Beyond Registration: The Formal Participation Trap in Rural Digital-Governance Systems

Vollständiger Abstract

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Registration targets can be met even when citizens seldom return to a rural digital platform. This study interprets the registration-use gap as a possible behavioral manifestation of a formal participation trap. Use frequency captures engagement depth rather than citizens’ voice or influence over platform decisions and services. The analysis uses a balanced panel of 336 rural households in Yantai, China, observed in 2023 and 2024, to relate household motivation and digital capability to platform use and perceived performance. Household fixed-effects estimates associate a one-standard-deviation increase in composite participation motivation with a 0.17-standard-deviation increase in perceived platform performance. Registered low-frequency users rate the platform 0.30 standard deviations lower than registered high-frequency users; neither registered group differs significantly from unregistered households. An all-category frequency gradient, covariate-balanced comparisons, and sensitivity analyses preserve the behavioral ordering. Because participation and evaluation may evolve jointly, the estimates are associational. Registration, repeated use, and user feedback should therefore be assessed separately. The numerical estimates are bound to the analytic panel; the analytically transferable contribution is a testable systems proposition that registration coverage is not a sufficient indicator of sustained engagement or user feedback.