Misperception of descriptive norms and adoption of eco-schemes by French farmers

Social norms have been shown to explain the adoption of sustainable agriculture practices by farmers. In this article, we focus on the role played by perceived social norms regarding eco-schemes (ES), a new type of direct monetary compensation provided to European farmers who voluntarily adopt specific environmentally-friendly practices. Using data from a large-scale web-survey (N = 1109), we assess to what extent French farmers’ willingness to adopt ES depends on their beliefs about peers’ participation, accounting for the fact that farmers may hold wrong beliefs about what peers think or do. We demonstrate that French farmers systematically underestimate the share of peers wishing to adopt ES, and that this misperception is substantial (more than 20 percentage points). French farmers who misperceive peers’ adoption of ES are also less likely to adopt ES themselves. Finally, we show that the perceived effectiveness of the ES influences both their adoption and the monetary compensation French farmers require to implement them. • We assess the role of perceived social norms in shaping farmers’ behavior. • We focus on eco-schemes (ES), a new type of direct monetary compensation. • We find that farmers systematically misperceive their peers’ behavior. • We find an association between misperception and adoption of ES. • Perceived effectiveness of the ES influences adoption and the willingness-to-accept.