Waste sorting is the cardinal measurement to solve the problem of low efficiency of rural environmental governance and to alleviate environmental pollution by reduction, recycling, and harmlessness in rural areas. However, non-excludable and non-rival features of public goods easily cause a wide free-rider problem, which results in a low frequency of participation in the waste sorting of rural people. Based on the theory of the utility maximization of the rational economic man, this paper investigates survey data of 688 farm households in three cities and three counties of Shaanxi Province to explore the effect of the perceived value on the household waste classification behavior based on cost-benefit analysis. The results show that perceived benefit and perceived cost are important perceived value factors affecting farmers’ participation in waste sorting. Specifically, the spiritual benefit of the perceived benefit has a significantly positive impact on classification behavior, while the time cost, physical cost, and material cost of the perceived cost have a negative impact on waste classification behavior. Further study of the heterogeneity of income impact shows that time cost only has a significant impact on the high-income group of farmers’ classification behavior, while spiritual benefit and learning cost only affect the low-income group of farmers’ waste classification behavior. Material cost has different influence directions on high- and low-income groups. In view of the aforementioned findings, this study highlights corresponding policy implications from the perspective of perceived benefit and perceived cost.

E-commerce furnishes farmers in rural China with a novel solution accomplishing entrepreneurship transformation, but serious credit constraints still coexist with it at present, which may restrict the release of e-commerce’s potential. Therefore, this study investigates whether formal credit promotes entrepreneurial farmers’ e-commerce utilization and explores its influencing mechanism. Based on the survey data collected from 831 entrepreneurial farmers in Shaanxi province, Ningxia province and Shandong province in rural China, the propensity score matching (PSM) method was applied to measure the impact of formal credit on e-commerce utilization. The results show that formal credit contributes to a 18.41% increase of e-commerce utilization in general and increases entrepreneurial farmers’ online purchases and sales by 11.15% and 14.69%, respectively. Some groups perform significantly in the heterogeneity analysis, the most noteworthy of which are entrepreneurial farmers who are younger, belong to new type of agricultural business entities and use mobile payments. Their e-commerce utilization, including online purchases and sales, are impacted most by formal credit. Furthermore, when the bootstrap method was used to examine the mediating effect, we found that formal credit has a positive and significant effect on the utilization of e-commerce through four channels, which are internet learning, asset allocation, labor allocation and income growth. Hence, the findings suggest that the government should augment the amount of formal credit to optimize entrepreneurial farmers’ internet learning, asset allocation, labor employment and income growth, thereby promoting e-commerce to achieve entrepreneurial transformation and sustainable development in rural areas.

The spillover effect of environmental behavior has been of wide concern in recent years. The purpose of this paper is to explore the influence of household waste sorting on green consumption (behavioral spillover) and the possible psychological mechanisms involved in such spillover of environmental concern. Though it is important, insufficient attention has been paid to exploring the relationship, and the process of its formation, between waste sorting and green consumption. To narrow this gap, survey data collected in 2018 from 688 rural households from Shaanxi Province in western China were used. The propensity score matching method was employed to measure the effect of waste sorting on rural households’ green consumption. The mediating model was employed to investigate the path of influence in the relationship between waste sorting and green consumption. The results showed that waste sorting behavior positively spilled over into green consumption, with a net effect of 0.205. Environmental concern has a mediating effect on the relationship between waste sorting and green consumption behavior, with a mediating effect of 0.3177. In summary, household waste sorting behavior has a spillover effect on green consumption behavior as a result of the mediation effect of environmental concern. The results of this article fill in our knowledge on the spillover effects of waste sorting behavior in developing countries. Policy makers and regulators should vigorously advocate and implement waste sorting behavior, increase farmers’ concern for the environment, and promote their participation in green consumption behavior, so as to maximize the spillover effect.