The Importance of Social Norm on Adopting Sustainable Digital Fertilisation Methods

Abstract

Precision farming systems promise a highly efficient resource use reducing cost for farmers and contributing to the preservation of the environment. A major obstacle, however, in such systems dissemination is the reluctant adoption by farmers. Prior work is suggesting that mainly knowledge or missing resources for investment are barriers, while social norms are rarely addressed for precision farming systems. We adopt the reasoned action approach including behavioural, social, and control aspects to analyse intentions and actual use of sustainable digital fertilisation methods. Based on a German sample of farmers, we find that social norm is the major predictor, while behavioural and control aspects surprisingly are not relevant at all. The results contribute to the understanding of what drives farmers in adopting precision farming systems on a theoretical basis and highlight the importance of considering social norms in increasing adoption.

Factors Influencing the Intention of Actors in Hospitals to Use Indoor Positioning Systems: Reasoned Action Approach

“…Concerning the influence of personal innovativeness on attitude and perceived behavioral control, research has determined that attitude toward new technology is more relevant for younger workers, whereas perceived norms and perceived behavioral control are more relevant for older workers [62]. Our findings support these insights by identifying a positive influence of personal innovativeness on intention to use for all genders and age groups (see Table 2, numbers [41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48]). An IPS is aimed at individuals who like to explore and experiment with new information technologies, which is a common perception in research on information system adoption and use [68,69].…”

“…• H2: The more positive an individual's attitude concerning the use of an IPS in a hospital, the higher the intention to use the IPS. Second, in line with RAA research, we represent the attitudes of other relevant individuals and groups as normative beliefs (subjective norms) [20,42,43]. For hospital visitors, we define family and close friends as relevant social influence groups.…”

“…Second, in line with RAA research, we represent the attitudes of other relevant individuals and groups as normative beliefs (subjective norms) [ 20 , 42 , 43 ]. For hospital visitors, we define family and close friends as relevant social influence groups.…”

Farm advisors amid the transition to Agriculture 4.0: Professional identity, conceptions of the future and future‐specific competencies

“…In the case of transition to Agriculture 4.0, several studies reveal that digitalisation adds new domains in advisors’ professional palette. During the adoption phase, advisors are called to play the role of decision helpers, offering crucial information and guiding the process (Hüttel et al., 2021). Nevertheless, after the adoption, they have to deal with the transition of farm practice (Vecchio et al., 2020), also navigating the alteration of their professional identities.…”

“…In such a context, advisors' responsible professional behaviour towards farmers, the environment, and the society-which always was a central virtue in farm advisory work (Sheets, 1929)acquires a more complicated meaning. Although some studies have examined the ways advisors experience the transition to Agriculture 4.0 and conceive their roles and responsibilities in it (Ayre et al, 2019;Barrett & Rose, 2022;Eastwood et al, 2019b;Hansen et al, 2020;Hüttel et al, 2021), the issues of their professional identities and responsible professionalism have not yet attracted attention. Fielke et al (2020) argue that the higher connectivity between humans and technology and the increased transparency might initiate identity changes for advisors.…”