Management Review ›› 2022, Vol. 34 ›› Issue (6): 115-129.

• Technology and Innovation Management • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Smallholder Farmers' Knowledge Potential Difference, Niche Breadth and Dual Innovation in the "Internet + Agriculture" Environment——Cross-layer Adjustment Effect Embedded in Agriculture-related Network Relationship

Huo Shengping1, Liu Hai2, Tan Min1   

  1. 1. School of Business, Xiangtan University, Xiangtan 411105;
    2. School of Economics and Management, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715
  • Received:2020-02-17 Online:2022-06-28 Published:2022-07-22

Abstract: Smallholder farmers face bottlenecks such as uneconomic scale,unremarkable features and low-level organization.They get locked in a conservative traditional development path typical of small-scale peasant economy.Under the current agricultural information ecological chain generated by "Internet+agriculture",their knowledge potential difference and niche breadth can be improved.And embedding into agriculture-related network relationship,they carry out dual innovation by entrepreneurial patchwork.This paper builds a theoretical model that draws upon 462 smallholder farmers associated with 55 agriculture-related management,operation and service organizations to analyze the path and influencing factors of small-holder innovation.The research results show the reversed U-shaped impact of knowledge potential difference on the dual-innovation of smallholder farmers,the positive impact of niche breadth on the dual-innovation,the mediating role of entrepreneurial patchwork in the influence of knowledge potential difference and niche breadth on the dual-innovation,and the positive role of agriculture-related network relationship embeddedness in adjusting the entire path.This means that smallholder farmers can reduce the knowledge gap,expand the breadth of the ecological niche,and embed in agriculture-related network relationships with the help of information exchange,element aggregation and self-organization functions of the "Internet+ ".Then they can realize dual innovation with scale effect,long tail effect and organized situation by entrepreneurial patchwork,and integrate into the industrial,production and management system of modern agriculture.As a result,they can use their advantage of being delicately small to become innovative modern smallholder farmers,just as "many a little makes a mickle".

Key words: Internet+agriculture, smallholder farmers, knowledge potential difference, niche breadth, dual innovation