IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/caa/jnlage/v69y2023i12id232-2023-agricecon.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Trust evolution, institutional constraints, and land trusteeship decisions among Chinese farmers

Author

Listed:
  • Qi Li

    (School of Economics, Qufu Normal University, Rizhao, Shandong, China)

  • Menghui Gao

    (School of Economics, Qufu Normal University, Rizhao, Shandong, China)

Abstract

Land trusteeship involves farmers entrusting the farming and managing of their land to trustees, who manage the land on their behalf in exchange for a commission fee. Land trusteeship has been an important approach to bridging the gap between smallholder farmers and modern agriculture in China. Because of the information asymmetry in land trusteeship, farmers have higher uncertainty and perceived risk, so social trust and institutional constraints are particularly important in promoting farmers' participation in trusteeship. The objective of this study was to examine the impact of trust evolution and institutional constraints on smallholder farmers' decision-making in green prevention and pest control trusteeship. Our research was conducted in Shandong, China, utilising factor analysis and binary regression. The results revealed that trusteeship decision-making combines trust governance and institutional governance, with significant roles played by institutional trust, institutional supervision, institutional regulation, and interpersonal trust. As part-time farming became more prevalent, the importance of institutional trust and institutional supervision increased, indicating a shift in trusteeship governance from social relations to institutional contracts and the maturation of land trusteeship models. In addition, we also tested the interaction effect of social trust and institutional constraints and the heterogeneity effect of different trusteeship contracts. To improve the land trust system, we must enhance farmers' institutional trust and leverage the active role of intermediary supervision organisations such as village collectives.

Suggested Citation

  • Qi Li & Menghui Gao, 2023. "Trust evolution, institutional constraints, and land trusteeship decisions among Chinese farmers," Agricultural Economics, Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences, vol. 69(12), pages 485-497.
    • Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlage:v:69:y:2023:i:12:id:232-2023-agricecon
    DOI: 10.17221/232/2023-AGRICECON
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://agricecon.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/232/2023-AGRICECON.html
    Download Restriction: free of charge
    File URL: http://agricecon.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/232/2023-AGRICECON.pdf
    Download Restriction: free of charge
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.17221/232/2023-AGRICECON?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hart, Oliver & Moore, John, 1990. "Property Rights and the Nature of the Firm," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 98(6), pages 1119-1158, December.
    2. Luigi Guiso & Paola Sapienza & Luigi Zingales, 2004. "The Role of Social Capital in Financial Development," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(3), pages 526-556, June.
    3. Key, Nigel, 2019. "Farm size and productivity growth in the United States Corn Belt," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 186-195.
    4. Shi, Xiaoping & Chen, Shujie & Ma, Xianlei & Lan, Jing, 2018. "Heterogeneity in interventions in village committee and farmland circulation: Intermediary versus regulatory effects," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 291-300.
    5. Irene Daskalopoulou, 2019. "Individual-Level Evidence on the Causal Relationship Between Social Trust and Institutional Trust," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 144(1), pages 275-298, July.
    6. Jasper R. de Vries & Eva van der Zee & Raoul Beunen & Rianne Kat & Peter H. Feindt, 2019. "Trusting the People and the System. The Interrelation Between Interpersonal and Institutional Trust in Collective Action for Agri-Environmental Management," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(24), pages 1-18, December.
    7. Xiuru Zhang & Lin Zhang & Tangzhe Nie, 2023. "Study on the Impact of Social Capital on Farmers’ Decision-Making Behavior of Adopting Trusteeship Services," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-16, March.
    8. Zhuo Wenjun, 2023. "Circulation Expectations, Farmer Trust, and Farmers’ Contract Choice Behavior," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-15, August.
    9. Hanna Ihli & Ronja Seegers & Etti Winter & Brian Chiputwa & Anja Gassner, 2022. "Preferences for tree fruit market attributes among smallholder farmers in Eastern Rwanda," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 53(1), pages 5-21, January.
    10. Meinzen-Dick, Ruth & DiGregorio, Monica & McCarthy, Nancy, 2004. "Methods for studying collective action in rural development," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 82(3), pages 197-214, December.
    11. Fischer, Sabine & Wollni, Meike, 2018. "The role of farmers’ trust, risk and time preferences for contract choices: Experimental evidence from the Ghanaian pineapple sector," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 67-81.
    12. Yanqiang Du & Pingyang Liu & Neil Ravenscroft & Shipeng Su, 2020. "Changing community relations in southeast China: the role of Guanxi in rural environmental governance," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 37(3), pages 833-847, September.
    13. Ziming Zhou & Kaihua Zhang & Haitao Wu & Chen Liu & Zhiming Yu, 2023. "Land Transfer or Trusteeship: Can Agricultural Production Socialization Services Promote Grain Scale Management?," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-21, March.
    14. Yiqing Su & Qiaoyuan Huang & Qi Meng & Liangzhen Zang & Hua Xiao, 2023. "Socialized Farmland Operation—An Institutional Interpretation of Farmland Scale Management," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-21, February.
    15. Jianying Xiao & Yan Song & Heyuan You, 2020. "Explaining Peasants’ Intention and Behavior of Farmland Trusteeship in China: Implications for Sustainable Agricultural Production," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(14), pages 1-17, July.
    16. Tao Chen & Muhammad Rizwan & Azhar Abbas, 2022. "Exploring the Role of Agricultural Services in Production Efficiency in Chinese Agriculture: A Case of the Socialized Agricultural Service System," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-18, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Qi Li & Menghui Gao, . "Trust evolution, institutional constraints, and land trusteeship decisions among Chinese farmers," Agricultural Economics, Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences, vol. 0.
    2. Bohdan Kukharskyy & Michael Pflüger, 2011. "Relational Contracts and the Economic Well-Being of Nations," Working Papers 095, Bavarian Graduate Program in Economics (BGPE).
    3. Ruisheng Li & Jiaoyan Chen & Dingde Xu, 2024. "The Impact of Agricultural Socialized Service on Grain Production: Evidence from Rural China," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-19, May.
    4. Zhang, Zhuang & Chizema, Amon & Kuo, Jing-Ming & Zhang, Qingjing, 2022. "Managerial risk-reducing incentives and social and exchange capital," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 54(6).
    5. Curtiss, Jarmila, 2012. "Determinants of Financial Capital Use: Review of theories and implications for rural businesses," Factor Markets Working Papers 123, Centre for European Policy Studies.
    6. Dimitris Christopoulos & Stefan Koeppl & Monika Köppl-Turyna, 2022. "Syndication networks and company survival: evidence from European venture capital deals," Venture Capital, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(2), pages 105-135, April.
    7. Li Ma & Jiahao Lin & Chuangang Li & Yun Teng, 2024. "Research on Strategy Optimization of Green Agricultural Production Trusteeship to Promote Black Land Protection," Land, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-30, May.
    8. George Okello Candiya Bongomin & John C. Munene & Joseph Ntayi Mpeera & Charles Malinga Akol, 2017. "Financial inclusion in rural Uganda: The role of social capital and generational values," Cogent Business & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 4(1), pages 1302866-130, January.
    9. Kershen Huang & Chenguang Shang, 2024. "Does informal governance matter to institutional investors? Evidence from social capital," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 59(2), pages 433-457, May.
    10. MARINI, Marco, 1996. "Property Rights and Market : Employee Privatization as a Cooperative Bargaining Process," LIDAM Discussion Papers CORE 1996023, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
    11. Gonzalez, Felipe & Prem, Mounu & von Dessauer, Cristine, 2023. "Empowerment or Indoctrination? Women Centers Under Dictatorship," SocArXiv 64mf9, Center for Open Science.
    12. Kaplow, Louis & Shapiro, Carl, 2007. "Antitrust," Handbook of Law and Economics, in: A. Mitchell Polinsky & Steven Shavell (ed.), Handbook of Law and Economics, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 15, pages 1073-1225, Elsevier.
    13. Cécile Cézanne, 2012. "Berle and Means," Chapters, in: Michael Dietrich & Jackie Krafft (ed.), Handbook on the Economics and Theory of the Firm, chapter 7, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    14. Scott Gehlbach & Konstantin Sonin & Ekaterina Zhuravskaya, 2010. "Businessman Candidates," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 54(3), pages 718-736, July.
    15. Karla Hoff & Mayuresh Kshetramade & Ernst Fehr, 2011. "Caste and Punishment: the Legacy of Caste Culture in Norm Enforcement," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 121(556), pages 449-475, November.
    16. Habib, Michel A. & Johnsen, D. Bruce & Naik, Narayan Y., 1997. "Spinoffs and Information," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 6(2), pages 153-176, April.
    17. Windsperger, Josef, 2001. "The fee structure in franchising: a property rights view," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 73(2), pages 219-226, November.
    18. Kong, Dongmin & Pan, Yue & Tian, Gary Gang & Zhang, Pengdong, 2020. "CEOs' hometown connections and access to trade credit: Evidence from China," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    19. Peter G. Klein & Michael E. Sykuta, 2010. "Editors’ Introduction," Chapters, in: Peter G. Klein & Michael E. Sykuta (ed.), The Elgar Companion to Transaction Cost Economics, chapter 1, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    20. Schmid, Andreas, 2007. "Incentive Compatibility and Efficiency in the contractual Insurer-Provider Relationship: Economic Theory and practical Implications: The Case of North Carolina," MPRA Paper 23311, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2008.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:caa:jnlage:v:69:y:2023:i:12:id:232-2023-agricecon. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Ivo Andrle (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.cazv.cz/en/home/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.