Beschreibung:
The elderly is unable to maintain agricultural production in China’ s countryside because of the ongoing exodus of rural laborers. Transferring land can advance agricultural growth and ease the burden of land-based lifestyles among rural elderly. Currently, the social network created by the “acquaintance society” in rural China has a significant influence on how rural elders make decisions. This study examined how social networks affect rural elders’ willingness to transfer land by using multilinear and binary logistic regression models based on survey data from 782 rural elderly people in 32 villages in 11 provinces of China. The results indicated that rural elders’ willingness to transfer land was not influenced by the scale of social networks, but was significantly positively affected by the heterogeneity and frequency of the social network. Male willingness to transfer land was significantly impacted by internal network, network heterogeneity and network tie frequency, whereas females were significantly impacted by internal network and the frequency of external network relationships. Also, the impact of social networks on willingness to transfer land diminished as rural people aged and the land transfer intention of the rural elderly in eastern China was not affected by the social network. Social networks primarily influence rural elders’ willingness to transfer land by three mechanisms: information consultation, interpersonal trust, and acquisition of material resource. Therefore, the government should focus on cultivating rural social network resources, encourage rural elderly to communicate more with other members in the social network, formulate more heterogeneous social networks, reduce rural elders’ dependence on land, and encourage them to participate in land transfer