Factors influencing herders’ willingness to engage in grassland ecological restoration in Ruoergai County

With the intensification of global climate change and human activities, grassland ecological degradation has become a prominent issue constraining ecological security on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau and the sustainable development of pastoral areas. Existing research on pastoral grasslands has largely focused on surface-level variables such as policy responses and the acceptance of ecological compensation, with limited systematic exploration of the psychological and emotional factors underlying herders’ ecological behavioral intention. In particular, empirical analyses based on well-established theoretical frameworks remain scarce. In Ruoergai County, where grassland degradation is severe, the pathways and synergistic mechanisms through which key factors such as place attachment and risk perception influence behavioral intention have yet to be systematically verified, which to some extent restricts the precision of ecological policy interventions and the sustainability of governance outcomes. Therefore, this study aims to systematically reveal the formation mechanism of herders’ intention to engage in grassland ecological restoration. Drawing on the Value–Belief–Norm (VBN) theory and incorporating two extended variables—risk perception and place attachment—this study constructs a theoretical model and employs both structural equation modeling (SEM) and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) for dual validation. To enhance accessibility and sample representativeness in pastoral areas, a mixed data collection strategy combining online and offline questionnaire surveys was adopted. Based on this research design, 620 valid questionnaire responses were collected from pastoral grassland areas of Ruoergai County, Sichuan Province. The study employed scale measurements to ensure both reliability and cultural adaptability. The SEM results indicate that value cognition, risk perception, and place attachment all exert significant positive effects on ecological restoration belief, which in turn significantly promotes the formation of personal norm. Personal norm further enhances herders’ intention to engage in ecological restoration. In addition, both risk perception and place attachment have direct positive impacts on herders’ ecological restoration intention. The fsQCA results further reveal that the synergy of high levels of value cognition, risk perception, place attachment, ecological restoration belief, and personal norm constitutes a key configuration for fostering strong ecological restoration intention among herders. This study extends the applicability of the VBN theory to the context of herders’ grassland ecological restoration behavior and emphasizes that integrated strategies—such as shaping value cognition, strengthening risk perception, and cultivating emotional bonds of place attachment—should be adopted to enhance herders’ participation in grassland ecological restoration. The findings provide both theoretical and practical references for optimizing ecological governance policies and designing behavioral interventions in pastoral areas. China Government Network. Ecological Environment. Available online: (2005). https://www.gov.cn/test/2005-07/28/content_17792.htm (Accessed 9 Aug 2025). Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of the People’s Republic of China. Reply to Proposal No.... [9514 chars]