Table 1 Variable definition and descriptive statistics.

Adoption effectiveness

Economic performance^a

Effect of conservation tillage on improving production entities’ income (1–5)

3.145

1.071

1

5

Ecological performance^a

Effect of conservation tillage on improving ecological environment (1–5)

3.437

1.094

1

5

Social performance^a

Effect of conservation tillage on improving relations between villagers (1–5)

4.023

0.77

1

5

Collaboration capacity

Constructive engagement

Financial contribution (RMB)

2556.971

6607.739

0

60,000

Labor contribution (person × day)

340.341

1108.583

0

10,350

Meeting organization

6.191

7.885

0

48

Training participation

41.139

35.461

0

100

Shared vision^a

Village committee election (1–5)

4.092

897

1

5

One-case-one-discussion system responsiveness (1–5)

3.25

1.235

1

5

Public affairs commitment (1–5)

3.267

1.214

1

5

Joint execution and regulation^b

Supervision measure (0 = no, 1 = yes)

89

296

0

1

Punishment measures (0 = no, 1 = yes)

216

388

0

1

Personnel allocations (0 = no, 1 = yes)

949

21

0

1

Regulatory implementation (0 = no, 1 = yes)

85

343

0

1

Environmental characteristics

Soil erosion

Proportion of cultivated land area with soil erosion (%)

0.288

0.349

0

1

Land scale

The logarithm of the village’s cultivated land area (mu)

6.187

1.188

3.689

8.613

Village location

Logarithm of the distance (li) from the village to the township government

2.307

0.856

0.693

4.615

Mechanism variables

Violation frequency^a

Frequency of villagers violating rules and regulations (1–5)

1.559

706

1

4

Cross-village governance capacity^b

Whether the cross-village governance capacity of soil erosion has been improved (1 = yes 0 = no)

324

469

0

1

Farmer satisfaction^a

Production entities’ satisfaction with soil and water conservation (1–5)

3.983

845

1

5