Exploring Determinants of and Barriers to Climate-Smart Agricultural Technologies Adoption in Chinese Cooperatives: A Hybrid Study

Xiaoxue Feng, Jun Chen, Zebing Mao, Yanhong Peng () and Suhaiza Zailani ()
Additional contact information
Xiaoxue Feng: Department of Decision Science, Faculty of Business and Economics, Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia
Jun Chen: Department of Decision Science, Faculty of Business and Economics, Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia
Zebing Mao: Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics, Shibaura Institute of Technology, 3-7-5 Toyosu, Koto-ku, Tokyo 135-8548, Japan
Yanhong Peng: College of Mechanical Engineering, Chongqing University of Technology, Chongqing 400054, China
Suhaiza Zailani: Ungku Aziz Centre, Department of Decision Science, Faculty of Business and Economics, Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia

Agriculture, 2025, vol. 15, issue 9, 1-31

Abstract: The loss of agricultural production due to climate change and natural disasters has attracted widespread attention. Climate-smart agricultural technologies (CSATs) are attracting attention as a solution to address climate change while achieving sustainable agricultural development. However, in the Chinese context, research on cooperatives’ intention to adopt such technologies is relatively limited. This study investigated the factors influencing the behavioral intentions of Chinese farmers’ cooperatives to adopt CSATs using a behavioral reasoning theory (BRT) framework. A structured questionnaire was administered to 308 participants using purposive sampling techniques. For data analysis, an artificial neural network (ANN) and fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) complemented the disjointed two-stage partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) approach to ensure the robustness of the results and provide important practical insights. The results suggest that values (perceived value of government environmental concern, value of openness to change) shape the determinants of and barriers to CSAT adoption by cooperatives, but do not have a direct impact on behavioral intentions. The “determinants” all positively influenced adoption behavioral intentions, with “agricultural extension and advisory service” having the greatest impact on behavioral intentions, followed by “opinion leaders’ recommendation” and “policy support”. Among the “barriers”, only “perceived risk” and behavioral intention were negatively correlated. Behavioral intention to adopt CSATs by cooperatives has a positive effect on willingness to pay, which motivated cooperatives to pay more to acquire the technology. Based on the findings, this study provides theoretical insights for researchers and policy implications for governments, agricultural organizations, policymakers, and agri-technology companies.

Keywords: adoption intention; behavioral reasoning theory; SEM-ANN; fsQCA (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/15/9/1005/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/15/9/1005/ (text/html)

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:gam:jagris:v:15:y:2025:i:9:p:1005-:d:1650112

Access Statistics for this article

Agriculture is currently edited by Ms. Leda Xuan

More articles in Agriculture from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().