Determinants of local communities’ intentions to adopt carbon trading: evidence from Tanzania

Abstract

Carbon trading is an emerging economic activity and research area significantly underserved in African countries, particularly Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). As such, studies examining carbon trading adoption are highly in droughts. Guided by the theory of planned behavior, this study examines the determinants of local communities’ intentions to adopt carbon trading in Tanzania. A cross-sectional survey design was used to collect data from 217 local communities in Tanganyika District Council, Tanzania. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) was used to test the hypotheses. The results revealed that attitude, subjective norms, perceived cost, perceived benefit, and knowledge positively and significantly influenced local communities’ intentions to adopt carbon trading. Perceived behavioral control and social enterprise embeddedness indicated a positive but insignificant connection with local communities’ preferences for adopting carbon trading, while perceived Local Government Authorities (LGA) support revealed a negligible negative association. Therefore, these results are valuable for promotion of countrywide local communities’ adoption, recognition, and implementation of carbon trading.