The study addresses the critical need to understand consumer preferences for smart agricultural products, a key solution to sustainability challenges and the demand for high-quality food. Environmental degradation and food safety issues are primarily caused by human activities, yet not everyone consistently prioritizes environmental concerns. However, there's a growing concern for food quality. Smart agriculture, integrating digital technologies and intelligent systems, offers a promising solution for creating a more sustainable food system while ensuring food safety. This transition, however, faces challenges like high costs, technological barriers, and limited consumer awareness. The study aims to bridge this knowledge gap by investigating the mechanisms influencing consumer purchasing decisions, focusing on cue utilization theory, value co-creation, and future orientation. Cue utilization theory highlights the importance of information cues in shaping consumer attitudes and purchase intentions, especially for innovative products. Value co-creation, a consumer-led market logic, emphasizes the collaborative creation of value between producers and consumers, which is especially relevant for unfamiliar products like those in smart agriculture. Future orientation, the extent to which individuals focus on future outcomes, plays a crucial role in sustainable consumption. The study integrates these theoretical frameworks to develop a comprehensive model explaining consumer intention to purchase smart agricultural products in China.

The literature review covers several key areas: Agriculture 4.0, precision agriculture, and smart agriculture; the Chinese smart agricultural products market; cue utilization, value co-creation, and attitude; and the moderating role of future orientation. The review distinguishes between Agriculture 4.0 (digital transformation of the agricultural sector), precision agriculture (optimizing field-level management), and smart agriculture (leveraging digital technologies across the entire agricultural value chain). It highlights the growth potential of the Chinese smart agricultural products market despite challenges like low market penetration. The review then discusses cue utilization theory, emphasizing the role of both internal and external cues in product evaluation, particularly for online or innovative products. Value co-creation's consumer-centric approach is examined, highlighting its potential for promoting sustainable consumption. The literature review underscores the importance of future orientation in environmental behavior and its potential moderating role in consumer decision-making. The review establishes a foundation for the hypotheses developed in the study.

The study employed a quantitative approach using an online survey targeting Chinese residents across the eastern, central, and western regions of China to capture regional variations in economic development and consumer behavior. A total of 1000 questionnaires were distributed, with 831 valid responses after excluding incomplete or inconsistent data. The sample comprised a majority of female respondents (58.4%) and primarily middle-aged and young adults. The majority of participants had a junior college or undergraduate education level. The constructs in the research model were measured using validated multi-item scales adapted from previous studies and measured using a 5-point Likert scale. The data were analyzed in three stages: 1) confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to assess the reliability and validity of the measurement scales; 2) structural equation modeling (SEM) to test the hypothesized direct relationships between variables; and 3) Hayes process macro analysis to examine the moderating effects of future orientation. To mitigate biases such as common method bias, hypothetical bias, and social desirability bias, various measures were implemented during data collection and analysis, such as Harman’s single-factor test, a cheap talk script, assurance of anonymity and confidentiality, and indirect questioning techniques.

The CFA results indicated good reliability and validity for all constructs, with Cronbach's alpha and composite reliability values exceeding 0.7, standardized factor loadings above 0.6, and average variance extracted values above 0.5. The SEM analysis revealed significant positive relationships between several variables. The attractiveness of the identity label, popularity, and quality positively influenced attitudes toward smart agricultural products. These factors, along with government endorsements, positively affected value co-creation. Value co-creation positively influenced both attitude and purchase intention, as did attitude. However, government endorsements did not directly affect attitude. The Hayes process macro analysis showed that future orientation positively moderated the relationship between attitude and purchase intention, meaning that the impact of attitude was stronger for consumers with high future orientation. Future orientation did not significantly moderate the value co-creation and purchase intention relationship. The model explained a significant 71.3% of the purchase intention variance. Detailed statistical coefficients and p-values are provided in tables within the original paper.

The findings extend existing knowledge by integrating cue utilization, value co-creation, and future orientation to explain consumers’ purchase intention for smart agricultural products. The results highlight the importance of providing clear and comprehensive product information to consumers, emphasizing the environmental and health benefits. The positive role of value co-creation underscores the need for active consumer engagement in product development and improvement. The moderating effect of future orientation emphasizes the significance of focusing on the long-term benefits of sustainable products when targeting consumers with a strong future-oriented perspective. The study's findings provide valuable insights for marketers to develop effective strategies that consider consumers' perception of information cues, their participation in value creation, and their focus on future outcomes. The results are particularly relevant for the growing market of smart agricultural products and the broader transition to more sustainable consumption patterns.

This study contributes significantly to the understanding of consumer behavior in the context of smart agricultural products. It integrates existing theories, providing a more comprehensive model of consumer decision-making. The findings offer crucial managerial and practical implications for marketing strategies and sustainable consumption promotion. Future research could explore these concepts in different cultural and economic contexts, employing longitudinal designs to track dynamic changes over time, and investigating the nuanced dimensions of future orientation.

The study's limitations include its cross-sectional nature, focusing solely on the Chinese market. Future research should replicate the study in different regions and incorporate longitudinal data to understand the evolution of consumer preferences and behaviors over time. A more in-depth exploration of future orientation's various dimensions could provide a more complete picture of its role in shaping purchase intentions. Finally, the study relied on self-reported data, which might be subject to various biases.