Social network shapes farmers’ non-point source pollution governance behavior – A case study in the Lijiang River Basin, China

Zhanbo Qin, Qinxue Xu, Changping Zhang, Lanlan Zuo, Lingling Chen and Rongjie Fang

Agricultural Water Management, 2024, vol. 306, issue C

Abstract: Agricultural non-point source (ANPS) pollution increasingly threatens China’s aquatic ecosystems. Intercropping grain crops (GC) and cash crops (CC) increases landscape fragmentation, making pollution control harder. As producers of ANPS pollution and beneficiaries of its governance, farmers’ participation is crucial for improving water environments. However, the impact of social networks, closely related to farmers’ economic behavior in rural China, on different cropping types of farmers’ ANPS pollution governance behavior remains unclear. Based on survey data from 305 farmers in a typical village in the Lijiang River Basin, social networks of GC and CC farmers were constructed. By introducing network embedding theory, we examined how social networks influence governance resource allocation and collective action among farmers. Combining social network theory with technology acceptance model (TAM), an extended TAM was proposed to discuss the influence of farmers’ social network structural position (SNSP) on their willingness to participate in governance (WP), considering the role of cognition. Results showed that GC farmers’ social network have small-world characteristics (Small-world quotient=2.153) with a network density of only 0.016, lacking bridging ties and showing low trust among actors. CC farmers’ network had a density of 0.029, a clearer core-periphery structure (Core-periphery index=0.267), key farmers showed stronger bridging capabilities with average betweenness centrality of 4.234 %. CC farmers’ networks had diverse ties and higher trust among actors. CC farmers’ network structure improved information diffusion and is more effective in acquiring resources and collaborative governance. Structural equation modeling showed that SNSP positively affect WP for GC and CC farmers, with path coefficients of 0.245 and 0.294. Mediating analysis showed that GC farmers’ perceived usefulness and CC farmers’ perceived ease of use had the largest mediating effects between SNSP and WP, at 20.9 % and 26.8 %, highlighting cognition’s different roles. Social networks variably impact governance behavior among different farmers, and strategies considering these differences can enhance governance efficiency.

Keywords: Social network analysis; Resource allocation; Collaborative governance; Technology acceptance model; Mediating effects; Willingness (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378377424004980
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:agiwat:v:306:y:2024:i:c:s0378377424004980

DOI: 10.1016/j.agwat.2024.109162

Access Statistics for this article

Agricultural Water Management is currently edited by B.E. Clothier, W. Dierickx, J. Oster and D. Wichelns

More articles in Agricultural Water Management from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().