ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Sustain. Food Syst.
Sec. Land, Livelihoods and Food Security
The Interplay of Community Attitudes, Local Development, and Personal benefits: Understanding Support for the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor
Provisionally accepted
Yang Jun1*
Shahrukh Khan2
Sehresh Hena2Inam Ullah Khalil3
Muhammad Haseeb Raza4
Mohamad Ahmad Khasawneh5Baoyu Cui2*- 1Chaohu University, Hefei, China
- 2Anhui University, Hefei, China
- 3Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei, China
- 4Muhammad Nawaz Shareef University of Agriculture, Multan, Pakistan
- 5King Khalid University, Abha, Saudi Arabia
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Large-scale infrastructure projects like the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) are often promoted as catalysts for local community development, economic growth, and enhanced social well-being. Although CPEC offers considerable potential advantages for Pakistani communities, gaining insight into local perceptions remains an important research gap. This study investigates the determinants of local community support for CPEC development. Using a structured research model, data from 771 survey respondents across Pakistan were analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) in AMOS 24.0. The findings reveal that CPEC-related infrastructure development positively correlates with perceived community development, overall community attitude, and quality of life. Crucially, community development significantly shapes overall community attitude towards CPEC, while improvements in quality of life do not exhibit a direct, significant effect on this attitude. Furthermore, a positive overall community attitude strongly predicts increased support for CPEC. A pivotal finding is the significant moderating role of personal benefit; the relationship between overall community attitude and support for CPEC development is significantly strengthened when individuals perceive greater personal gains from the project. This research underscores the importance of aligning large-scale infrastructure initiatives like CPEC with local community needs and perceptions, emphasizing that fostering tangible community development and ensuring residents perceive personal benefit are vital for garnering sustainable local support. The study discusses implications for policymakers and project planners, limitations, and directions for future research to better capture community dynamics in major infrastructure undertakings.
Keywords: Quality of Life, community development, Support for CPEC development, Personal benefit, community attitudes
Received: 20 Jun 2025; Accepted: 05 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Jun, Khan, Hena, Khalil, Haseeb Raza, Khasawneh and Cui. 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:
Yang Jun, 38177966@qq.com
Baoyu Cui, cby00662003@aliyun.com
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