How social capital affects the quality performance of agricultural products: evidence from a binary perspective of China

Fu, Shaoling; Liu, Hua; Tan, Kim; Zhan, Yuanzhu; Ding, Yalan; Qi, Wene

Abstract

Improving the quality of agricultural products is the key factor in promoting agricultural
development in the Belt and Road program. Although many studies have investigated the
relationship between social capital and performance, the findings are inconsistent. Moreover, the
mechanism of how social capital affects the quality performance of agricultural products remains
unclear. Accordingly, this study developed a theoretical model with propositions from a social
capital-quality performance of agricultural products paradigm for examining and comparing the
three dimensions of social capital: The relationships among cognitive (measured by shared values),
relational (measured by reciprocity) and structural (measured by communication), and their role in
ensuring quality performance of agricultural products from the company and farmer perspectives.
This study selected the companies and farmers in “A company + farmers” model. The data analysis
is based on a sample of 184 companies and 414 farmers. The results show that shared values and
communication have a significant positive effect on reciprocity. In terms of the influence on
reciprocity, communication is higher than shared values from both the corporate and farmer
perspectives. The three dimensions of social capital have different effects on quality performance of
agricultural products. On the company side, communication and reciprocity in social capital have a
significant positive effect on the quality performance of agricultural products, with the order of
effect being communication first followed by reciprocity. On the farmer side, reciprocity and shared
values have a significant positive effect on the quality performance of agricultural products, with
the order of effect being reciprocity first followed by shared values. These findings have positive
theoretical and practical significance for companies and farmers aiming to improve the quality of
agricultural products.

Citation

Fu, S., Liu, H., Tan, K., Zhan, Y., Ding, Y., & Qi, W. (2018). How social capital affects the quality performance of agricultural products: evidence from a binary perspective of China. Sustainability, 10(9), Article 3009. https://doi.org/10.3390/su10093009

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Aug 22, 2018
• Online Publication Date: Aug 24, 2018
• Publication Date: Aug 24, 2018
• Deposit Date: Sep 19, 2018
• Publicly Available Date: Sep 20, 2018
• Journal: Sustainability
• Electronic ISSN: 2071-1050
• Publisher: MDPI
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 10
• Issue: 9
• Article Number: 3009
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/su10093009
• Keywords: Belt and Road; quality performance of agricultural products; social capital; binary perspective; China
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1091348
• Publisher URL: http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/9/3009
• Contract Date: Sep 20, 2018