Understanding Chinese farmers' participation behavior regarding vegetable traceability systems

Implementing vegetable traceability systems is complex. Farmers are producers and the first point of traceability. Their intention and behavior related to implementation of vegetable traceability systems directly determine the success or failure of the implementation of those systems. The objective of this study was to identify factors that affect participation behavior in vegetable traceability systems by using a structural equation model and a logistic regression model. Data collected from a 2019 in-person interview survey of vegetable farmers located in Jiangxi province, China were analyzed. Results from the structural equation model showed that perceived usefulness positively affected farmers' participation intentions and their participation intentions positively affected their participation behavior. The impacts of social influence on perceived usefulness were greater than the impacts of traceability system characteristics on perceived usefulness. Facilitating conditions such as equipment resources, knowledge, and skills that farmers have a significant positive impact on the perceived ease of use. Facilitating conditions and perceived usefulness were two key factors influencing participation intention. Results from the logistic regression model showed that gender, age, marital status, cooperative organization membership, and whether the respondents were near a city had a significant impact on participation intention. The conclusions of this study further expanded the current research scope regarding farmers' quality and safety behaviors and revealed the internal decision-making mechanism for farmers' participation behavior regarding vegetable traceability systems. This study has implications for implementing vegetable traceability systems to ensure food safety in China or elsewhere in the world. •This paper expands technology acceptance model.•Social influence had a significant positive impact on facilitating conditions.•Participation intention impacts participation behavior.•Facilitating conditions and perceived usefulness affect participation intention the most.