IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jagris/v13y2023i4p846-d1119837.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Sustainable Development of Rural Human Settlements in the Information Age: Can Internet Use Drive Farmers to Participate in Garbage Classification?

Author

Listed:
  • Dingde Xu

    (Sichuan Center for Rural Development Research, College of Management, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 611130, China
    College of Management, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 611130, China)

  • Chen Qing

    (College of Management, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 611130, China)

  • Yang Chen

    (School of Labor Relations and Human Resources, China University of Labor Relations, Beijing 100048, China)

  • Jia He

    (College of Management, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 611130, China)

  • Fengwan Zhang

    (College of Management, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 611130, China)

Abstract

Garbage classification is significant to alleviate the pressure of household waste management in rural areas and promote green development. Based on the micro survey data of 2228 households in rural areas of Jiangsu Province, this paper discusses the impact of internet use on the garbage classification’s willingness and behavior based on the planned behavior theory. The results show that: (1) There is a deviation between willingness and behavior. Ninety percent of the surveyed farmers were willing to do garbage classification, but the garbage classification rate was only 53%. (2) Internet use has a positive effect on the willingness and behavior of farmers to classify garbage, and it can promote the willingness to change behavior and reduce the deviation between willingness and behavior. Specifically, internet use increased by 1 unit, the probability of farmers having neither willingness nor behavior, having both willingness and behavior, and only having willingness but not having the behavior decreased by 5.4%, increased by 13%, and decreased by 7.5%, respectively. (3) Further analysis according to different internet access methods shows that mobile internet access and mixed internet access can have a positive impact on farmers’ willingness and behavior in relation to garbage classification, while computer internet access has no significant impact on farmers’ willingness and behavior in relation to garbage classification. (4) Internet use can enhance farmers’ willingness and behavior in relation to garbage classification by improving their knowledge, behavioral, and environmental cognition. Specifically, the mediating effects of knowledge, behavioral, and environmental cognition on willingness were 71.48%, 21.72%, and 40.49%, respectively, and the mediating effects on behavior were 89.47%, 8.89%, and 18.81%, respectively. Based on this, this paper puts forward the policy recommendations of strengthening the hardware and software construction of the internet, adopting diversified propaganda methods of garbage classification, and improving the social supervision and restraint mechanism.

Suggested Citation

  • Dingde Xu & Chen Qing & Yang Chen & Jia He & Fengwan Zhang, 2023. "Sustainable Development of Rural Human Settlements in the Information Age: Can Internet Use Drive Farmers to Participate in Garbage Classification?," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-17, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jagris:v:13:y:2023:i:4:p:846-:d:1119837
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/13/4/846/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/13/4/846/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mingwei Liu & Qingxiang Feng, 2021. "Does Social Capital Promote Garbage Classification? Evidence From China," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(3), pages 21582440211, August.
    2. Ajzen, Icek, 1991. "The theory of planned behavior," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 50(2), pages 179-211, December.
    3. Pengya Ai & Wu Li & Wuyue Yang, 2021. "Adolescents’ Social Media Use and Their Voluntary Garbage Sorting Intention: A Sequential Mediation Model," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(15), pages 1-12, July.
    4. Ogutu, Sylvester Ochieng & Okello, Julius Juma & Otieno, David Jakinda, 2014. "Impact of Information and Communication Technology-Based Market Information Services on Smallholder Farm Input Use and Productivity: The Case of Kenya," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 311-321.
    5. Deng, Xin & Xu, Dingde & Zeng, Miao & Qi, Yanbin, 2019. "Does Internet use help reduce rural cropland abandonment? Evidence from China," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    6. Yixuan Wang & Xingle Long & Liang Li & Qinglin Wang & Xiping Ding & Sijia Cai, 2021. "Extending theory of planned behavior in household waste sorting in China: the moderating effect of knowledge, personal involvement, and moral responsibility," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 23(5), pages 7230-7250, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Wenchao Cui & Yanjun Chen & Hengyuan Zeng, 2024. "Can Internet Use Narrow the Gap between Farmers’ Willingness and Behavior in Waste Classification? Empirical Evidence from Rural Areas in Jiangsu Province, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(7), pages 1-17, March.

    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. Nketiah, Emmanuel & Song, Huaming & Cai, Xiang & Adjei, Mavis & Adu-Gyamfi, Gibbson & Obuobi, Bright, 2022. "Citizens’ intention to invest in municipal solid waste to energy projects in Ghana: The impact of direct and indirect effects," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 254(PC).
    2. Fengwan Zhang & Xueling Bao & Xin Deng & Dingde Xu, 2022. "Rural Land Transfer in the Information Age: Can Internet Use Affect Farmers’ Land Transfer-In?," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-14, October.
    3. Cai, Yi & Sun, Yucheng & Qi, Wene & Yi, Famin, 2022. "Impact of smartphone use on production outsourcing: evidence from litchi farming in southern China," International Food and Agribusiness Management Review, International Food and Agribusiness Management Association, vol. 25(4), September.
    4. Xu Geng & Honghao Li & Xiaoyu Liu & Huayun Liu & Miaoxin Huang, 2023. "The Effect of the Evaluation of Trash Can Removal Policy under the “Compulsory Times” of Waste-Sorting in Longhua District in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-14, June.
    5. Qianqian Chen & Chao Zhang & Ruifa Hu & Shengyang Sun, 2022. "Can Information from the Internet Improve Grain Technical Efficiency? New Evidence from Rice Production in China," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(12), pages 1-16, December.
    6. Wenchao Cui & Yanjun Chen & Hengyuan Zeng, 2024. "Can Internet Use Narrow the Gap between Farmers’ Willingness and Behavior in Waste Classification? Empirical Evidence from Rural Areas in Jiangsu Province, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(7), pages 1-17, March.
    7. Song Lu & Zehui Zhou & Yingfan Lu, 2022. "Rural Residents’ Perceptions, Attitudes, and Environmentally Responsible Behaviors towards Garbage Exchange Supermarkets: An Example from Huangshan City in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-20, July.
    8. Rizal Edy Halim & Shinta Rahmani & Gita Gayatri & Asnan Furinto & Yudi Sutarso, 2022. "The Effectiveness of Product Sustainability Claims to Mitigate Negative Electronic Word of Mouth (N-eWOM)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-18, February.
    9. Jing Liu & Khairul Manami Kamarudin & Yuqi Liu & Jinzhi Zou & Jiaqi Zhang, 2022. "Developing a Behavior Change Framework for Pandemic Prevention and Control in Public Spaces in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-24, February.
    10. Hamid Rastegari Kopaei & Mehdi Nooripoor & Ayatollah Karami & Ruxandra Malina Petrescu-Mag & Dacinia Crina Petrescu, 2021. "Drivers of Residents’ Home Composting Intention: Integrating the Theory of Planned Behavior, the Norm Activation Model, and the Moderating Role of Composting Knowledge," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-21, June.
    11. Deliberador, Lucas Rodrigues & Santos, Alexandre Borges & Carrijo, Pâmella Rodrigues Silva & Batalha, Mário Otávio & César, Aldara da Silva & Ferreira, Luís Miguel D.F., 2023. "How risk perception regarding the COVID-19 pandemic affected household food waste: Evidence from Brazil," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 87(PA).
    12. Kahsay, Goytom Abraha & Garcia, Nerea Turreira & Bosselmann, Aske Skovmand, 2023. "Mobile Internet Use and Climate Adaptation: Empirical Evidence from Vietnamese Coffee Farmers," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 48(3), September.
    13. Qianhui Ma & Shaofeng Zheng & Peng Deng, 2022. "Impact of Internet Use on Farmers’ Organic Fertilizer Application Behavior under the Climate Change Context: The Role of Social Network," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-19, September.
    14. Wanglin Ma & Xiaobing Wang, 2020. "Internet Use, Sustainable Agricultural Practices and Rural Incomes: Evidence from China," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 64(4), pages 1087-1112, October.
    15. Zhu, Xiaoke & Hu, Ruifa & Zhang, Chao & Shi, Guanming, 2021. "Does Internet use improve technical efficiency? Evidence from apple production in China," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 166(C).
    16. Zhuling Liu & Janet Z. Yang & Susan S. Clark & Michael A. Shelly, 2022. "Recycling as a planned behavior: the moderating role of perceived behavioral control," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(9), pages 11011-11026, September.
    17. Maria Andersson & Ola Eriksson & Chris Von Borgstede, 2012. "The Effects of Environmental Management Systems on Source Separation in the Work and Home Settings," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 4(6), pages 1-17, June.
    18. Lin Xie & Biliang Luo & Wenjing Zhong, 2021. "How Are Smallholder Farmers Involved in Digital Agriculture in Developing Countries: A Case Study from China," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-16, March.
    19. Tran Huy Phuong & Thanh Trung Hieu, 2015. "Predictors of Entrepreneurial Intentions of Undergraduate Students in Vietnam: An Empirical Study," International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, Human Resource Management Academic Research Society, International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, vol. 5(8), pages 46-55, August.
    20. Clara Cardone-Riportella & María José Casasola-Martinez & Isabel Feito-Ruiz, 2014. "Do Entrepreneurs Come From Venus Or Mars? Impact Of Postgraduate Studies: Gender And Family Business Background," Working Papers 14.04, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Department of Financial Economics and Accounting (former Department of Business Administration), revised Sep 2014.

    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:gam:jagris:v:13:y:2023:i:4:p:846-:d:1119837. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.