Exploration of Influencing Factors and Paths for the High-Quality Development of Rural E-commerce Cooperatives: Based on a Qualitative Comparative Analysis of Clear Sets

As a new model and new format for the development of rural e-commerce, rural e-commerce cooperatives promoted the docking of agricultural product production and marketing, innovated the circulation mode of agricultural products and driven farmers to increase their income and become rich by connecting, serving and supporting small farmers. Based on the development cases of rural e-commerce cooperatives in 31 provinces in the Chinese mainland, this article aims to explore the linkage effect and path selection of factors on the high-quality development of rural e-commerce cooperatives, including rural e-commerce policies, agricultural industry development, logistics facility investment, rural human capital, rural informatization and so on. To achieve this, the article uses the clear set qualitative comparative analysis method (csQCA) under the framework of political-economic-social-technical (PEST). The results show that a single factor does not constitute a necessary condition for the high-quality development of rural e-commerce cooperatives; the configuration paths that produce high-quality development results can be classified into three categories, and they can be explained as the model: policy-driven = facility-driven>comprehensive-driven. The configuration of non-high-quality development results can be classified into two categories: low policy support type and low facility investment type. The eastern region presents two configurations: agricultural industry-driven and facility investment, while the non-eastern region presents more diverse configurations. It is recommended to give full play to the comprehensive driving effect of policies and strengthen infrastructure guarantees, implement precise and comprehensive policies according to local conditions, and dynamically adjust and optimize them in different periods to promote the high-quality development of rural e-commerce cooperatives.