IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v16y2024i7p2726-d1364136.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Can Internet Use Narrow the Gap between Farmers’ Willingness and Behavior in Waste Classification? Empirical Evidence from Rural Areas in Jiangsu Province, China

Author

Listed:
  • Wenchao Cui

    (School of Economics and Management, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China)

  • Yanjun Chen

    (School of Economics and Management, Shanxi Normal University, Taiyuan 030000, China)

  • Hengyuan Zeng

    (School of Economics and Management, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China)

Abstract

Household waste classification and treatment are important for environmental protection and sustainable development. The Logit model is used to analyze differences in farmers’ willingness and behavior regarding waste classification based on data from the China Land Economic Survey. Key findings include the following: (1) There is an evident discrepancy between waste classification willingness and action among rural residents. Despite nearly 90% of the sampled farmers expressing a willingness, nearly 40% do not practice waste classification. (2) Internet usage significantly reduces the discrepancy between farmers’ willingness and actual waste classification practices. This observation is valid even after robustness checks and endogeneity discussions. (3) There is a partial mediating effect between ecological awareness and knowledge perception on farmers’ willingness and behavior differences, which accounts for 12.9% and 52.6%, respectively, of the total impact. Notably, institutional limitations amplify the negative influence of Internet use on this discrepancy. (4) According to heterogeneity analysis, Internet use has a greater negative impact on farmers’ willingness and behavior in waste classification in suburban villages and villages with environmental governance projects. This study proposes policy suggestions such as strengthening the construction of digital infrastructure in rural areas, enhancing the promotion and training of waste classification among farmers, and improving incentives and restraint mechanisms for rural household waste classification.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:7:p:2726-:d:1364136
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/7/2726/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/7/2726/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Junpeng Li & Puneet Vatsa & Wanglin Ma, 2023. "Small Acts With Big Impacts: Does Garbage Classification Improve Subjective Well-Being in Rural China?," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 18(3), pages 1337-1363, June.
    2. Mingwei Liu & Qingxiang Feng, 2021. "Does Social Capital Promote Garbage Classification? Evidence From China," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(3), pages 21582440211, August.
    3. 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.
    4. 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.
    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. 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.
    2. 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.
    3. N'dri, Lasme Mathieu & Kakinaka, Makoto, 2020. "Financial inclusion, mobile money, and individual welfare: The case of Burkina Faso," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(3).
    4. Fang, Lan & Quan, Yurong & Mao, Hui & Chen, Shaojian, 2022. "The Information Communication Technology and Off-farm Employment of Rural Laborers: An Analysis Based on the Micro Data of China Family Panel Studies," 2022 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Anaheim, California 322088, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    5. Beibei Yan & Tianjun Liu, 2022. "Can E-Commerce Adoption Improve Agricultural Productivity? Evidence from Apple Growers in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-16, December.
    6. Will Chancellor, 2023. "Exploring the relationship between information and communication technology (ICT) and productivity: Evidence from Australian farms," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 67(2), pages 285-302, April.
    7. Wantchekon, Leonard & Riaz, Zara, 2019. "Mobile technology and food access," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 344-356.
    8. 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.
    9. Julius Juma Okello & Yuan Zhou & Norman Kwikiriza & Sylvester Ochieng Ogutu & Ian Barker & Elmar Schulte-Geldermann & Elly Atieno & Justin Taj Ahmed, 2016. "Determinants of the Use of Certified Seed Potato among Smallholder Farmers: The Case of Potato Growers in Central and Eastern Kenya," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 6(4), pages 1-12, October.
    10. Hong, Yan-Zhen & Chang, Hung-Hao, 2020. "Does digitalization affect the objective and subjective wellbeing of forestry farm households? Empirical evidence in Fujian Province of China," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).
    11. Shanshan Li & Shengyang Sun & Chao Zhang, 2024. "Internet-Based Information Acquisition, Technical Knowledge and Farmers’ Pesticide Use: Evidence from Rice Production in China," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-14, August.
    12. 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.
    13. Melia, Elvis, 2019. "The impact of information and communication technologies on jobs in Africa: a literature review," IDOS Discussion Papers 3/2019, German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS).
    14. Jianing Xu & Aili Zhang & Qian Chen, 2024. "Internet Development, Population Aging and Urban-rural Income Gap: An Empirical Analysis Based on Provinces in China," Advances in Management and Applied Economics, SCIENPRESS Ltd, vol. 14(5), pages 1-3.
    15. Jianxin Guo & Songqing Jin & Lei Chen & Jichun Zhao, 2018. "Impacts of Distance Education on Agricultural Performance and Household Income: Micro-Evidence from Peri-Urban Districts in Beijing," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-19, October.
    16. Shen, Zhiyang & Wang, Songkai & Boussemart, Jean-Philippe & Hao, Yu, 2022. "Digital transition and green growth in Chinese agriculture," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 181(C).
    17. Nasir Abbas Khan & Qijie Gao & Shoukat Ali & Babar Shahbaz & Palwasha Khan & Muhammad Abid, 2022. "Analyzing ICT-enabled agricultural advisory services in Pakistan: evidence from a marginalized region of Punjab province," Electronic Commerce Research, Springer, vol. 22(4), pages 1107-1129, December.
    18. Zhu, Huanyu & Ma, Wanglin & Vatsa, Puneet & Zheng, Hongyun, 2023. "Clean energy use and subjective and objective health outcomes in rural China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 183(C).
    19. Melia, Elvis, 2020. "African jobs in the digital era: Export options with a focus on online labour," IDOS Discussion Papers 3/2020, German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS).
    20. Wanglin Ma & Peng Nie & Pei Zhang & Alan Renwick, 2020. "Impact of Internet use on economic well‐being of rural households: Evidence from China," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(2), pages 503-523, May.

    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:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:7:p:2726-:d:1364136. 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.