Research on Heterogeneous Behavior in Green Food Trademark Applications: Evidence from Farmers’ Professional Cooperatives and Agricultural Enterprises in Heilongjiang Province, China

As a certification mark for agricultural product quality, the Green Food Trademark plays a pivotal role in ensuring food safety, promoting sustainable agricultural development, and enhancing market competitiveness. In China, farmers’ professional cooperatives and agricultural enterprises constitute the primary applicants for the Green Food Trademark. Differences in ownership structure, operational objectives, and policy incentives directly influence the behavioral intentions of these applicants. This study employs the Theory of Planned Behavior and SHAP explainable machine learning to construct an evaluation framework for Green Food Trademark application behavior among operators. Utilizing a random forest model and based on 312 questionnaires from a stratified sample of farmers’ professional cooperatives and enterprises in Heilongjiang Province, it examines behavioral factors and their variations during the Green Food Trademark application process. Findings reveal procedural barriers as the primary inhibitor and utilitarian incentives as the main driver. Significant differences exist in both the direction and degree of influence exerted by identical factors on the Green Food Trademark application behavior of farmers’ professional cooperatives and agricultural enterprises. It is recommended that differentiated policies be formulated to enhance the Green Food Trademark application behavior intentions of farmers’ professional cooperatives and agricultural enterprises, thereby driving the promotion and realization of green standardized agricultural production.