Abstract
As China’s rural labour force declines, cropland fragmentation associated with the household contracting system undermines the integration of smallholder farmers into modern agricultural development. Utilising a split-model survey design, this study investigates the willingness of 492 farming households to participate in land consolidation within Yingde City, Guangdong Province, China, a designated pilot area for land-tenure adjustment. An analytical model of farmers’ participation in land consolidation is developed based on the extended Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB), and PLS-SEM (partial least squares structural equation modelling) is employed to identify the factors influencing farmers’ participation. The findings indicate that behavioural attitudes (BA), subjective norms (SN), perceived behavioural control (PBC) and government trust (GT) have significant positive effects on farmers’ willingness to participate in land consolidation. Among these, BA has the greatest intensity of effect, and PBC has a relatively low degree of influence. Additionally, farmers’ attitudes towards different land consolidation models differ significantly across farmer characteristics, which in turn affects their willingness to participate. Farmers with low land dependence are significantly influenced by BA, SN and GT, leading to a more favourable attitude towards the property rights swap model and a higher willingness to participate. By contrast, farmers with high landdependence show a higher willingness to participate in the management rights revitalisation model. Furthermore, farmers’ willingness to participate in different land consolidation models differs significantly across endowment characteristics. Accordingly, this study recommends implementing a property rights swap model in areas with low land dependence, while adopting a management rights revitalisation model in regions with high land dependence. Concurrently, the potential benefits and drawbacks of land consolidation should be communicated transparently to secure the support of key stakeholders and strengthen public perceptions of the government.
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Funding
This study was funded by the National Social Science Fund of China project “Study on the Adjustment Mechanism of Cultivated Land Remediation Tenure in the Trade-off between Equity and Efficiency,” project number 23CGL064.
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All procedures performed in this study adhere to the ethical standards of the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. According to the Measures for the Ethical Review of Life Science and Medical Research Involving Human Beings promulgated by China (Article 32: Research that does not cause harm to humans, and does not involve sensitive personal information or commercial interests can be exempted from ethical review), the School of Public Management, South China Agricultural University, confirmed the exemption. Furthermore, this study was conducted using an anonymous survey format, which did not involve participants’ personal information. Participants were informed of the purpose of this study and the use of the data before the survey and their verbal consent was obtained. The approved scope covered all planned data collection, analysis, and publication activities involving human participants. Therefore, this study was reviewed and granted exemption from ethical approval by the School of Public Management, South China Agricultural University, on January 14, 2026 (no exemption number was issued).
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The respondents provided oral consent before taking part in the study. Verbal consent from participants was obtained by research team members between October 1, 2023, and October 7, 2023. All the participants were informed in advance about the purposes of the research. No personal data was obtained, such as name, address or phone number.
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Chen, J., Liu, G., Cai, H. et al. Research on behavioural mechanisms of farmers’ participation in land consolidation—a survey analysis based on different consolidation models.
Humanit Soc Sci Commun (2026). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-026-07423-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-026-07423-5
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