How Do Environmental Decentralization and Multi‐Modal Data Fusion Affect the Contractual Governance of the Agricultural Industrial Chain: A Systematic Literature Review

ABSTRACT In the process of agricultural green transformation, environmental decentralization and multi‐modal data fusion, as important institutional arrangements and technological empowerment means, are profoundly influencing the form and performance of contractual governance in the agricultural industrial chain. Although existing studies have separately explored the roles of the two, little literature systematically reveals how they interact with the contractual governance mechanism. This article adopts a systematic literature review to sort through and integrate 48 Chinese and English sources. The research finds that environmental decentralization affects the contracting environment and the organizational form of the industrial chain by reshaping local governments’ incentive structures. Multi‐modal data fusion supports contract supervision and enforcement by enhancing the transparency and traceability of information. The two have formed an “institution technology” synergy, jointly alleviating information asymmetry and promoting the development of contractual governance towards precise risk pricing, verifiable trust establishment, and adaptive regional collaboration. This article not only provides an integrated analytical framework for understanding how institutions and technologies in the digital age can collaboratively reconstruct agricultural economic organizations, but also offers policy insights for optimizing industrial chain governance and promoting sustainable agricultural transformation.