[en] Exploring the construction of effective payment mechanisms for rural residents could break the dilemma of the value of a single investment by the government in environmental governance and promote the process of sustainable rural domestic sewage treatment (RDST). The effects of environmental regulations have been roughly approved; however, their influence mechanisms on rural residents’ willingness to pay (WTP) and payment level for sustainable RDST have not been fully revealed. Based on a database of 744 respondents, an integrated model was developed to verify the heterogeneous effects of three environmental regulations on rural residents’ WTP and further explore their interaction effects and impact mechanisms. In addition, there is an urgent necessity to explore the effectiveness of implementing different combinations of environmental regulations. Our results indicated that, firstly, the guiding regulation and incentive regulation promoted rural residents’ WTP and payment level, whereas the binding regulation had a limited impact on individuals. Secondly, rural residents’ cognition mediated the effect of the environmental regulations on their WTP and payment level. Lastly, the guiding and incentive regulations showed a substitution relationship, while both guiding and binding regulations as well as incentive and binding regulations revealed a complementary relationship. The implications of these results indicate the importance of strengthening the public attention on the environmental and health hazards of rural domestic sewage and effectively raising rural residents’ environmental cognition and environmental protection awareness, thereby increasing their WTP and payment level for sustainable RDST. This study provides credible references and recommendations for environmental regulations’ formulation and policy optimization for RDST, as well as for the construction of payment systems for rural residents, and inspiration for rural environment management in other developing countries.
Disciplines :
Social economics
Author, co-author :
Jiao, Jian ; Université de Liège - ULiège > TERRA Research Centre ; State Key Laboratory of Efficient Utilization of Arid and Semi-Arid Arable Land in Northern China, Institute of Agricultural Resources and Regional Planning, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China
Yang, Zihong; State Key Laboratory of Efficient Utilization of Arid and Semi-Arid Arable Land in Northern China, Institute of Agricultural Resources and Regional Planning, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China
Shi, Boyang ; Université de Liège - ULiège > TERRA Research Centre ; State Key Laboratory of Efficient Utilization of Arid and Semi-Arid Arable Land in Northern China, Institute of Agricultural Resources and Regional Planning, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China
Dogot, Thomas ; Université de Liège - ULiège > TERRA Research Centre > Modélisation et développement
Azadi, Hossein ; Université de Liège - ULiège > TERRA Research Centre > Modélisation et développement
Xu, Ke; State Key Laboratory of Efficient Utilization of Arid and Semi-Arid Arable Land in Northern China, Institute of Agricultural Resources and Regional Planning, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China
Yin, Changbin ; State Key Laboratory of Efficient Utilization of Arid and Semi-Arid Arable Land in Northern China, Institute of Agricultural Resources and Regional Planning, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China ; Research Center for Agricultural Green Development in China, Beijing, China
Language :
English
Title :
How Environmental Regulation Affects Rural Residents’ Willingness to Pay for Sustainable Domestic Sewage Treatment: Mediating and Interaction Effects
Publication date :
March 2024
Journal title :
Water
eISSN :
2073-4441
Publisher :
Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI)
This work was supported by funding from the Major Program of the National Social Science Foundation of China (18ZDA048) and the Economic Transformation and Institutional Capacity Building Project for China of the World Bank (P144270). The China Scholarship Council (CSC) is gratefully acknowledged for financial support to the PhD study of Mr. Jian Jiao.
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