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Arid Land Geography ›› 2026, Vol. 49 ›› Issue (5): 1052-1062.doi: 10.12118/j.issn.1000-6060.2025.421

• Urban Geography • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Differences in the impact of digital technology use on the income quality of urban-rural households under the goal of common prosperity

LI Zhaonan1,2(), YANG Yukun1, LIU Qijun1,2,3()   

  1. 1 School of Economics, North Minzu University, Yinchuan 750021, Ningxia, China
    2 Key Research Base of Humanities and Social Sciences of the State Ethnic Affairs Commission Common Modernization Research Center, Yinchuan 750021, Ningxia, China
    3 School of Management, North Minzu University, Yinchuan 750021, Ningxia, China
  • Received:2025-07-17 Revised:2025-08-14 Online:2026-05-25 Published:2026-05-25
  • Contact: LIU Qijun E-mail:lznsky@163.com;gndjmx@163.com

Abstract:

To identify ways to reduce urban-rural income-quality disparity, this study examines digital technology as a means of accelerating the achievement of common prosperity. Using panel data from 2018, 2020, and 2022 China family panel studies, we empirically analyze the mechanisms through which digital technology influences household income quality, apply spatial and income-level heterogeneity tests, and uncover relative advantages of rural households through urban-rural comparisons. This study find that: (1) Digital technology use significantly improves income quality for both urban and rural households, with stronger effects in rural households, particularly in terms of stability, structure, and knowledge. (2) Mechanism analysis shows that digital technology use by urban-rural households enhances income quality by promoting household entrepreneurship, with a stronger effect in rural areas. (3) The positive effect of digital technology use on household income quality in both urban-rural areas follows a gradient pattern of “west>central>east”. (4) Income level heterogeneity shows that the positive effect of digital technology use on income quality is stronger for low-income households compared with non-low-income households within rural areas, whereas the opposite pattern is observed within urban areas. These findings suggest that digital technology use has certain advantages in improving the income quality of rural areas, underdeveloped regions, and disadvantaged groups, demonstrating its inclusive potential.

Key words: digital technology use, income quality, urban-rural disparity, household entrepreneurship, spatial heterogeneity