How does digital transformation affect agricultural enterprises’ pro-land behavior: The role of environmental protection cognition and cross-border search

The increase in the world's population and the significant changes in climate have put huge pressure on agricultural production land. Digital technologies have the potential to help improve this problem, however, there is currently a lack of commensurate attention from both academia and business. From the perspective of a knowledge-based view, this study establishes a theoretical framework to examine the influence of digital transformation on pro-land behavior, the mediating role of environmental protection cognition, and the moderating role of cross-border search. To test the theoretical model, the authors conduct empirical assessments based on survey data from a large number of Chinese agricultural companies. The results show that (1) digital transformation positively enhances enterprises' pro-land behavior; (2) environmental protection cognition partially mediates the positive relationship between digital transformation and pro-land behavior; (3) cross-border search positively moderates the relationship between digital transformation and environmental protection cognition; (4) cross-border search positively moderates the mediating role of environmental protection cognition in the relationship between digital transformation and pro-land behavior. The research expands the theoretical application of digital transformation and knowledge-based view in the field of land protection, and creatively constructs measurement indicators of related variables, which can provide decision-making references for related academic research and policymaking.