The Impact of Digital Literacy on Rural Residents' Willingness to Participate in Old-age Insurance

The Impact of Digital Literacy on Rural Residents' Willingness to Participate in Old-age Insurance | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article The Impact of Digital Literacy on Rural Residents' Willingness to Participate in Old-age Insurance Aonan Li, Zongfei Liu This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-9391948/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted 7 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Enhancing rural residents' willingness to participate in old-age insurance is crucial not only for improving their personal retirement security but also for promoting the stability and sustainable development of the pension system. Based on data from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) for 2020 and 2022, this paper empirically examines the impact of digital literacy on rural residents' willingness to participate in old-age insurance and its underlying mechanisms. The findings indicate that: (1) Digital literacy exerts a significant positive effect on rural residents' willingness to enroll, a result that remains robust across a series of sensitivity checks. (2) Mechanism analysis reveals that this effect operates primarily by enhancing rural residents' social participation and financial participation. (3) The impact exhibits heterogeneity across gender and regions: it is stronger for women than for men, and is significant in the central and eastern regions but not in the western or northeastern regions. Accordingly, this paper recommends implementing targeted digital literacy enhancement programs, constructing an integrated "digital-social-financial" support system, adopting differentiated and precise intervention strategies, and establishing a dynamic monitoring and evaluation mechanism. Business and commerce/Economics Social science/Economics Earth and environmental sciences/Environmental social sciences Digital Literacy Willingness to Participate in Rural Old-age Insurance Social Participation Financial Participation Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Supplementary Files DATA.xlsx Variables.docx Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted Reviewers agreed at journal 10 May, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 27 Apr, 2026 Reviewers invited by journal 22 Apr, 2026 Editor assigned by journal 22 Apr, 2026 Editor invited by journal 22 Apr, 2026 Submission checks completed at journal 22 Apr, 2026 First submitted to journal 22 Apr, 2026 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-9391948","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":630725738,"identity":"bf2b9e5b-10dd-4420-be20-25cae3a4d07d","order_by":0,"name":"Aonan 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