Table 1 Description of dependent variable items and descriptive Statistics.

Digital Economy

(DE)

DE1Smart agriculture

Whether intelligent control is applied to the entire industrial chain of production, operation, management, and services in planting, livestock, and fisheries:

Never used = 1; 1–2 times a week = 2; 3–5 times a week = 3; Once a day = 4; Multiple times a day = 5

DE2 E-commerce

Whether to participate in live streaming e-commerce, community e-commerce and other promotion, selling goods, brand building, presbooking e-commerce, wholesale and other links

Never used = 1; 1–2 times per week = 2; 3–5 times = 3; 1 time per day = 4; multiple per day = 5

DE3Smart Tourism

Whether involved in smart policy-making for rural tourism, short video platform promotion of rural tourism, rural tourism financial services, and digital technology training for rural tourism talent:

Never used = 1; 1–2 times a week = 2; 3–5 times a week = 3; Once a day = 4; Multiple times a day = 5

DE4Digital Finance

Whether used inclusive financial services in rural areas, including payment, credit, insurance, wealth management, etc.:

Never used = 1; 1–2 times a week = 2; 3–5 times a week = 3; Once a day = 4; Multiple times a day = 5

Digital Governance

(DG)

DG1Digital Party Affairs

Whether obtained village grassroots party-building policies, publicity, party affairs transparency, and platform learning through the “Internet + Party Building” platform:

Never used = 1; 1–2 times a week = 2; 3–5 times a week = 3; Once a day = 4; Multiple times a day = 5

DG2Digital Village Affairs

Whether completed village affairs awareness, formulation and modification of villagers’ self-governance regulations, and election of village committees through platforms such as WeChat and Yinnong Information Society:

Never used = 1; 1–2 times a week = 2; 3–5 times a week = 3; Once a day = 4; Multiple times a day = 5

DG3Digital Financial Management

Whether completed financial awareness, operation management, and decision-making services for rural contracted land, collective land, collective assets, and rural economic organizations through online platforms:

Never used = 1; 1–2 times a week = 2; 3–5 times a week = 3; Once a day = 4; Multiple times a day = 5

DG4Integrated Government Service Platform

Whether completed six types of agricultural-related government services such as social insurance, new rural cooperative medical care, labor employment, rural land transfer, homestead management, and agricultural subsidies through an integrated government service platform:

Never used = 1; 1–2 times a week = 2; 3–5 times a week = 3; Once a day = 4; Multiple times a day = 5

DG5Grid-based Comprehensive Governance

Whether used various specialized grid-based digital governance services such as public safety video applications, rural water level monitoring alarms, panoramic surveillance, child welfare management information systems, and anti-telecom fraud apps:

Never used = 1; 1–2 times a week = 2; 3–5 times a week = 3; Once a day = 4; Multiple times a day = 5

DG6Smart Emergency Management

Whether used smart emergency broadcasting, WeChat, etc., for emergency prevention, rescue, and security in case of sudden natural disasters:

Never used = 1; 1–2 times a week = 2; 3–5 times a week = 3; Once a day = 4; Multiple times a day = 5

Digital Benefit Services

(DS)

DS1Internet + education

Whether participated in online learning/training activities such as multimedia classrooms, the National Smart Education Public Service Platform, and “Double Teacher Classes” through the “Internet + Education” platform:

Never used = 1; 1–2 times a week = 2; 3–5 times a week = 3; Once a day = 4; Multiple times a day = 5

DS2The Internet + medical and health care

Whether participated in online services such as appointment registration, diagnosis, payment, and inquiry through the “Internet + Healthcare” platform:

Never used = 1; 1–2 times a week = 2; 3–5 times a week = 3; Once a day = 4; Multiple times a day = 5

DS3Internet + Social Security

Whether completed services such as insurance registration, social security payment and inquiry, benefit certification and receipt, employment and career training, cloud recruitment, remote interviews, and live job postings through the “Internet + Human Resources and Social Security” platform:

Never used = 1; 1–2 times a week = 2; 3–5 times a week = 3; Once a day = 4; Multiple times a day = 5

DS4Internet + law

Whether completed services such as legal consultation, legal aid, legal publicity, legal counsel, online case filing, online mediation, and circuit trials through the “Internet + Legal” platform:

Never used = 1; 1–2 times a week = 2; 3–5 times a week = 3; Once a day = 4; Multiple times a day = 5