The Impact of Digital Technology on Land Rent-Out Behavior: Information Sharing or Exclusion?

Xiaofan Zuo and Zhisheng Hong
Additional contact information
Xiaofan Zuo: College of Humanities and Development Studies, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China
Zhisheng Hong: Institute of Science and Development, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China

Agriculture, 2022, vol. 12, issue 7, 1-19

Abstract: In the digital age, it is critical to understand the nexus between digital technology (DT) and land rent-out behavior (LRB). It has implications for reducing the rate of land abandonment to achieve sustainable agricultural development. A large dataset ( n = 5233) dating from 2016 and coming from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) is used to explore the impact of DT on LRB by applying several econometric models, also including the “Recursive Bivariate Probit (RBP) model” and “Chain Multiple Mediation effect (CMM) model”. We provide empirical evidence that the DT’s information sharing effect positively impacted LRB, while an opposite effect is observed by the “digital divide (DT_GAP)” i.e., information exclusion that negatively impacted LRB. We further test the effect of two other variables, namely “digital information dependence” and “non-farm jobs” supposed as mediating factors of DT and DT_GAP in influencing LRB, respectively in a positive and negative way. In particular, the variable “nonfarm jobs” plays a mediating role conditional on the variable “digital information dependence” as a mediating variable at the first level. In addition, statistical tests reveal that the impact of DT and the DT_GAP on LRB is not significant in terms of regional preferences but is significant in terms of age of householder and household income level.

Keywords: digital technology; land rent-out behavior; digital divide; China; RBP model; CMM model; CFPS (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/12/7/1046/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/12/7/1046/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jagris:v:12:y:2022:i:7:p:1046-:d:865937

Access Statistics for this article

Agriculture is currently edited by Ms. Leda Xuan

More articles in Agriculture from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().