College of Agronomy, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, 712100 Shaanxi, China; Shaanxi Engineering Research Center of Circular Agriculture, Yangling, 712100, Shaanxi, China.
College of Agronomy, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, 712100 Shaanxi, China; Shaanxi Engineering Research Center of Circular Agriculture, Yangling, 712100, Shaanxi, China.
J Environ Manage. 2019 May 1;237:15-23. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2019.02.070. Epub 2019 Feb 16.
Agricultural non-point source (NPS) pollution in water source protection areas poses serious challenges for governments in developing countries. It is important to consider the environmental behavior of farmers when exploring the causes of NPS pollution as well as when establishing scientific controls and management measures. However, the poor understanding of factors influencing the environmental behavior of farmers and the lack of a suitable environmental socio-psychological model limit the application of the environmental behavior of farmers in NPS pollution management. In this study, we therefore integrated the theory of planned behavior (TPB) and the protection motivation theory (PMT) to identify the main determinants of the NPS pollution-related environmental behavior and intention of farmers in the Water Source Area of the Middle Route of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project in China. Results indicated that the integrated model provided a better understanding of the environmental behavior and intention of farmers than that provided by each component when used individually, and revealed that farmers perceived that the susceptibility and severity of threats caused by water deterioration influenced environmental intention through the mediating effects of subjective norm and attitude toward adopting pro-environmental behavior. At the same time, the perceived vulnerability of farmers was relatively high and their perceived severity was relatively low. Furthermore, the subjective norm, attitude, self-efficacy (i.e., the perceived behavioral control), and response efficacy positively and significantly influenced intention. However, response cost had a significantly negative effect on intention. Among them, subjective norm had the largest effect on intention. Intention was the key determinant for the actual environmental behavior of farmers, while self-efficacy also had a significantly positive effect on behavior. Managing and controlling agricultural NPS pollution requires a multi-disciplinary and comprehensive approach. Therefore, an integrated theoretical framework was developed in this study by integrating TPB and PMT to gain insight into the environmental behaviors and intention of farmers. The results provided a theoretical basis for NPS pollution control.
农业面源（NPS）污染对发展中国家的政府在水源保护区构成了严重挑战。在探索 NPS 污染的原因以及建立科学的控制和管理措施时，考虑农民的环境行为非常重要。然而，由于对影响农民环境行为的因素缺乏了解以及缺乏合适的环境社会心理学模型，限制了农民环境行为在 NPS 污染管理中的应用。因此，在本研究中，我们将计划行为理论（TPB）和保护动机理论（PMT）相结合，以确定中国南水北调中线工程水源区农民与 NPS 污染相关的环境行为和意图的主要决定因素。结果表明，与单独使用每个组成部分相比，集成模型提供了对农民环境行为和意图的更好理解，并且表明农民认为水质恶化造成的威胁的易感性和严重性通过主观规范和对采用有利于环境的行为的态度的中介效应对环境意图产生影响。同时，农民的感知脆弱性相对较高，而感知严重性相对较低。此外，主观规范、态度、自我效能（即感知行为控制）和响应效能对意图具有积极且显著的影响。但是，响应成本对意图有显著的负面影响。其中，主观规范对意图的影响最大。意图是农民实际环境行为的关键决定因素，而自我效能也对行为具有显著的积极影响。管理和控制农业 NPS 污染需要多学科和综合的方法。因此，本研究通过整合 TPB 和 PMT 来深入了解农民的环境行为和意图，构建了一个综合的理论框架。研究结果为 NPS 污染控制提供了理论基础。
