective on how rural e-commerce influences the subjective well-being of rural residents.