The Role of Social Fairness Perceptions in Farmers’ Continued Participation in Environmental Governance: A China Scenario

The ecological and environmental challenges in rural areas of China are increasingly severe, and farmers' continued participation in environmental governance has emerged as a renewed focal point. However, the participation behaviors in environmental governance represent an ongoing life cycle. Therefore, the study of farmers' sustained engagement in environmental participation is crucial for promoting green and low-carbon development and addressing ecological and environmental problems in China. Drawing on data from the China General Social Survey released in 2017, this paper constructs a theoretical analysis framework of “social network—social fairness perceptions—farmers' continued participation in environmental governance.” Additionally, we employ a structural equation model with bootstrap autonomous sampling method to examine the mediating role of social fairness perceptions. The findings demonstrate that social network, procedural fairness perception, and outcome fairness perception all significantly influence farmers' continued participation in environmental governance. Moreover, social fairness perceptions partially mediate the relationship between social network and farmers' continued participation in environmental governance. Furthermore, higher levels of procedural fairness perception and outcome fairness perception correspond to greater degrees of Chinese farmers' continued participation in environmental governance; conversely, stronger social networks are associated with lower levels of Chinese farmers' continued participation in such activities. This paper aims to elucidate the specific role played by social fairness perceptions within Chinese farmers' continued participation in environmental governance and to actively explore the policy implications.