Changing the fate of rangelands through behavioral nudges for sustainable land use and management using an extended theory of planned behavior.

Rangelands play a vital role in supporting livelihoods, biodiversity, and ecological balance across arid and semi-arid regions. However, these fragile ecosystems are increasingly threatened by overexploitation, land degradation, and unsustainable management practices. Understanding the human and behavioral dimensions of rangeland conservation has therefore become an urgent priority. Many of the world’s rangelands, including those in Iran, have recently been exposed to destruction and serious damage. Collaboration among various stakeholders (especially pastoralists) in sustainable land use and management is considered a key factor in reducing this degradation. Guided by the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), this study tries to identify and analyze the behavioral nudges for the sustainable land use and management in Iran. This research employed a cross-sectional survey design involving 248 pastoralists in Fars Province, southern Iran, selected through simple random sampling. An extended version of the TPB was applied, incorporating two additional constructs—awareness of consequences and moral norms—to enhance its explanatory power in predicting sustainable land use intentions. Behavioral nudges, such as increased awareness of consequences, strengthening moral norms, perceived behavioral control, and attitudes, can lead pastoralists to sustainable land use and management, thereby helping to conserve rangelands. To operationalize the research, a cross-sectional survey of 248 pastoralists with livestock grazing certificates, who were selected using simple random sampling, was used. The results of the research showed that the constructs of attitude towards sustainable land use and management had a positive and significant effect on the intention towards sustainable land use and management (Beta = 0.292; T = 4.239; Sig = 0.001). The direct effects of two variables, awareness of consequences of rangelands’ destruction (Beta = 0. 335; T = 3.333; Sig = 0.001) and moral norms of sustainable land use and management (Beta = 0. 323; T = 2.791; Sig = 0.005), were positive and significant on Intention. In addition, the results of this study showed that moral norms not only act as a constructive factor in the intention of the pastoralists towards sustainable land use and management, but also can play a mediating role for some other variables such as awareness of consequences of rangeland destruction. The results of SEM analysis showed that the extended TPB can explain 75% of the variance of pastoralists’ behavioral intention, which shows the high explanatory power of the model. These findings provide practical insights for policymakers and land managers by emphasizing the need to design interventions that enhance moral and environmental awareness, promote participatory management, and align behavioral policies with local cultural norms. However, as this study is based on a cross-sectional design, causal inferences should be made cautiously, and future longitudinal research is recommended to validate these relationships over time.