Uncovering the combined effects of behavioral costs, awareness of consequences, and emotional exhaustion on farmers’ behavioral intentions to recycle agricultural waste

Abstract Countries around the world are making unremitting efforts to align agricultural practices more harmoniously with the ecological environment. In China, smallholder farmers are the primary‌ group practicing sustainable agriculture, yet their participation remains low. However, few studies have focused on the impeding factors stemming from inadequate socio-cultural conditions and possible negative emotions accompanying behavioral implementation. This study investigates the role of behavioral costs and emotional exhaustion in the intention to recycle agricultural wastes (AWs). It employed a sample of 902 Chinese farmers and the partial least squares structural equation model for empirical testing. The results are as follows. First, behavioral costs constitute obstacles stressors causing psychological stress to farmers, leading to emotional exhaustion and negative behavioral intentions to agricultural wastes recycling. For pesticide packages and mulch film, perceived effort and time costs significantly exhaust farmers’ emotional resources. Second, behavioral costs are significant antecedents of perceived behavioral control. Economic and effort costs are key factors that result in low perceived behavioral control in straw recycling. Third, awareness of consequences significantly enhances environmental attitudes or reduces emotional exhaustion, which in turn triggers recycling behavior for all types of AWs. Fourth, rational, ethical, and emotional psychological factors influence behavioral intentions differentially across AWs that have different behavioral costs. Interpersonal interactions effectively activate intrinsic moral and foster positive behavior in crop straw recycling.‌ Grounded in the Theory of Planned Behavior, the Normative Theory of Values and Beliefs, and the Resource Conservation Theory, while incorporating behavioral costs and emotional exhaustion, an integrative framework encompassing rationality, morality, and emotions was constructed. The study reveals external barriers and implicit psychological obstacles to farmers’ participation in AWs recycling. The results suggest that reducing behavioral cost barriers and individual sensitivity to private capital losses are more effective ways.