Xue Chen, Yong Mei, Du Fulin, Feng Zhidong, Han Jiali, Lin Haihua
College of Economics and Management, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Hohhot, China.
Faculty of Education, Shinawatra University, Bangtoey, Thailand.
PLoS One. 2025 Sep 9;20(9):e0331914. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0331914. eCollection 2025.
Against the backdrop of grassland ecological degradation, grassland transfer has become a crucial pathway for optimizing livestock resource allocation and promoting sustainable pastoral development. Based on survey data from 383 herder households in the farming-pastoral ecotone of Inner Mongolia, China, this study applies Heckman models, mediation models, and moderation models to examine the impact of digital technology on herders' grassland leasing-in decisions and the underlying mechanisms. The results indicate that digital technology significantly increases both the probability and the scale of grassland leasing-in among herders. Moreover, digital technology indirectly promotes grassland leasing-in by enhancing scale efficiency. Notably, strong social networks weaken the facilitating role of digital technology in grassland transfer, whereas weak social networks strengthen it. The impact of digital technology on grassland leasing-in is especially pronounced under environmental regulations with weak incentives but strong constraints. Finally, compared with ordinary herders, digital technology has a significantly positive effect on grassland leasing-in only for new-type operators. In addition, the impact of digital technology is more pronounced among groups with higher levels of education.
在草原生态退化的背景下，草原流转已成为优化牲畜资源配置、促进牧区可持续发展的关键途径。基于对中国内蒙古农牧交错带383户牧户的调查数据，本研究运用Heckman模型、中介模型和调节模型，考察数字技术对牧户草原租入决策的影响及其潜在机制。结果表明，数字技术显著提高了牧户草原租入的概率和规模。此外，数字技术通过提高规模效率间接促进草原租入。值得注意的是，强大的社会网络削弱了数字技术在草原流转中的促进作用，而薄弱的社会网络则强化了这一作用。在激励较弱但约束较强的环境规制下，数字技术对草原租入的影响尤为显著。最后，与普通牧户相比，数字技术仅对新型经营者的草原租入有显著的正向影响。此外，数字技术在受教育程度较高的群体中的影响更为显著。
