A Survey Of Rural Residents’ Willingness To Consume At The Market In Pucheng County,Northern Fujian And Analysis Of Its Influencing Factors

A market is a place where buyers and sellers gather at a relatively fixed location,at a certain time and period,to exchange and trade commodities,also known as a "regular market" or "bazaar".(Deng Wei:2019)Rural bazaars are basic markets essential to people’s daily lives,an important exchange space in rural societies,and a catalyst for urbanisation and modernisation.The formation and development of rural bazaars in China has a long history,and the subsistence smallholder economic model and the farmers’ need for commodity exchange to transfer surplus have made rural bazaars live on,continue and develop over thousands of years of historical development.There has been a long history of research on marketplaces both at home and abroad,but so far there has been no research on the current state of periodic marketplaces in rural China after the New Crown epidemic.In terms of geographical studies,there is also a lack of case studies on rural bazaars in northern Fujian Province.This paper uses 600 micro-data from five townships,including Guanlu Township,Linjiang Township,Shipei Township,Fuling Township and Xiangyang Township in Pucheng County,Nanping City,Northern Fujian Province,to explore the factors influencing consumption intentions at rural bazaars using quantitative analysis and to dissect their underlying logic.This paper focuses on the following three aspects:(1)the economic,social and cultural significance and role of rural bazaars;(2)a descriptive statistical analysis based on the theory of planned behaviour,hypothesis of possible influencing factors,and five dimensions of personal characteristics,behavioural attitudes,subjective norms,perceived behavioural control and other factors based on actual survey data;(3)an exploration using a multivariate ordered logit model to explore the significant factors influencing rural residents’ consumption of going to the bazaar.With the help of theoretical and empirical analyses,the main findings of this paper are as follows:(1)The mean value of rural residents’ willingness to consume at the market is 3.101,with 22.33% and 21.83% choosing "very willing" and "willing" respectively.The percentage of rural residents who are more willing to participate in rural fairs is not yet more than half.This shows that there is still much room for rural residents to increase their willingness to consume.(2)In terms of influencing factors,it is more convenient to bargain at rural fairs(behavioural attitude dimension),it is more convenient to receive friendly services when shopping at fairs(behavioural attitude dimension),the proportion of consumption at fairs to daily consumption(perceptual behavioural control dimension),the situation of family and friends setting up stalls at rural fairs(subjective normative dimension),the participation of family and friends in rural fairs(subjective normative dimension),gender(personal characteristics dimension),age(personal characteristics dimension)),and age(personal characteristics dimension)have a significant positive effect on rural people’s intention to spend money at the market.Occupation(personal characteristics dimension)and distance from the market(other factors dimension)have a significant negative effect on rural people’s intention to consume at the market.The quality of goods available in rural markets is better than in supermarkets(behavioural attitude dimension),the ability to buy the desired target goods at the market(behavioural attitude dimension)and income(personal characteristics dimension)do not have an influence on rural residents’ intention to consume at the market.Based on the research findings and references,this paper proposes the following five policy recommendations:(1)stabilise the main sources of visitors to the bazaar and increase the willingness of young people to consume at the bazaar;(2)improve the infrastructure of the bazaar to enhance the overall shopping experience;(3)set up public welfare bazaar stalls to maximise the ability of the bazaar to promote rural economic development.(4)vigorously develop township enterprises and special industries.(5)Creation of a new type of rural fair.The significance and objectives of this paper are to enrich research on the political,economic and socio-cultural functions of rural bazaars in China,to provide material references for policy makers,and to provide some lessons for those interested in bazaar research.