{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,7]],"date-time":"2025-10-07T00:38:16Z","timestamp":1759797496149,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":62,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,5]],"date-time":"2025-10-05T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1759622400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001809","name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["72303112","72173064"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["72303112","72173064"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001809","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100013139","name":"Humanities and Social Science Fund of Ministry of Education of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["22YJC790093"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["22YJC790093"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100013139","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.mdpi.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["JTAER"],"abstract":"<jats:p>This study aims to investigate the multifaceted effects of e-commerce-led digital chain engagement on the income of Chinese crop farmers, distinguishing between participation status and participation depth. The analysis uses data from the China Rural Revitalization Survey (CRRS) conducted in 2020, with 1815 crop-farming households as the sample. To estimate causal effects, treatment effect models and instrumental variable strategies are employed. Results show that e-commerce-led digital chain participation significantly enhances household income, and deeper digital chain engagement amplifies this effect. Mechanism analyses reveal that deep engagement promotes income through multiple channels, including improved digital preparedness, enhanced product sales performance, and increased participation in digital financial services. Heterogeneity analysis indicates that the income gains mainly stem from agricultural revenue, and are more pronounced among cooperative members, though marginal benefits from deeper engagement appear limited. Quantile regressions uncover a pronounced Matthew effect: higher-income households benefit more from digital chain embedding, thereby widening the income gap. Moreover, e-commerce-led digital chain participation also improves farmers\u2019 income satisfaction and their expectations of income sustainability. These findings suggest that policymakers should not only promote basic e-commerce participation but also implement targeted support for deep digital chain embedding to foster inclusive growth while mitigating the Matthew effect. By shifting the focus from binary participation to embedded intensity, this study provides new insights into how e-commerce-led digital transformation shapes rural income structures, offering theoretical and empirical contributions to the literature on agricultural modernization and digital inclusion.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/jtaer20040278","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,6]],"date-time":"2025-10-06T11:42:49Z","timestamp":1759750969000},"page":"278","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["From Participation to Embedding: Unpacking the Income Effects of E-Commerce-Led Digital Chain on Chinese Farmers"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"20","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1883-0665","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yuanyuan","family":"Peng","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Management, Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Nanjing 210003, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Xuanheng","family":"Wu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Management, Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Nanjing 210003, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Yueshu","family":"Zhou","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Finance, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,5]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"482","DOI":"10.1016\/j.eap.2023.12.015","article-title":"Revenue-Increasing Effect of Rural E-Commerce: A Perspective of Farmers\u2019 Market Integration and Employment Growth","volume":"81","author":"Li","year":"2024","journal-title":"Econ. 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