As China’s rural labour force declines, cropland fragmentation associated with the household contracting system undermines the integration of smallholder farmers into modern agricultural development. Utilising a split-model survey design, this study investigates the willingness of 492 farming households to participate in land consolidation within Yingde City, Guangdong Province, China, a designated pilot area for land-tenure adjustment. An analytical model of farmers’ participation in land consolidation is developed based on the extended Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB), and PLS-SEM (partial least squares structural equation modelling) is employed to identify the factors influencing farmers’ participation. The findings indicate that behavioural attitudes (BA), subjective norms (SN), perceived behavioural control (PBC) and government trust (GT) have significant positive effects on farmers’ willingness to participate in land consolidation. Among these, BA has the greatest intensity of effect, and PBC has a relatively low degree of influence. Additionally, farmers’ attitudes towards different land consolidation models differ significantly across farmer characteristics, which in turn affects their willingness to participate. Farmers with low land dependence are significantly influenced by BA, SN and GT, leading to a more favourable attitude towards the property rights swap model and a higher willingness to participate. By contrast, farmers with high landdependence show a higher willingness to participate in the management rights revitalisation model. Furthermore, farmers’ willingness to participate in different land consolidation models differs significantly across endowment characteristics. Accordingly, this study recommends implementing a property rights swap model in areas with low land dependence, while adopting a management rights revitalisation model in regions with high land dependence. Concurrently, the potential benefits and drawbacks of land consolidation should be communicated transparently to secure the support of key stakeholders and strengthen public perceptions of the government.
Chen et al. (Mon,) studied this question.