Is The Digital Divide Holding Back Household Entrepreneurship?

At present,China is in the second year of the "14th Five-Year Plan" and has entered a stage of high-quality economic development.At the same time,the international environment is becoming more and more complex,and the impact of the Corona Virus Disease 2019 is still widespread and far-reaching.How to ensure the quality and resilience of economic development is a major problem that needs to solve urgently.As the basic unit of economic development,enterprises with innovative vitality and sustainable development ability can inject a steady stream of impetus into China’s economic development.In addition,the household is the smallest social unit.Starting a business with the household as a unit can not only provide new jobs for the society and fundamentally relieve employment pressure,but also serve as a backup force for the private economy and inject vitality into the market.In this context,the importance of entrepreneurship has become increasingly prominent.At the same time,China’s information and communication technology(ICT)has developed rapidly in recent years,and has gradually become an inseparable part of residents’work and life.But not everyone can enjoy the dividends of ICT.Because the process of ICT development also generates the issue of the digital divide.Further,the existence of the digital divide may have a certain impact on the household’s entrepreneurial decision-making.On the one hand,the existence of the digital divide increases the difficulty for households to use digital technology to obtain information.This disadvantage will increase the household’s aversion to risky things,which may affect the high-risk economic decision of starting a business.On the other hand,the digital divide will cause households to face severe credit constraints,making it impossible to allocate funds across period.When funds,the key element of entrepreneurship is limited,households’ entrepreneurial behavior may also be affected accordingly.Based on this,this paper will use the data of the 2017 China Household Finance Survey(CHFS)to construct a model from the two dimensions of "access to ICT" and "use of ICT" to measure the digital divide of households,and to explore the impact of the digital divide on household entrepreneurship influence of behavior.This paper draws the following conclusions through empirical research:1.The existence of the digital divide reduces the willingness of households to participate in entrepreneurship2.The existence of the digital divide will reduce the income of household entrepreneurship projects on the one hand,and reduce the household capital investment in innovative activities on the other hand.3.Credit availability,social interaction level,and risk attitude are important mechanism through which the digital divide affects household participation in entrepreneurship.Specifically,the aggravation of the digital divide reduces households’ willingness to engage in entrepreneurship by reducing households’ access to formal credit,reducing households’ level of social interaction,and increasing households’ risk aversion.4.The effect of the digital divide on household entrepreneurial behavior is significantly different in different types of households and participating in different types of entrepreneurial projects.Based on the type of entrepreneurship,compared with survival entrepreneurship,the digital divide has a stronger inhibitory effect on household participation in opportunistic entrepreneurship,and at the same time,compared with joint entrepreneurship,the digital divide has a greater inhibitory effect on household participation in independent entrepreneurship.Based on region,this paper finds that the digital divide has a stronger inhibitory effect on household participation in entrepreneurship in central and western regions than households in eastern regions.Based on the household life cycle,compared with middle-aged and elderly households,the digital divide has a greater inhibitory effect on the participation of young and middle-aged households in entrepreneurship.Finally,based on the conclusion,this paper also puts forward corresponding suggestions for the government to effectively promote household entrepreneurship:formulate targeted support policies,improve the support system for entrepreneurship,and vigorously develop digital information technology.