Bridging the rural digital divide: avoiding the user churn of rural public digital cultural services
| Date | 18 February 2022 |
| Pages | 730-751 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/AJIM-06-2021-0179 |
| Published date | 18 February 2022 |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Information behaviour & retrieval,Information & knowledge management,Information management & governance,Information management |
| Author | Meng Wang,Yuwen Hua,Honglei Lia Sun,Ya Chen |
Bridging the rural digital divide:
avoiding the user churn of rural
public digital cultural services
Meng Wang
Institute of Science and Technology Information, Jiangsu University,
Zhenjiang, China, and
Yuwen Hua, Honglei Lia Sun and Ya Chen
School of Information Management, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China
Abstract
Purpose –The user churn (UC) of rural public digital cultural services (RPDCS) indicates that rural users no
longer use RPDCS or have switched to other services. The purpose of this study is to investigate the factors
influencing RPDCS’s UC and to contribute toward bridging the rural digital divide.
Design/methodology/approach –Based on the stimulus-organism-response theory, this study proposes a
theoretical framework to investigate the factors influencing RPDCS’s user churn. A total of 120 RPDCS users
were initially recruited and 90 representative participants were chosen. Data were collected from the 90
respondents and 20 follow-up interviews. To examine the proposed framework and validate the correlations
between these factors and UC, an analysis of variance (ANOVA) and multiple regression analysis were used. In
addition, recommendations are made to avoid the UC of RPDCS to bridge the rural digital divide.
Findings –The results indicate that the UC of RPDCS was stimulated by both physical and ability divides and
RPDCS ineffectiveness, resulting in increased churn rates and an exacerbated digital divide. Thus, avoiding the
UCof RPDCSis an important way to bridge the rural digital divide, which includes both the physical and ability
divides.
Originality/value –This study adds new knowledge about RPDCS and distinguishes it from previous
research on public digital cultural services. In addition, the authors discuss how to avoid the UC of RPDCS, to
bridge the rural digital divide.
Keywords RPDCS, User churn, Digital cultural services, Rural areas, Digital divide
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
The digital divide refers to the information gap and the potential for further polarization
between the rich and poor because of differences in the application of information and
communication technologies (ICTs) and the innovative abilities of users in various
countries, regions, industries, enterprises and communities in the global digitalization
process (Vandijk, 2006). In the Web 2.0 era, the growing digital divide between urban
and rural areas has inevitably resulted in inequities (Akca et al., 2007), impeding rural
economic and cultural development. In China, the effective utilization of information
technology and information tools in rural areas is difficult due to low awareness and the
distrust of ICTs among rural users (Yan, 2017). According to the 47th Statistical Report
on the Development of the Internet in China, there is a significant disparity in Internet
users and Internet penetration rates between urban and rural areas (China Internet
Network Information Centre, 2020). The Chinese government has promoted several
reform policies and established numerous rural public digital cultural services (RPDCS)
projects to bridge the urban–rural digital divide and achieve digital equity (Xinhua News
Agency, 2019).
AJIM
75,4
730
The authors gratefully acknowledge the grant from NSSFC of China (#20CTQ003) and the support from
the Double Creation Doctoral Talent Project of Jiangsu Province.
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
https://www.emerald.com/insight/2050-3806.htm
Received 28 June 2021
Revised 21 October 2021
10 January 2022
Accepted 15 January 2022
Aslib Journal of Information
Management
Vol. 75 No. 4, 2023
pp. 730-751
© Emerald Publishing Limited
2050-3806
DOI 10.1108/AJIM-06-2021-0179
According to the Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Protection of Public Cultural
Services, public cultural services are defined as services provided by the governmental and
nongovernmental sectors to meet citizens’basic cultural needs, such as public cultural
facilities (e.g. public cultural platforms, public reading columns and farmers’bookstores),
cultural products (e.g. books, newspapers and operas), cultural activities (e.g. theatrical
performances, film screenings and art training) and other services (China’s National People’s
Congress, 2016). Digital libraries, digital museums, digital cultural centres (post stations),
digital art galleries, physical digital cultural experience halls and public cultural all-media
platforms are providers of public digital cultural services (PDCS) (Feng et al., 2021). RPDCS,
with a specific focus on rural users, is a subset of PDCS that aims to meet the cultural needs of
users while improving rural residents’information literacy (Wanyan and Hu, 2019a). RPDCS
relies primarily on rural libraries, cultural stations and other cultural institutions in rural
China to provide users with digital facilities (computers, multimedia, cultural services
websites and hardware/software) so they can use services such as e-reading, knowledge
retrieval and course training (Hu and Li, 2015).
Rural areas have historically been the most vulnerable in China and the urban–rural PDCS
is unequal (Cao et al., 2015). In comparison to PDCS in urban areas, RPDCS suffers from
insufficient scientific management, obsolete digital equipment, and a deficient information
and communication infrastructure, which has resulted in significant UC (Zhou et al., 2019). UC
was first proposed by Keaveney and Parthasarathy (2001). They explained it as follows. (1)
Users discontinue give up the use of network service products and no longer use the products
or similar products; or (2) users discontinue the use of specific service provider products and
switch to similar products from other service providers. Specifically, the UC of RPDCS means
that rural users no longer use RPDCS or prefer to use comparable alternative services (Wang
et al., 2021). Consequently, rural UC has resulted in fewer RPDCS functions being used and
idle public resources being wasted, creating a vicious circle of “no use–no opening–no use”
(Wang et al., 2020b).
Given RPDCS’s role in bridging the digital divide, it is critical to systematically investigate
how rural public cultural institutions can help bridge the rural digital divide while avoiding
UC. The majority of research, however, has concentrated on the development of digital
hardware and software in rural areas (Siddiquee and Faroqi, 2021;Abdullah, 2015) and the
impact of the urban–rural digital divide (Chao and Yu, 2016;Cruz-Jesus et al., 2018). Prior
research on issues, such as the degree of reliable information infrastructure, access to
information resources, and digital literacy, is in its infancy, and few studies have focused on
the practices of rural public cultural institutions. To fill this gap, we investigated the UC of
RPDCS by asking the following research questions:
RQ1. What are the factors affecting the UC of RPDCS?
RQ2. How can the UC of RPDCS be avoided?
The remainder of this paper is structured as follows. The following section examines related
work, followed by a description of the theoretical basis and research methods. The findings
derived from the results are then presented. Finally, the discussion and its implications are
highlighted.
2. Literature review
2.1 The relationship between the digital divide and public digital cultural services in
rural areas
ICTs have evolved into a powerful social development force and an inseparable part of our
daily lives (Chao and Yu, 2016). However, there is a growing concern that those who do not
have access to ICTs will be denied the opportunity for self-development and will be placed at a
Bridging the
rural digital
divide
731
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