Social Network Embeddedness,collective Efficiency,and Farmers’ Participation In Village Environmental Governance

In the current situation of public health and other problems,strengthening environmental management in the village is not only an important measure to effectively improve rural environmental health and build an ecologically pleasant "beautiful countryside",but also an important link to strengthen rural ecological improvement and promote the equalization of basic public services in urban and rural areas.However,most public goods and public resources often receive less attention.The attributes of "weak exclusivity" and "competitive" of rural environment make its management and governance often face the "prisoner’s dilemma".Along with the development and practice of Ostrom’s theory of autonomous governance,the role of farmers as a group with autonomy in the management of public things has received renewed attention for resource governance.In Chinese rural society,environmental governance in the village is a complex and dynamic process involving multiple stakeholders.The intertwined game relations in the rural spatial network constitute the social structure of village environmental governance,which makes farmers’ decisions influenced by social relations,institutional norms,and resource capacity.Therefore,the understanding of the social network in which farmers involve is the key to promote their participation in village environmental governance.According to the embeddedness perspective,this paper defines the concepts of social network embeddedness,collective efficacy and farmer participation based on theories of social network theory,social cognition theory,collective action theory,and governance of public things.This paper identifies the dimensional characteristics of the three core variables and the basis of indicator representation,constructs a theoretical framework of social network embedding and collective efficacy influencing farmers’ participation in village environmental governance,and explains in depth the logic of the interface between social network embedding,collective efficacy,and farmers’ participation.Based on a systematic review of existing studies,the influence of social network embeddedness and collective efficacy on farmers’ participation,and the transmission mechanism of collective efficacy between social networks and farmers’ participation are investigated.We use data from 860 micro-surveys of farm households in three provinces,Jiangsu,Anhui,and Shaanxi,and explore these mechanisms using a variety of strategies including the Double-Hurdle model and the mediating effects model.The main findings of this paper are as follows.(1)Social network embeddedness has a significant effect on farmers’ participation in village environmental governance.The relational embedding and structural embedding in rural social networks significantly contribute to the participation behavior and participation level of farmers in village environmental governance.The results of cohort differences showed that the social network embedding of farmers in different regions had different degrees of influence on their participation behaviors.In comparison,the level of social network embedding of farmers in Jiangsu province has the greatest contribution to the participation behavior in environmental governance,while the level of social network embedding of farmers in Shaanxi province has the greatest contribution to the level of participation in environmental governance.(2)Collective efficacy perception has a significant impact on farmers’ participation in village environmental governance.The stronger the sense of collective efficacy of farmers,the more likely they are to participate in village environmental management,and the greater the degree of investment and work in village environmental construction.(3)Collective efficacy significantly mediates the relationship between social network embeddedness and farmers’ participation in village environmental governance.Social network embeddedness can enhance farmers’ collective efficacy,which in turn promotes farmers’ participation behavior and participation level.Relational and structural embeddedness can promote farmers’ participation behavior and participation level by enhancing farmers’ collective efficacy.Particularly,collective efficacy has the largest mediating effect between relational embeddedness and farmers’ participation.(4)Farmers’ individual characteristics and subjective perceptions are important factors that influence farmers’ participation in village environmental management.First,farmers’ individual characteristics such as age have a significant negative influence on their participation.The older farmers are,the less motivated they are to participate in activities such as village environmental management.Secondly,farmers’ subjective cognition such as the environmental cognition has a significant positive influence on their participation in village environmental governance.Environmental cognition is an important factor influencing farmers’ participation in decision-making.The higher the level of farmers’ cognition,the stronger their sense of "ownership" of environmental management,thus increasing the possibility of their participation in environmental management.Finally,the more comprehensive and timelier the information provided by the village community,the higher the level of farmers’ participation.