With the increasing prevalence of digital technology, the inherent influencing mechanisms by which digital empowerment fosters rural environmental governance remain a critical area of inquiry. However, existing research neglects the dual effects of digital technology on rural environmental governance from the aspect of stakeholders’ engagement. To address this gap, this study develops an integrated framework to investigate not only the direct impact of digital empowerment on rural environmental governance but also the mediating roles of stakeholders’ engagement and governance mechanisms, alongside the moderating role of perceived technology anxiety. Grounded in theoretical frameworks and extensive literature reviews, this study analyzes data from Jiangsu province in 2025 using an Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) model. The baseline regression results reveal that digital empowerment significantly promotes rural environmental governance, even after endogeneity analysis. Moreover, the results of the mediation effect show that digital empowerment enhances the level of rural environmental governance by accelerating stakeholders’ engagement and improving governance mechanisms. Furthermore, the moderating effect results imply that perceived technology anxiety may inhibit the negative effect of digital empowerment on rural environmental governance. Additionally, regional disparities exist in the influences of digital empowerment on rural environmental governance, with rural areas in Southern Jiangsu exhibiting a more pronounced effect compared to other regions.
zhang et al. (Tue,) studied this question.