Effects of Household Capital Endowment on Farmers’ Homestead Withdrawal Intention: Value–Risk Mechanisms Under Farmer Differentiation—Evidence from Shenyang, China

Against a backdrop of growing rural differentiation and ongoing rural revitalization efforts, understanding how farmers develop intentions to relinquish their rural homesteads is essential for improving context-sensitive policy design. Drawing on survey data from 407 farmers in the pilot areas of homestead system reform in Shenyang City, this study proposes a “household capital endowment-value cognition/perceived risk-coping capacity-homestead withdrawal intention” framework. A structural equation model (SEM) is used to estimate both the direct effects of multidimensional household capital endowment and its indirect effects through the two mediating variables. Multi-group analyses are further conducted across generations, farm household pluriactivity, and village types. The results indicate that human and economic capital are positively associated with homestead withdrawal intention, whereas natural and social capital are negatively associated with it. Value cognition and perceived risk-coping capacity mediate several pathways: the former weakens withdrawal intention, whereas the latter strengthens it. The multi-group analyses further suggest variation in within-group significance patterns and coefficient estimates across generations, farm household pluriactivity, and village types. These findings highlight the need for differentiated homestead withdrawal policies that are responsive to farmers’ capital endowments and value–risk perceptions, thereby promoting the productive use of rural land resources while safeguarding farmers’ livelihood security.