数字治理新实践:虚拟公共空间何以促进村民公共事务参与——基于乡村微信群的实证分析

New practices of digital governance:how virtual public spaces facilitate rural residents'participation in public affairs--an empirical analysis based on rural wechat groups

农村公共事务治理面临“村民缺位”的重大挑战。随着农村互联网基础设施建设的全面覆盖,以乡村微信群为代表的乡村虚拟公共空间的出现为农村公共事务治理带来了新的转机。基于OLS、KHB和2SLS等实证方法,采用扬州市微观调研数据,探讨了虚拟公共空间对村民公共事务参与的影响。研究结果表明:虚拟公共空间的提高能够显著促进村民公共事务参与;虚拟公共空间主要通过增强村干部信任和管理透明度对村民公共事务参与产生间接影响;虚拟公共空间的生成方式(行政内嵌型和自发内生型)并不会造成虚拟公共空间影响程度的显著差异。为理解数字技术发展对乡村基层治理的影响提供了新的视角,同时也为提升村民公共事务参与水平提供了政策启示。

Rural public affairs governance faces a significant challenge of"villager absence".With the comprehensive coverage of rural internet infrastructure construction,the emergence of rural virtual public spaces represented by rural WeChat groups has brought new opportunities for rural public affairs governance.Using empirical methods such as OLS,KHB,and 2SLS,this study explores the impact of virtual public spaces on rural residents'participation in public affairs based on micro-level research da-ta from Yangzhou City.The research findings indicate that:(1)The improvement of virtual public spaces significantly promotes rural residents'participation in public affairs.(2)Virtual public spaces primarily exert an indirect influence on rural residents'par-ticipation in public affairs through enhancing trust in village cadres and management transparency.(3)The generation mode of virtual public spaces does not significantly affect the impact on virtual public spaces.This study provides a new perspective for un-derstanding the impact of digital technology development on rural grassroots governance and offers policy implications for enhanc-ing rural residents'participation in public affairs.