This study analyzes the factors explaining the reluctance of the population to formalize sharecropping contracts in the village of Abradine 1, Mé region, Côte d'Ivoire. Despite land tenure security initiatives implemented by the Ivorian government through the Rural Land Agency (AFOR) and the PAMOFOR project, the formalization rate remains very low: only five contracts formalized out of a target of four hundred and fifty. The objective is to understand to what extent social perceptions of formalization influence acceptance or rejection of this mechanism. The study relies on a qualitative approach grounded in documentary research, direct observation, twenty-six semi-structured interviews, and four focus groups conducted with the main land stakeholders in the village, analyzed through a systems approach, critical institutionalism, and social embeddedness theory. The results reveal four distinct logics underlying perceptions of formalization. A minority of stakeholders view it as a legal security mechanism that prevents land disputes and protects intergenerational agreements. The majority favor customary mechanisms based on trust, the spoken word, and the authority of traditional chiefs. These positions are complemented by a critique of the mechanism's concrete implementation and a stance of pragmatic detachment linked to the absence of a perceived benefit. The study concludes that reluctance operates simultaneously at three levels, normative, procedural, and pragmatic, stemming from the coexistence of state and customary norms compounded by a deficit of institutional trust. The effectiveness of land policies therefore depends on their capacity to integrate local systems of legitimacy, ensure transparency of procedures, and strengthen the participation of community stakeholders.