Abstract: As the largest form of agricultural cooperative economic organization in contemporary China, cooperatives have become a crucial force in advancing a Chinese-style cooperative economy. This study, from the perspective of farmers’ psychological identity, employs the PLS-SEM path modeling approach to empirically investigate the effects of policy cognition and risk perception on farmers’ intentions to participate in cooperatives. The mediating role of perceived value and the moderating effect of social network interaction are introduced to explore the underlying mechanisms influencing farmers’ participation decisions. Using survey data collected from 724 farmers in Guizhou, Sichuan, and Yunnan provinces, the results reveal that cooperative participation intention is shaped by farmers’ policy cognition and the heterogeneity of their risk perception. Enhancing farmers’ perceived value is identified as the core pathway to strengthening their participation intentions. Furthermore, social network interaction positively moderates the relationship between farmers’ psychological identity and cooperative participation intention. Regional analysis highlights significant variations in path coefficients across different areas, influenced by varying levels of economic development, suggesting that socio-economic disparities affect the impact of psychological identity on cooperative participation intention.

Key words: Cooperative, willingness to participate, psychological identity, perceived value, Social network interactions