Research on the impact of heterogeneous environmental regulations on smallholders’ livelihood strategies from the perspective of environmental identity theory

Based on environmental identity theory, the multiple mediation model was used to reveal the effects of heterogeneous environmental regulation on smallholder farmers’ livelihood strategies and behaviors, specifically examining the multiple mediating effects of two different dimensions of environmental identity and percived self-efficacy. This paper utilizes smallholder data from four provinces, including Heilongjiang, Jiangxi, Sichuan and Hunan, and uses the macro PROCESS 3.5 developed by Hayes for data analysis and processing. The results show that (1) informal environmental regulation has a significant positive effect on smallholder livelihood strategies, while the effect of formal environmental regulation is not significant. (2) Environmental identity strength fully mediated both between heterogeneous environmental regulation and livelihood strategies; environmental identity salience fully mediated the effect of formal environmental regulation and partially mediated the effect of informal environmental regulation. (3) Self-efficacy fully mediated the effect of formal environmental regulation on smallholder livelihood strategies, while partially mediating the role of informal environmental regulation. (4) Environmental identity strength, salience, and self-efficacy had parallel and chained multiple mediating effects and the parallel mediating path were more important in the relationship between heterogeneous environmental regulations and smallholder livelihood strategies. By clarifying the relationship between heterogeneous environmental regulation and smallholder livelihood strategies and the mediating mechanism of this relationship, the study provides theoretical references and empirical evidence for research on the construction of environmental governance systems and the sustainable development of smallholder livelihoods, enriches the Chinese micro-case studies on livelihood strategies, and expands the understanding of the relationship between environmental regulation and livelihood strategies.