The influencing factors of quality collaborative control behavior in beef cattle farms and households: evidence from questionnaire surveys across 19 provinces in China

Introduction Effective collaborative quality control between beef cattle farms and slaughtering/processing enterprises is pivotal for ensuring beef quality and safety, meeting heterogeneous consumer demand, and building a resilient, diversified food supply. Yet the farmer-side determinants of such collaboration remain underexamined. Methods Drawing on the Decomposed Theory of Planned Behavior (DTPB), this study analyzes survey data from 19 provinces in China using structural equation modeling (SEM) to identify the drivers of collaborative quality-control behavior among beef cattle farms. Results The results show that decision-maker characteristics, subjective norms, and attitudes toward collaboration exert significant positive direct effects (path coefficients = 0.181, 0.508, and 0.202, respectively). Operational characteristics and perceived behavioral control influence collaborative behavior indirectly via subjective norms and collaborative attitudes, respectively. Discussion Conceptually, the study extends DTPB to a livestock supply-chain context and illuminates farmer decision-making through latent constructs relevant to developing-country settings. Practically, the findings indicate that strengthening collaborative quality control can be advanced by improving farmers’ scientific and cultural literacy, refining and disseminating beef quality standards, enhancing related training, bolstering certification and market supervision, supporting exemplary farm–enterprise partnerships, and ensuring a fair distribution of collaborative gains.