Spatial Differentiation and Influencing Factors of Innovative Perception Among New-Type Agricultural Business Entities: A Case Study of Anhua National Modern Agricultural Industrial Park

Abstract

Abstract

The United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (UN SDGs) frames sustainable agriculture as a core pathway to advance zero hunger (SDG 2) and protect life on land (SDG 15). As critical platforms for the green transition of agriculture, innovative perception among new-type agricultural business entities inside national modern agricultural industrial parks constitutes a prerequisite cognitive factor shaping sustainable farming practices. Taking Anhua National Modern Agricultural Industrial Park—China’s sole industrial park specialized in dark tea—as the research case, this study develops a four-dimensional measurement framework for innovative perception covering innovation cognition, motivation, demand, and intention, grounded in 363 field micro-survey questionnaires. Factor analysis is adopted to quantify township-level composite innovative perception scores, and the Geodetector model is integrated to detect driving factors as well as their interactive coupling effects behind spatial disparities. The results indicate the following: (1) Marked spatial heterogeneity characterizes innovative perception levels of new-type agricultural business entities across the park, which maintain an overall high standard. The core zone registers an average score of 4.209 versus 3.726 for the demonstration zone; innovative perception in the core zone is statistically higher, presenting a typical core–periphery gradient pattern across townships. (2) Individual endogenous attributes, including age, educational attainment, and farming experience, show strong explanatory capacity. The interaction between age and innovation applicability yields a q-statistic of 0.961, the strongest pairwise spatial association observed within the present sample; nevertheless, q-statistics from the Geographical Detector are sample-specific descriptive metrics for spatially stratified explained variance and do not represent causal effect sizes. This research uncovers the core–periphery polarization rule and multi-factor spatial coupling patterns underlying innovative perception of operators within specialized agricultural industrial zones. The empirical micro-evidence generated in this work informs the design of tiered, differentiated governance policies aimed at mitigating intra-park spatial disparities, delivering empirical insights into the cognitive foundations of the park’s green transition. This analysis targets innovative perception as the cognitive prerequisite for sustainable farming practices instead of direct sustainability outcomes; empirical tracing of the perception-to-behavior-to-outcome causal chain would require longitudinal outcome-focused datasets, which constitutes a key avenue for future inquiry.