Evolutionary game theory in rural e-commerce transportation service: a path to collaborative innovation

With the mass transformation of the rural transportation industry in the context of internet technology, e- commerce transportation platforms as new rural transportation aggregators have increased the depth and breadth of rural logistics service providers' participation in the value chain competition of the transportation industry. Based on the interaction of stakeholders in rural e-commerce transportation platforms and the assumption of limited rationality, this study uses an evolutionary game model to explore how the collaboration and regulatory mechanism of scientific and technological innovation among the main participants in rural e- commerce transportation platforms is established. The MATLAB2020a software is applied to simulate and analyze the impact of essential factors on strategy evolution. The study finds that the behavior and decision- making choices of the three game players affect each other in the participants’ technological innovation. Only when the government actively and moderately regulates, establishes a multi-party participation in scientific and technological innovation sharing system to reduce the cost of participation in innovation, and makes participation in innovation obtain more objective benefits, it is conducive to the formation of a stable cooperation relationship among participating agents. Finally, relevant countermeasures are proposed in conjunction with the current situation of scientific and technological innovation in rural e-commerce transportation platforms. The findings of the study provide insights for further promoting the innovation development of rural e-commerce transportation platforms.