Effect Of Social Norms On Organic Fertilizer Application Behavior Of Facility Vegetable Growers

As a commonly accepted norm of behavior,social norms have many functions,such as value orientation,punishment and supervision,and transmission and internalization,it plays an important role in complementing and substituting with the formal system.As an external mechanism,social norms can stimulate the internal dynamics of individuals and play a role in macro-promoting micro-individual behavior.From the perspective of social norms,this paper discusses the influence direction and relationship of organic fertilizer application behavior on the special group of facility vegetable growers,and examines whether there is mediating effect,therefore,the corresponding countermeasures and suggestions are put forward.First of all,on the basis of the existing literature,this paper defines the connotation and extension of facility vegetable growers,social norms,and organic fertilizer application behavior,and combs the externality theory,farmer household behavior theory,and behavioral economics theory,normative activation theory and other related theories.Based on the survey data of 369 protected vegetable farmers in Shandong province,this paper used Tobit model and OLS model to explore the impact of social norms and sub-dimensions on the organic fertilizer application behavior of protected vegetable farmers,quantile regression model was used to further examine the inverted U-shaped relationship between social norms and fractal dimensions and organic fertilizer application behavior of facility vegetable growers.Finally,we examine the mediating effect of perceived usefulness,perceived ease of use,and perceived responsibility.The conclusions are as follows: first,the proportion of organic fertilizer investment funds in total fertilizer investment accounts for 41%-60% of the respondents,50.1%,the amount of organic fertilizer applied by most vegetable growers in facilities is above the middle level,but there is still room for further improvement.Second,the social norms and their sub-dimensions have a significant impact on the organic fertilizer application behavior of facility vegetable growers.Specifically,the descriptive social norms have the greatest impact on the organic fertilizer application behavior of facility vegetable growers,the second is imperative social norms.From the perspective of influence relationship,social norms and their sub-dimensions show an inverted U-shaped relationship on organic fertilizer application behavior of facility vegetable growers.Third,social norms can affect the organic fertilizer application behavior of facility vegetable growers through the indirect path of perceived usefulness,perceived ease of use,and responsibility cognition,among them,perceived usefulness contributes the most to its indirect effect,and the direction is positive,while responsibility cognition contributes the second,and the direction is positive,and perceived ease of use is the least.Finally,based on the above research conclusions,this paper puts forward the following countermeasures and suggestions:(1)flexible and detailed policies,reflecting the policy gradient;(2)improving the supply of organic fertilizer services,reflecting market norms;(3)supporting agricultural technology services,encouraging social participation;(4)widen the knowledge channel and raise the responsibility consciousness of the facility vegetable growers.