ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. For. Glob. Change

Sec. Forest Management

Pathways for Consolidating the Sloping Land Conversion Program in Guizhou Province Using fsQCA and the Transtheoretical Model

  • 1. Putian University, Putian, China

  • 2. Northwest University, Xi'an, China

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Abstract

Consolidating the achievements of the Sloping Land Conversion Program (SLCP) is key to future sustainable operation and the promotion of comprehensive rural revitalization of the SLCP. On the basis of the transtheoretical model and stages of change (TTM) and using the fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis(fsQCA) model, this study examined the realization paths of the consolidation of the SLCP in Guizhou Province from the perspectives of value perception and government regulation. The results reveal: First, the differences in value perception and government regulation determine the different states of SLCP consolidation, and strong value perception and effective government regulation are the key conditions for effectively consolidating the SLCP and achieving economic development and ecological protection. Second, three different paths can support farmers' transformation from willingness to engage in behavior, and two different paths can support farmers' transformation from behavior to continued behavior. Value perception and government regulations have formed a diversified configuration for farmers to maintain the SLCP in a "multi-concurrent" manner. Third, on the basis of the corresponding cases covered by the configuration paths, this paper proposes three paths for consolidating the SLCP, namely, consolidating the SLCP under the conditions of implicit risk status, intermittent status, and high-risk status.

Summary

Keywords

farmer, fsQCA, Government Regulation, SLCP, value perception

Received

19 November 2025

Accepted

03 April 2026

Copyright

© 2026 Chen and Xie. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

*Correspondence: Chen Chen

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All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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