The Impact of Behavioral Drivers on Adoption of Sustainable Agricultural Practices: The Case of Organic Farming in Turkey

Abstract

Adoption decisions represent a crucial topic in sustainable agriculture research, particularly in the organic agriculture sector; to understand farmers’ decision-making, research has to delve more deeply into the influences of farmers’ behavior. The aim of this study, therefore, is to determine the behavioral intentions of Turkish sultana raisin producers toward organic farming practices. The proposed model integrates basic elements of the Theory of Planned Behavior and the technology acceptance model, which is then tested with survey data gathered from conventional and organic farmers by applying structural equation modeling, a powerful multivariate statistical technique. The results reveal that organic agriculture is perceived as a useful low-cost innovation by conventional farmers. Relating the results to group comparisons indicates that members of the conventional group are significantly more likely to have a positive intention towards adopting organic farming practices. Our results suggest possible interventions that policymakers should implement not only to stimulate adoption intentions of conventional farmers, but also to sustain continuance of organic practices by current operators.

Assessing True Shallot Seed (TSS) performance and farmers’ perceptions of its innovation attributes

“…Bivariate correlation also suggests that the higher level of acceptance of TSS adoption consequences, the stronger farmers' intention to adopt TSS will be. These findings are in line with other behavioral studies that explain attitude as a key variable and fundamental build block of behavioral change -an individual's positive or negative feelings about a perceived outcome [44,45,46]. Attitude is influenced by the judgment of an individual about the effects and consequences of behavior [47].…”

Innovation attributes and their linkages to behavioral drivers of farmers’ intention to adopt True Shallot Seed

“…Based on the discussion, the following hypothesis could be proposed: Hypothesis 1. The more profitable, understandable, compatible, observable, and testable the TSS innovation, the higher the potential for its adoption The assessment of innovation attributes and farmers' preferences are important predictors of adoption decisions [25,26,39,43]. Hence, in this framework, farmers' perceptions of TSS innovation attributes are likely to influence their behavioral preferences and these preferences will affect the TSS adoption behavior.…”

“…The theory of perceived attributes has been extensively used in both agricultural [32,33,34] and non-agricultural studies [35,36]. Meanwhile, some studies examining the impact of intrinsic variables on the intentional characteristics toward innovation adoption have been also widely carried out [37,38,39]. Previous indication of TSS low adoption suggests that there is a need for insights elaboration on issues that are still not fully resolved in the TSS innovation diffusion.…”

Toward a Unified Theory of Customer Continuance Model for Financial Technology Chatbots

“…However, the attitudes toward information technology may be confusing because the empirical studies on attitudes toward information technology have multiple assumptions. For example, some empirical studies removed attitudes from the TAM [ 40 , 41 , 42 ], and other studies have expanded the attitude effect on continuance intention [ 43 , 44 ] and purchase intention [ 45 , 46 , 47 ]. In summary, it is crucial to clarify the conditions under which attitude factors can link cognition, emotion, and intention.…”

“…Although attitudes toward information technology are connected to information technology adoption intention, many recent studies have suggested that attitudes toward information technology are an antecedent of continuance intention [ 43 , 44 ]. Indeed, an individual’s attitude toward a certain object can be fostered by their individual experience, which is similar to a continuing desire, preference, and identity, and is likely to form loyalty [ 49 , 50 ].…”