ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Sustain. Food Syst.

Sec. Agricultural and Food Economics

Volume 9 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fsufs.2025.1545721

This article is part of the Research TopicHarnessing the Potential of Agriculture 4.0: the double challenge of food security and climate changeView all 6 articles

Resource Acquisition, Entrepreneurial Competence, and Entrepreneurial Growth Performance of New Farmers

Provisionally accepted
Shimei  YangShimei Yang1song  yusong yu1,2Lianjun  LiLianjun Li1,2*
  • 1Nanchang Business College, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Jiujiang, China
  • 2Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

Entrepreneurial resources and abilities are pivotal factors influencing the success of new farmers' ventures. Understanding how these elements drive entrepreneurial growth is of significant practical importance. This study establishes a measurement framework for entrepreneurial ability. Using field data from 512 new farmers in Jiangxi, Henan, and Anhui provinces, this study applies mediation and structural equation models to assess the impact of resource acquisition on entrepreneurial growth. It further explores the mediating role of entrepreneurial ability. The findings indicate that resource acquisition enhances entrepreneurial growth, with entrepreneurial ability partially mediating the effects of human, social, and material resources on performance. However, no mediation is observed between policy resources and growth performance. The study identifies eight pathways through which resource acquisition boosts entrepreneurial growth. Human, social, and material resources influence performance both directly and indirectly through entrepreneurial ability, whereas policy resources exert a solely direct effect. Therefore, it is imperative to concentrate efforts on enhancing new farmers' accessibility to entrepreneurial resources, augmenting their capabilities, reinforcing policy support, and cultivating the sustainable development of their entrepreneurial endeavors.

Keywords: resource acquisition, Entrepreneurial competence, growth performance, new farmer entrepreneurship, Entrepreneurial spirit

Received: 05 Feb 2025; Accepted: 02 Jun 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Yang, yu and Li. 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: Lianjun Li, Nanchang Business College, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Jiujiang, China

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