Influencing Factors on the Ecological Protection Behaviors of Entrepreneurial Farmers in Chinese Forest Zones

Following the collective forest tenure reforms in China, many households pursued entrepreneurial activities creating substantial pressure on the environment. This study examines data collected from 462 informants in 10 provinces in Southern China to understand how changes in attitudes toward ecological protection behavior occur. The internal mechanisms of ecological attitudes were explored using structural equation modeling to obtain a function path. Ecological emotion has a direct effect on ecological protection behavior by acting as an intermediary between ecological knowledge and ecological protection. Perceived ecological severity mediates between ecological knowledge and emotion influencing entrepreneurial farmers’ ecological protection behavior. The perception of individual effect is mediated by perceptions of ecological severity and ecological emotion, eventually affecting ecological protection behavior. A model of cognition–emotion–practice is proposed based on the findings.