Digital technology affects farmers’ participation in rural human settlements governance through dual pathways of economic and social rationality

Although enhancing rural human settlements is fundamental to sustainable rural development, inadequate farmers’ participation remains a core governance challenge. As digital technology becomes a vital instrument for rural governance, a critical gap remains in systematically understanding its impact on farmers’ participation and the mechanisms involved. This study employs the Ordered Probit model, the instrumental variable method, and the mediation effect model to empirically investigate the impact, mechanisms, and heterogeneity of digital technology on farmers’ participation in the governance of rural human settlements. The findings are as follows. First, digital technology significantly promotes farmers’ participation, and this conclusion remains robust after a series of robustness tests and addressing endogeneity issues. Second, mechanism tests indicate that digital technology primarily operates through increasing farmers’ economic cognition and reinforcing social norm constraints. This reveals the dual logic of its mechanism, which integrates both “economic rationality” and “social rationality”. Third, heterogeneity analysis indicates that the promoting effect of digital technology is more pronounced among farmers with elderly care responsibilities and in small-scale villages, reflecting the contextual dependence of its empowering effects. Accordingly, this study proposes recommendations such as optimizing the functional design of digital platforms and implementing differentiated, targeted digital empowerment strategies.