Generation path of village governance community led by village collective enterprises using the actor network theory: A case study of Yudong Tourism Company in Quzhou City, Zhejiang province

Abstract

The formation of a village governance community is important for supporting the modernization of rural governance capacity, promoting sustainable rural development, and realizing common prosperity. Although village collective enterprises are the key actors driving the formation of village governance community, the generation paths need to be further explored. With Yudong Tourism Company of Quzhou City in Zhejiang Province as a case, this study engaged the actor network theory as the theoretical framework and integrated policy analysis, semi- structured interviews, and online text analysis to analyze the dynamic process and interactions of village collective enterprises promoting the establishment of action networks. On this basis, we explored the local paths of village collective enterprises driving the generation of rural governance community. The study found that the village collective enterprise initially built the action network of village governance community through establishing common goals, interest recruitment and mobilization, and transformation and optimization. The company further promoted the generation of a rural governance community through the construction of two complementary paths of cultural space strengthening and social space renewal. This study summarized the local paths of rural governance community generation, analyzed the functions and roles of village collective enterprises, and provides some theoretical and empirical references for sustainable rural development with the aim to achieve common prosperity.