Social responsibility awareness and adoption of climate-smart agricultural practices: evidence from food-based family farms in China

The adoption of climate-smart agricultural practices is a key factor in sustainable agriculture. In essence, the adoption of climate-smart agricultural practices depends not only on the farmers themselves but also on the dynamic game with stakeholders in the external environment (e.g., business, government, and consumers). By taking on more socio-environmental responsibility, farmers increase the social welfare of other stakeholders, thereby gaining social trust and market support. Based on stakeholder theory, we examine the mechanism of social responsibility awareness of climate-smart agricultural practices adopted by 637 family farms in China, mediated by the dual motivations of prosocial and impression management, moderated by government incentives. The results show that social responsibility awareness has a positive impact on climate-smart agricultural practices adoption. Social responsibility awareness influences the adoption of climate-smart agricultural practices via prosocial motivation and impression management motivation. Moreover, social responsibility awareness is more likely to motivate the adoption of climate-smart agricultural practices among family farms through prosocial motivation and impression management motivation in the presence of stronger government incentives compared to weaker ones. Our study provides a new perspective on the adoption of climate-smart agricultural practices. We suggest that governments should strengthen farmers’ social responsibility awareness from a stakeholder perspective.