ICT Empowers the Formation and Development of Rural E-Commerce in China

The emergence of e-commerce has rejuvenated backward and poor remote villages. This paper presents a revelatory case study of three remote villages in China to depict how information and communication technology (ICT, specifically e-commerce) can empower remote areas to thrive. With the concept of affordance as basis, this work identifies critical actors in the development of rural e-commerce (i.e., Taobao Village) and illustrates how they use ICT. Eight deterministic affordances of the same ICT used in the evolution of rural e-commerce are specified, and three evolution paths about how ICT empowers the formation and development of rural e-commerce are depicted. This paper also describes the challenges of the current development of rural e-commerce. The findings of the study are discussed, and suggestions on how to capitalize on ICT for rural e-commerce development are offered.