Digital Villages Construction Accelerates High-Quality Economic Development in Rural China through Promoting Digital Entrepreneurship
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Manuscript title: Digital Villages Construction, Digital Entrepreneurship and High-quality Economic Development in Rural China
Major comments:
1. A brief but informative sentence about the potential users of the study results at the end of the abstract section is highly recommended.
2. I suggest including the hypotheses and research questions of the study in the introductory section to better inform and educate readers about the work.
3. The part of the study dealing with the literature review and the theoretical framework still needs some work. Under the title "Construction of a mechanism framework for digital villages construction to promote high-quality development of rural economy" the authors focus too much on the concept of digital villages. The section has to elaborate on the general theory of economic modernization proposed in the semnal work of Sir W. Arthur Lewis (1954), whereby rural sector is deemed to supply the modern urban sector with labor force migrating from villages to urban areas (modern sector). Yiur work has a divergent focus. But it should at least be mentioned that this approach is an extention of the Lewis-paradigm of economic development, whereby villages are mot only underdeveloped settings. To this end refer briefly to the following works and show that China has already passed over the Lewis' Turning Point
https://doi.org/10.1057/s41287-019-00221-7
https://doi.org/10.1111/rode.12716
Furthermore, the readers need to know a bit more about the recent development of rural economy in China and its relevance to digital villages, also based on other publications. Then, authors should include some international studies that deal with the impact of digitalization (e-government, e-governance, etc.). For example, refer to Sadik-Zada et al. (2022) and Niftiyev (2022a), in which the authors comprehensively analyzed how digitalization helps countries in their economic and institutional development. In addition, China's rapid economic growth and development can also be viewed in an international context. Niftiyev (2022b) provided a case study on the South Caucasus region, which could also be very useful for this paper. Refer to it.
4. The "Conclusion and Discussion" section should be revised. In its present form, it is very long. The "Conclusion" section should be more than a summary of the major findings of the paper. The research question and hypotheses should be reminded to the readers. The limitations and recommendations for further research were not presented. Brief policy implications for the Chinese government should also have been listed at the end of the section in a separate paragraph, not within the list of findings. These confusing aspects should be addressed.
Minor comments:
5. Figure 2 is not readable.
Final opinion: I enjoyed reading this paper, which presents the five new development principles of openness, environmental friendliness, coordination, innovation, and sharing as the core of quality rural economic development, using China as an example. It takes as its starting point the way digital villages are constructed and combines this with the relevant theoretical literature and previous continuous follow-up research. This paper has several impressive features. The digital village development index and the rural economy qualitative development index system are well elaborated and calculated. Then, the authors show empirical tests of the direct promotion effect of rural digital construction on quality rural economic development. The authors also used the mediation effect model and chose rural digital industry entrepreneurship as the mediator for transmission. From the results, we can see that this was also combined with the construction of digital villages and the high-quality rural economy development level to show how the digital industry activity has an indirect effect. One of the most important results shows that there is a relationship between the construction of digital villages and good development of rural economy. Improving the entrepreneurial activity of digital industries is an important way for building digital villages to promote the development of rural economy.
This paper makes an important contribution to the literature by examining an interesting phenomenon; however, the literature review and conclusion sections need some revisions. All quantitative estimates and modeling appear valid and sound according to standard empirical and theoretical approaches. All steps of the investigation are clear. The results are sound. I propose to publish this paper with the minor revisions suggested in this peer review.
References mentioned above without DOI:
Sadik-Zada, E. R., Gatto, A., Niftiyev, I. (2022). E-government and petty corruption in public sector service delivery. Technology Analysis & Strategic Management, 1-17. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09537325.2022.2067037
Niftiyev, I. (2022). China's Interests in the Industrialization of the South Caucasus: Comparative Analysis of Labor Productivity in the Manufacturing Sector. Ekonomicheskie i Sotsialnye Peremeny, 15(2), 205-222. DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15838/esc.2022.2.80.13
Niftiyev, I. (2022). The Role of Public Spending and The Quality of Public Services in E-government Development. In Materials II International Conference “Digital Economy: Modern Challenges and Real Opportunities”, 28-29 April 2022 (pp. 450-454). Baki: Publishing House UNEC-Azerbaijan State Economic University. Available at: https://www.econstor.eu/handle/10419/256899
Author Response
Dear Prodessor,
Please see the attachment.
Yours sincerely,
Yan Mei
Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
Overall Review: Overall the research is well explained. The research chosen and the application of technique make the research interesting. However, there may be some improvements in this work for the betterment of the study. The research gap, hypothesis, and results are well articulated but need to provide a problem statement and objectives. All sections need serious improvements- the heading should follow the same format (Sentence case). It must be improved with presentations on paragraphs, spaces over subsections, figures, and tables. This research must add many citations, which further will provide many references. The English language needs minor improvement. Making sentences, and paragraphs shorter in the complete research paper may enhance the quality of the work. The work reflects the dedicated work from the research. However, suggested comments can help the researcher to improve the quality of the research paper for the research fraternity.
(1) Title
· Authors have framed a very basic title, though it is clear and accepted.
· There may be a minor modification to make the title interesting.
(2) Abstract and Keywords
· Abstract is very well articulated which is representing a good snapshot of the research.
· Sentences need some improvement in vocabulary and grammar for the English language.
· Line No. 14 has an additional space before the sentence.
· Keywords are well chosen and suiting with the research, but need to check with journal style.
(3) Introduction
· A good presentation of the work with the requirements.
· It is the introduction, which is written in a very organized manner.
· It is comparatively a small section. It may be elaborated as many paragraphs.
· Citations leading to be very justifiable.
· Sentences have a proper flow and connectivity.
· Research gap should be written as a problem statement that will lead to research questions.
· Objectives of the research must be added.
· The paragraph has its own significance in the study.
· It would have a better expression if paragraphs are keeping similar in size.
· English grammar and punctuation need improvement in many sentences.
(4) Theoretical Analysis and Research Design
· This segment is well explained with clarity of explanations.
· A paragraph before subsection 2.1 would be a better presentation.
· Subsection 2.1 should have a modified heading with lesser words.
· Subsection 2.1 should have equally distributed paragraphs.
· Subsection 2.1 should have many paragraphs rather than only a paragraph of a page.
· Subsection 2.1 must provide more citations.
· Heading of the subsections needs a check and correction.
· Figure 1 is meaningful, but needs a source or author’s contribution.
· Figure 2 is meaningful, but needs a source or author’s contribution.
· Subsection 2.2 is very impressive, but lacking in citations.
· Subsection 2.2 must provide more citations.
· It would have a better expression if paragraphs are keeping similar in size.
· It is strongly recommended to provide more citations for this section.
· English grammar and punctuation need improvement in many sentences.
(5) Materials and Methods
· This segment is well explained with clarity of explanations.
· A paragraph before subsection 3.1 would be a better presentation.
· A line space is required above subsections.
· Equations are well discussed and show relevance.
· This section needs more relevant citations.
· It would have a better expression if paragraphs are keeping similar in size.
· Table 1 is meaningful, but needs a source or author’s contribution.
· Table 2 is meaningful, but needs a source or author’s contribution.
· Tables need proper formatting as per journal style.
· Space above the table and subsections must be improvised.
· It is well explained with sub-sections displaying much clarity.
· It is strongly recommended to provide more citations for this section.
· English grammar and punctuation need improvement in many sentences.
(6) Analysis of Empirical Results
· This segment is well explained with clarity of explanations.
· A paragraph before subsection 4.1 would be a better presentation.
· It would have a better expression if paragraphs are keeping similar in size.
· It is strongly recommended to provide more citations for this section.
· Tables need proper formatting as per journal style.
· Space above the table and subsections must be improvised.
· Table 3 is meaningful, but needs a source or author’s contribution.
· Table 4 is meaningful, but needs a source or author’s contribution.
· Table 5 is meaningful, but needs a source or author’s contribution.
· Table 6 is meaningful, but needs a source or author’s contribution.
· Table 7 is meaningful, but needs a source or author’s contribution.
· Table 8 is meaningful, but needs a source or author’s contribution.
· Table 9 is meaningful, but needs a source or author’s contribution.
· Table 10 is meaningful, but needs a source or author’s contribution.
· Table 11 is meaningful, but needs a source or author’s contribution.
· Table 12 is meaningful, but needs a source or author’s contribution.
· Table 13 is meaningful, but needs a source or author’s contribution.
· Table 14 is meaningful, but needs a source or author’s contribution.
· Table 15 is meaningful, but needs a source or author’s contribution.
· Table 16 is meaningful, but needs a source or author’s contribution.
· Table 17 is meaningful, but needs a source or author’s contribution.
· Table 18 is meaningful, but needs a source or author’s contribution.
· All tables must be formatted as per journal style.
· The English grammar and punctuation may be improvised.
(7) Conclusion and Policy Recommendation
· This section heading is not required.
· It may be presented as bullet points.
· Some citations can enhance the credentials.
· This section also needs improvement.
Author Response
Dear Prodessor,
Please see the attachment.
Thank you for your suggestions.
Yours sincerely,
Yan Mei
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 3 Report
- - the purpose of the work is very unclear should be specified in detail,
- - there is no justification for how… this paper explores the mechanism and effect of digital villages construction to promote high-quality economic development in rural areas… digital villages may be related to the real, present-day rural economy of China, no reference to the actual economic reality,
- - it is not clear whether the construction of digital villages is supposed to ONLY PROMOTE the high technological level of rural development in China, or whether it actually contributes to the economic development of China's countryside, and if so, how,
- - the Abstract should include: the description of the subject, purpose of the research, description of the method, summary of results and conclusions, Research implications and limitations, originality, value and contribution of the article .. The abstract should not be longer than 250 words,
- = in the Introduction, there should be a presentation of the research problem, the current state of research on the research problem, identification of the research gap, presentation of the objectives of the article/research questions /research hypotheses. Please complete and omit irrelevant content,
- - in the Introduction there is no description of the article structure,
- - the work section should not end with drawings, especially if they are not described in detail (fig. 1 and 3),
- - What would the transformation of a traditional Chinese village into digital villages consist of and who will produce food after such a transformation?
- - how in Authors opinion: rural digital industries differ from urban digital industries?
- - there are too many hypotheses and some of them are obvious. They have a very strange structure H2a, H2b etc. Is it not possible to put forward one general hypothesis or replace a hypothesis (the article is from the field of social sciences) with research questions? What is the relationship between hypotheses and the aim of the work? And why do they not result directly from the purpose of the work?
- - page 7. Why are there only pilot e-commerce installations in the model?
- - page. 8. Does only TOPSIS have… certain scientific nature… No justification for choosing the TOPSIS method, among dozens of multi-criteria methods,
- - see Table 1. There are no references to the literature on how this problem is presented in the literature,
- - the text section should not end with a table,
- - the design of the model seems to be adapted to the available data and not to reflect reality, please explain. The problem is also that if the model has not fully justified variables and assumptions for its construction, it does not sufficiently reflect reality,
- - whether the listing of all tables in section 4.3. is it really needed? I propose to reduce the number of tables to half and increase the number of results descriptions and their significance for proving further hypotheses,
- -a very modest (quantitatively) literature on the topic is included,
- - there are stylistic and technical errors, e.g. (e.g. after 4.3. The next word is lowercase instead of uppercase),
- - I also suggest reading the article through a native speaker.
Author Response
Dear Prodessor,
Please see the attachment.
Thank you for your suggestions.
Yours sincerely,
Yan Mei
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
The paper has been substantially improved and could be published now.
Author Response
Dear Professor,
Thank you for your agreement.
Sincerely yours,
Yan Mei
Reviewer 3 Report
I propose to include different variants of adopting the proposed digital villages policy in the PRC, including those that may have unexpected and unfavorable effects of this policy. Stopping the flow from the countryside to the cities and increasing the AVERAGE standard of living is one thing, and the possible deepening social stratification is another. And that is what you need to be aware of and include the various possible outcomes in this article.
Author Response
Dear Professor,
Thank you for your professional suggestions. Please see the attachment.
Sincerely yours,
Yan Mei
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
