The Impact of Multi-Subjective Governance on Tea Farmers’ Green Production Behavior Based on the Improved Theory of Planned Behavior

Abstract

This study constructs a research framework to examine the decision-making process of tea farmers’ green production behavior based on the improved theory of planned behavior, incorporating external environmental factors such as government regulation, market mechanisms, industrial organization-driven environmental factors, and community governance. A structural equation model was employed to empirically analyze the influence paths and underlying mechanisms of multi-subjective governance on tea farmers’ green production behavior using survey data from 872 tea farmers in the main tea-producing areas of Fujian Province. The results showed that (1) government regulation, market mechanisms, and community governance significantly and directly impact the decision-making of tea farmers’ green production behavior, with path coefficients of 0.676, 0.686, and 0.373, respectively, and market mechanisms also indirectly act on green production behavior through perceptual behavioral control, with a path coefficient of 0.459. (2) The market mechanisms had the greatest influence on the decision-making of tea farmers’ green production behavior (total utility of 0.830), followed by government regulation (total utility of 0.676), community governance (total utility of 0.373), and finally, industrial organization-driven factors (total utility of 0.046), indicating that the market organization and the government departments are the most important external environmental forces affecting the decision-making of tea farmers’ green production behavior. The results provide valuable references for achieving effective multi-subjective governance and guiding/regulating tea farmers’ green production behavior. While strengthening the incentives and constraints of government regulations on tea farmers’ green production behavior, it is important to fully leverage the roles of market mechanisms, industrial organization-driven factors, and community governance in the governance of tea farmers’ green production behavior.