Empirical Study on Influencing Factors of Rural Environmental Behavior in Informatization

INTRODUCTION: With the advent of the information technology era, rural areas face new environmental protection challenges and opportunities. The rapid development of information technology provides new possibilities for changes in rural ecological behavior. However, understanding the influencing factors of rural environmental behavior in the context of information technology remains an important research topic. OBJECTIVES: This study aims to reveal the influencing factors of rural environmental behavior in the context of information technology to help governments and policymakers develop effective environmental protection strategies. Specifically, the researchers will focus on the extent to which factors such as education level, ecological awareness, economic status, and social participation influence the environmental behavior of rural residents. METHODS: A questionnaire survey was used in this study, and residents of a particular rural area were selected as the research subjects. A questionnaire containing questions on education level, environmental awareness, economic status, social participation, and environmental behavior was designed, and a large amount of data was collected through random sampling. Statistical analysis methods, such as regression and correlation analyses, were used to process and interpret the data. RESULTS: The study's results showed that the education level significantly affected the environmental behavior of rural residents. Residents with higher levels of education were more inclined to take positive ecological protection actions such as waste separation and energy conservation. In addition, environmental awareness was also found to be closely related to environmental behavior, with residents with higher ecological awareness being more concerned about environmental protection and taking action accordingly. Economic status and social participation affected rural residents' environmental behavior to a certain extent but to a lesser extent than education level and ecological awareness. CONCLUSION: Rural environmental behavior in the context of informatization is affected by a combination of factors. To promote rural ecological protection, the government should strengthen investment in education and improve rural residents' education level and environmental awareness. In addition, social organizations and public participation should also be supported to encourage rural residents to actively participate in environmental protection actions. These measures will help to promote a change in ecological behavior in rural areas and achieve the goal of sustainable development. © 2023 Cai et al., licensed to EAI. This open-access article is distributed under the terms of the CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, which permits copying, redistributing, remixing, transforming, and building upon the material in any medium so long as the original work is properly cited.