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Does establishing regional brands of agricultural products improve the reputation of e-commerce? Evidence from China

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Abstract

Branding agricultural products is an optional way to promote regional agricultural products’ sales and quality. This study aims to investigate the viability of utilizing e-commerce as a means for regional branding of agricultural products in order to mitigate information asymmetry. The study investigates the influence of establishing regional brands for agricultural products on their reputation within e-commerce platforms, while also exploring the role of government support in this context. Through analysis of the findings, we ascertain whether the establishment of regional agricultural product brands contributes to enhancing the reputation of agricultural products on e-commerce platforms. Employing data mining techniques, we acquired user reviews from JD and data from China’s Specialty Products Pavilion. The findings reveal that regional brand agricultural products enjoy a higher reputation on e-commerce platforms compared to non-brand agricultural products. Additionally, government service support demonstrates a positive moderating effect. The findings of this paper provide essential insights for local governments to implement rural revitalization strategies, promote regional branding of agricultural products, and provide an optional way to improve the reputation of E-commerce agricultural products.

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Data Availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the National Social Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 19BJY132).

Funding

This research was funded by the National Social Science Foundation of China, grant number 19BJY132.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Marxism, Shanghai University of International Business and Economics, Shanghai, China

    Yumei Lin

  2. School of Economics and Management, Tongji University, Shanghai, China

    Xuheng Wang

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  1. Yumei Lin
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  2. Xuheng Wang
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Contributions

Yumei Lin and Xuheng Wang conceived the study and were responsible for the design and development of the data analysis. Yumei Lin were responsible for data collection and analysis. Xuheng Wang were responsible for data interpretation. Xuheng Wang wrote the first draft of the article.

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Correspondence to Xuheng Wang.

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Lin, Y., Wang, X. Does establishing regional brands of agricultural products improve the reputation of e-commerce? Evidence from China. Electron Commer Res (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10660-023-09764-8

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