The Impact of Digital Skills on Common Prosperity for Rural and Pastoral Households in Underdeveloped Regions

With the rapid development of artificial intelligence and digital tools, the digital economy has become an important driving force for socioeconomic development, and digital skills have become a crucial capability for achieving common prosperity. Based on 804 pieces of micro-survey data from agricultural and pastoral areas in Xizang, this study explores common prosperity from the objective material dimension and subjective spiritual dimension, starting with the economic effect and social effect of digital skills. It constructs a dual-path analysis framework of “digital skills–economic behavior–common prosperity” and “digital skills–social psychology–common prosperity” to theoretically analyze and empirically test the logical relationship and mechanism of action of digital skills on the common prosperity of agricultural and pastoral households in underdeveloped regions. The research indicates that digital skills significantly promote the common prosperity of agricultural and pastoral households in underdeveloped regions, with a greater impact on spiritual common prosperity than material common prosperity. Heterogeneity analysis reveals that the promotion effect of digital skills on common prosperity is more pronounced in villages located in relatively economically developed agricultural areas, indicating the existence of certain digital poverty and a digital divide. The mechanism analysis shows that digital skills affect common prosperity through two paths: non-agricultural employment in economic behavior and fairness perception in social psychology. Therefore, it is necessary to improve digital infrastructure in agricultural and pastoral areas and enhance the digital skills of agricultural and pastoral households in underdeveloped regions; improve the information release and transmission mechanism of digital platforms to promote non-agricultural employment; enhance digital social inclusiveness and digital cultural regulation to improve fairness perception; and leverage the empowering and converging effects of the digital economy, harness the economic effect and social effect of digital skills, and enhance both material and spiritual common prosperity to achieve comprehensive common prosperity.