Unlocking Land‐Based Private Sector Intentions for Carbon Trading Participation: Insights From the Theory of Planned Behaviour

ABSTRACT Carbon trading is increasingly recognised as a market‐based instrument for climate mitigation with important strategic implications for firms' competitiveness, capability development and legitimacy within global value chains. However, firm‐level engagement remains uneven, particularly in emerging economies. This study examines how land‐based firms in Indonesia form strategic intentions to participate in carbon trading under conditions of institutional uncertainty. Drawing on the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) and integrating institutional and legitimacy perspectives, the study reconceptualises intention as a strategic orientation shaped by organisational and institutional contexts rather than as a direct predictor of implementation. Data were collected through 18 semi‐structured interviews conducted between December 2022 and February 2023 with senior executives from land‐based firms in Indonesia. The interviews were analysed using thematic analysis supported by NVivo. The findings indicate that senior executives generally described organisational attitudes towards carbon trading as being strongly influenced by economic considerations, while institutional pressures shaped strategic decision‐making. Regulatory ambiguity, high transaction costs and limited organisational capabilities emerged as key constraints on perceived behavioural controls, thereby reducing firms' intention to engage. By integrating TPB with institutional and legitimacy perspectives, this study extends the TPB at the organisational level and offers insights into the conditions under which carbon markets may encourage substantive, selective or symbolic forms of engagement.