Land Ownership and Sustainable Coffee Farming Practices Through the Lens of Social Capital: Quantitative Evidence from Smallholder Farmers in Lampung, Indonesia

Abstract

This study examines how land ownership status conditions the effects of social capital on farmers' sustainable behaviour in coffee production in Lampung, Indonesia. Drawing on Social Capital Theory, the research tests the influence of social network, social trust, and social norms on sustainable behaviour, and compares these effects across two tenure groups. A multi-group PLS-SEM analysis was conducted on 70 smallholder coffee farmers, equally divided between owner-cultivators and renting farmers. Results show that social trust is the dominant driver of sustainable behaviour among owners, while social norms are the only meaningful driver among renters. The model explains 78.9 percent of variance in sustainable behaviour for owners but only 55.6 percent for renters. Findings imply that integrating land certification with trust-based cooperative development is critical for accelerating sustainable transitions in Indonesian coffee landscapes.