Moderating role of digital media on environmental awareness and environmental beliefs to shape farmers' behavioral intentions towards sustainable agricultural land conservation practices

Farina Khan; Kashif Abbass; Wu Qun; Oksana Grebinevych

doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2024.123745

Moderating role of digital media on environmental awareness and environmental beliefs to shape farmers' behavioral intentions towards sustainable agricultural land conservation practices

J Environ Manage. 2024 Dec 27:373:123745. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2024.123745. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Farina Khan¹, Kashif Abbass², Wu Qun³, Oksana Grebinevych⁴

Affiliations

¹ College of Public Administration, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, 210095, Jiangsu, China. Electronic address: farinakhan78480@gmail.com.
² School of Economics and Management, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing, 210094, China. Electronic address: kashifkhakhi8797@gmail.com.
³ College of Public Administration, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, 210095, Jiangsu, China. Electronic address: wuqun0240@gmail.com.
⁴ Montpellier Business School, Montpellier, France. Electronic address: O.grebinevych@montpellier-bs.com.

PMID: 39731945
DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2024.123745

Abstract

The Green Revolution in Pakistan introduced intensive agricultural practices aimed at enhancing food security and economic growth. However, these measures have degraded the country's fertile agricultural land and exacerbated climate pollution due to farmers' overexploitation of resources in pursuit of higher yields. Addressing this issue requires identifying factors that can influence farmers' behavior toward adopting sustainable practices. This study explores how farmers' environmental awareness (EA) and beliefs (EB) shape their attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control to influence their intentions toward sustainable land practices. Furthermore, social media influence directly or indirectly moderate this relationship to achieve sustainable behavior as extending the framework of the Theory of Planned Behavior. Using data from 1400 educated farmers in Punjab, Pakistan, the study employs structural equation modeling to test hypotheses, with mediation and moderation analyses highlighting the effects of EA, EB, and social media influence on farmer behavioral intentions. The findings reveal that the extension of TPB with the addition of EA and EB statistically significantly with a p-value <0.05 improved the explanatory power of the original TPB model. The findings highlight that farmers who actively engage with agricultural communities on social media become more environmentally aware and strengthen their beliefs, are more likely to adopt sustainable practices. In particular, governments of Pakistan should use social media as a strategic tool to actively raise awareness among farmers by disseminating eco-friendly agriculture practices across various social media platforms, thereby encouraging farmers to engage in more proactive environmental actions.

Keywords: Bootstrapping method; Environmental awareness; Environmental beliefs; Farmers willingness; Social media influence; Sustainable agriculture land practices.