Farmers’ Contributions to Achieving Water Sustainability: A Meta-Analytic Path Analysis of Predicting Water Conservation Behavior

Abstract

This article intends to summarize the findings of studies on the relationship between farmers’ behavioral intentions (BI) and water-conservation behavior (WCB) using the theory of planned behavior (TPB). A systematic review of transcripts obtained from Internet-based searching on reliable scientific databases (e.g., SID, ProQuest, Springer, Science Direct, John Wiley, Sage, Taylor & Francis, Emerald Insight, and Google Scholar) was followed by outfitting data for the Comprehensive Meta-Analysis (CMA) software. Data from a total of 28 studies on WCB were synthesized and analyzed through the CMA procedure. The resulting evidence demonstrates that the total and summarized estimate point (i.e., correlation) for the associations of attitude (ATT), subjective norms (SNs), and perceived behavioral control (PBC) with BI was 0.46, 0.36, and 0.26, respectively (r(t)PBC < r(t) SNs < r(t)ATT → BI). Furthermore, the effect size of the relationship between PBC and WCB was 0.27. The largest effect size pertained to the relationship between BI and WCB (BI → WCB) (r(t)BI = 0.52). The take-home message of the article is that hypothetical statements of the TPB are confirmed, as would be hypothesized. These findings should still be regarded in the field of WCB research; thus, policymakers need to provide solutions and adapt their policy initiatives for water resource management based on these findings. For example, one of the solutions to improve water resource management based on the research results is to examine the views and realities constructed by farmers of water resources and related management styles before carrying out water resource management projects. Identifying the potential capabilities of farmers and their economic and social background to expand water-conservation behavior and the tendency and acceptance of water resource management project to be implemented is also an important requirement in making resource management projects effective. The use of various methods of the individual, group, and collective communication to interact with farmers combined with provision of extension training, as well as mobilizing and organizing farmers to facilitate effective management of water resources are recommended.

Mechanisms to change farmers' drought adaptation behaviors in Sistan and Baluchistan Province, Iran

“…Nevertheless, personal norms as the feeling of ethical commitment and responsibility for drought adaptation strategies had a significant effect on their intentions. Other researchers Klöckner (2013), Biesheuvel et al (2021), Abadi and Kelboro (2022), Abid and Jie (2022) have reported a similar result. This finding points to the need for targeting people's normative influences when designing interventions in mechanisms of changing drought adaptation behaviors.…”

Socio-cognitive analysis of farmers’ water conservation behaviour: The case of the Kavar plain, Iran

“…The hypothesis that social and personal norms reinforce farmers’ water conservation intention was supported, which corroborates with other studies. 46 , 65 , 75 , 83 This means that when designing interventions for the conservation of water resources, people's social and normative influences should be targeted. Furthermore, farmers’ water conservation attitude impacts their intention to adopt water conservation strategies.…”

“…The social sub-section refers to human interactions and relations, which can determine the outcome of resources consumption behaviour. 44 , 45 Some scholars 46 state that one of the solutions to improve water resource management is to examine the views and realities constructed by farmers of water resources and related management styles before carrying out water resource management projects. Therefore, the human-natural ecosystem relationship has recently become an integral part of policymaking and programmes for the comprehensive management of water resources, and social studies have focused on understanding human behaviour in conserving different environmental resources, e.g.…”

Spatiotemporal Distribution Characteristics and Influencing Factors Analysis of Reference Evapotranspiration in Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei Region from 1990 to 2019 under Climate Change

“…Path analysis is widely used in biological research. This method can not only analyze the relationship between independent variables and dependent variables, but also analyze the mode and degree of the influence of the indirect action between independent variables and dependent variables [27]. In this manuscript, SPSS software was used to determine the direct and indirect path coefficients of each meteorological factor to the ET 0 , so as to qualitatively study the main meteorological factors affecting the ET 0 .…”