The Role of Environmental Law in Farmers’ Environment-Protecting Intentions and Behavior Based on Their Legal Cognition: A Case Study of Jiangxi Province, China

Abstract

Agriculture contributes to environmental degradation by using unsustainable farming practices, such as the intensive use of chemical fertilizers and fossil fuels. With China’s growing environmental concerns, new environmental laws have begun to disseminate information about environmental preservation among residents. This legislation plays a major role in developing individual behavior. Thus, the purpose of this study was to investigate the moderating role of environmental laws in relation to environment-protecting intentions and behavior based on their legal cognition. Based on 1350 randomly selected farmers from Jiangxi Province, we confirm the theory of planned behavior through a structural equation model. The results demonstrate that the perceived behavior control, personal factors, and attitude of farmers directly contribute to both types of farmer’s intentions, i.e., citizen and activist; and indirectly to both types of farmer’s environmental-oriented behavior (citizen and activist). The inward attitude effect was stronger than the outward attitude in both types of intentions of farmers. The farmers’ legal cognition also moderated their environment-protecting intentions and behaviors. This implies that as the farmer’s legal familiarity grows, the direct effect of both types of farmer’s intentions on the farmer’s environmentally oriented behavior continues to increase. Awareness programs, financial support, and extension services should be enhanced in rural areas, which may develop the farmers’ proenvironmental behavior and lead to them adopting environmentally friendly farm practices.