The Emergence of Self-Organizing E-Commerce Ecosystems in Remote Villages of China: A Tale of Digital Empowerment for Rural Development

Author List: Leong, Carmen Mei Ling; Pan, Shan-Ling; Newell, Sue; Cui, Lili;
MIS Quarterly, 2016, Volume 40, Issue 2, Page 475-484.
The emergence of Alibaba's Taobao (e-commerce) Villages in remote China has challenged the assumption that rural, underserved communities must always be the recipients of aid to stimulate ICT-enabled development. Based on an in-depth case study of two remote villages in China, this research note shows how ICT (e-commerce) can empower a marginalized community, giving rise to a rural e-commerce ecosystem that can aid self-development. We propose the concept of digital empowerment to explicate our findings in the exploration of community-driven development: first, we identify the critical actors of a rural e-commerce ecosystem and how they use ICTs; second, we illustrate how the same ICT can be used for different affordances by the actors in the evolution of a rural e-commerce ecosystem. The paper also presents unintended consequences of rural e-commerce development. We conclude with suggestions on how to make ICT useful for rural development and, in doing this, challenge some of the prevailing theoretical arguments about this process.
Keywords: ICT-enabled rural development; rural e-commerce ecosystem; digital empowerment; social consequences of ICT; case study
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#158 0.232 capital social ict communication rural icts cognitive society information well-being relational india societal empirically create develop disadvantaged technologies explore china
#82 0.174 case study studies paper use research analysis interpretive identify qualitative approach understanding critical development managerial elements exploring points positivist presents
#54 0.141 approach conditions organizational actions emergence dynamics traditional theoretical emergent consequences developments case suggest make organization point outcomes recent trajectory claims
#98 0.126 platform platforms dynamics ecosystem greater generation open ecosystems evolution two-sided technologies investigate generations migration services implications interplay disruptive control markets
#176 0.090 e-commerce value returns initiatives market study announcements stock event abnormal companies significant growth positive using methodology investments period time initiative
#103 0.075 exploration climate technology empowerment explore features trying use employees intention examining work intentions exploring autonomy exploitation innovate feature understanding individual
#178 0.059 digital divide use access artifacts internet inequality libraries shift library increasingly everyday societies understand world initiative initiatives embedded community dimensions