Electronic commerce for sustainable rural development : exploring the factors influencing BoPs' entrepreneurial intention

Abstract

Rural e‐commerce entrepreneurship is an effective and credible means to alleviate poverty and promote sustainable social development, particularly in the Base of the Pyramid (BoP). Understanding how to encourage BoPs’ entrepreneurial intention in the rural e‐commerce market has become a key issue for private enterprises and local governments. Based on the entrepreneurial event model, we constructed a research framework to evaluate the factors influencing BoPs’ entrepreneurial intention in rural e‐commerce. We conducted an online survey of rural e‐commerce practitioners from Jieyang and Chaozhou in Guangdong Province, China, and empirically analyzed the survey results using SmartPLS software. The results show that professional knowledge, resource endowment, information and communication technology, and logistics infrastructure have a significant positive impact on BoP entrepreneurship in rural e‐commerce, while previous market channels had a significant negative impact. Based on the findings, we recommend that BoPs should focus more on cultivating professional knowledge in e‐commerce entrepreneurship and capitalize on local resource advantage. E‐commerce enterprises and local governments should strengthen and improve information communication technology and logistics infrastructure among BoP communities. Policymakers should support BoP entrepreneurship in rural e‐commerce by creating a favorable environment.