Study on the effects of ecological cognition and organizational support on the willingness and behavior of farmers in arid areas to participate in shelterbelt management

Abstract

Abstract Farmland shelterbelts serve as a crucial ecological barrier for agricultural production operations in ecologically fragile rural areas. Farmers’ participation in the management and protection of these shelterbelts is a key prerequisite for ensuring the sustained and effective realization of their ecological benefits. Based on the social-ecological system framework and interactive determinism theory, this study focuses on 322 farming households in Wensu County, Xinjiang, and employs a bivariate Probit model to explore the effects of ecological cognition and organizational support on farmers’ willingness and behavior to participate in shelterbelt management, as well as generational differences. The findings indicate that: (1) Within ecological cognition, both ecological knowledge and ecological responsibility significantly promote farmers’ willingness and participation behavior; however, ecological values have a negative impact on some participation willingness and behavior due to farmers’ perception of economic losses from the shelterbelt “negative edge effect.” (2) In terms of organizational support, both instrumental support and emotional support significantly and positively influence farmers’ willingness and participation behavior. (3) Organizational support partially moderates ecological cognition. However, neither type of support can mitigate the negative impact of ecological values. (4) Regarding generational differences, younger farmers are more influenced by ecological knowledge and instrumental support, whereas older generations rely more on ecological responsibility and instrumental support. Based on these results, this paper recommends strengthening the cultivation of farmers’ ecological cognition, implementing multiple measures to alleviate the negative edge effect of shelterbelts, and improving a dual-dimensional organizational support mechanism combining emotional and instrumental support to promote the long-term management and protection of shelterbelts.