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Information Technology for Development

Author ORCID Identifier

Ke Zheng: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1076-5184

Yufeng Li: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3109-4017

Xiumin Wu: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-2064-6056

Abstract

The rapid digitization of rural China prompts a key question: how do the applications of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) reshape the economic role of traditional social ties? This study explores how Internet Use (IU) moderates the effect of smallholder farmers' guanxi (i.e., reciprocal relationships) with village cadres on local entrepreneurship. Drawing upon the Social-Mediated Technology (SMT) framework and using survey data from 947 households across 42 villages in Sichuan Province, we find that both clan ties (CL) and reciprocal relationships (Rec) with village cadres positively correlate with smallholder farmers' Local Entrepreneurial Decisions (LEDs). Crucially, IU significantly weakens these positive relationships. Two mechanisms drive this moderating effect: (1) online information acquisition; (2) online social networking. Through these mechanisms, IU reduces village cadres' traditional power as gatekeepers of local information and resources, as well as dominant intermediaries in external market linkages, thus diluting the entrepreneurial value of reciprocal relationships with them. Our analysis tests these mechanisms to identify a potential channel of the institutional shift in rural China. Empirical evidence indicates that the effect is driven mainly by online social networking, while support for the information acquisition mechanism is weak and statistically insignificant. Furthermore, sub-sample analyses reveal that the weakening effect is most pronounced among farmers with higher existing social capital and greater IU levels, highlighting the contingent nature of ICTs’ disruptive potential. Our study suggests that IU is reshaping the connection between traditional social structures and economic behavior in rural China.

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