How Does Digital Technology Enhance Resilience in Rural Communities?

Currently, there remains an imbalance in development between urban and rural areas globally. Rural areas are relatively disadvantaged in risk response. Digital technology holds the potential to become a crucial tool in enhancing the resilience of rural communities. However, existing researches present conflicting views regarding the impact of digitalization on rural resilience, particularly around the debate between digital empowerment and the digital divide. This research provides case evidence from China for this debate, identifies key factors, and unpacks the process mechanisms involved. Through fieldwork and in-depth interviews, this research collects case data on the digital transformation of Zhanghe Village, Chengdu, Sichuan Province. Some of the data also came from official statistical yearbooks. The case analysis reveals that digitalization has brought significant positive changes to Zhanghe Village. We explored the mechanisms and influencing factors of digital technologies on rural resilience from four dimensions: economic, infrastructural, social, and institutional. The following is the ranking of factor importance in each dimension. (1) Economic resilience: digital IP $\gt$ enterprise resources $\gt$ rural resources. (2) infrastructure resilience: physical assets $\gt$ human assets = political assets = cultural assets = social capital. (3) social resilience: bonding social capital = bridging social capital. (4) institutional resilience: formal institutions $\gt$ degree of participant diversity $\gt$ informal institutions. This study responds to ongoing debates in the literature on rural digitalization. It also establishes a framework of influencing factors and clarifies the mechanisms through which digitalization affects rural resilience. It has positive implications for the further digitization of rural areas and their sustainable development in the future.