Financial literacy as a cognitive driver of green technology adoption in rural SMEs: the mediating roles of risk-taking and credit access

Against the backdrop of China’s agricultural green transition, exploring the linkage between rural SME operators’ financial literacy and green technology adoption yields important theoretical and practical implications for advancing sustainable agriculture. Using survey data from 336 rural SMEs, this study adopts ordered Probit models to examine how financial literacy relates to green technology adoption, alongside its transmission channels and heterogeneous characteristics. Financial literacy is constructed as a composite index from multiple survey questions, and risk-taking willingness is measured by attitudinal items. Regression results confirm a stable positive association after endogeneity treatment and robustness tests. This study identifies two heterogeneous parallel mediating pathways: financial literacy correlates positively with operators’ risk-taking willingness via an internal psychological channel, and facilitates access to formal credit through an external resource acquisition channel. While effect sizes differ modestly across groups classified by operator gender, age and cooperative membership, SUR tests show no statistically significant inter-group differences. As this cross-sectional correlational study is not a controlled psychological experiment designed to directly measure psychological constructs, risk-taking willingness is framed as a cognitive and behavioral correlate, and all causal inferences should be interpreted cautiously. This study reveals cognitive and behavioral mechanisms behind agricultural green transition and provides practical references for behavioral intervention and financial training to promote sustainable rural production.