A Quantitative Evaluation Study on Return-to-Hometown Entrepreneurship Policies in 16 Provinces (Municipalities) and Autonomous Regions in China Under the Rural Revitalization Strategy

The Rural Revitalization Strategy is an important policy enacted by the Chinese government, aimed at bridging the disparity between urban and rural areas while enhancing economic, cultural, and social development levels in rural areas. Research evaluating return-to-hometown entrepreneurship policies is pivotal for facilitating the sustained flow and comprehensive sustainable development of capital, technology, and talent to rural areas within the Rural Revitalization Strategy framework. This study employs NVivo12 and the policy modeling consistency (PMC) index to analyze trends, characteristics, and policy tool utilization quantitatively, as well as regional differences or commonalities in 55 return-to-hometown entrepreneurship policies of 16 provinces and autonomous regions in China from 2013 to 2023. The content analysis of these policy texts reveals trends characterized by multistakeholder participation, an increasing emphasis on technology integration, and increased efforts toward talent retention. Overall, the results of the PMC model analysis indicate that the scores for return-to-hometown entrepreneurship policies across 16 provinces (municipalities and autonomous regions) are relatively high in terms of the indices of policy field, policy content, and policy tools, whereas the scores are comparatively low in terms of the indices of policy nature and policy timeliness. The remaining indices present moderate scores with slight differences. When examining the average scores between the eastern and central-western regions, it is observed that there is only a very slight difference in the index of policy timeliness and policy implementation. Additionally, the performance of eastern regions is superior in terms of the index of policy issuer, policy functions, and policy content. However, central-western regions demonstrate higher scores in the indices of policy nature, policy field, policy tools, and policy evaluation.