Jiaying Lyu

Rural revitalization hinges crucially on the availability of talent, particularly as rural tourism rises as a cornerstone strategy. However, a pressing concern remains the shortage of professional operational talent within rural communities. This study explores the nascent role of village CEOs – rural professional managers entrusted with driving the revitalization of sectors such as rural tourism, a noteworthy yet insufficiently researched domain.

Conflicts of Interest The authors declare no conflicts of interest. Data Availability Statement The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request. Supporting Information Filename Description jtr70164-sup-0001-AppendixA-D.docxWord 2007 document , 1 MB Appendix A. Questions for semi structured interviews. Appendix B. Profile of the participants in the semi structured interviews. Appendix C. Coding system and source of data. Appendix D.

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s). Thanh Dat Pham: Visualisation, methodology, data collection, writing – original draft, review and editing. Daisy X.F. Fan: Methodology, writing – original draft, review and editing. Jiaying Lyu: Writing – review and editing. Dandan Liu: Writing – review and editing.