Agricultural Climate Information Use: An Application of the Planned Behaviour Theory

Despite considerable effort in developing climate information and demonstrating the potential benefits available to farmers, use of the climate information by farmers in farming decisions has not changed. The present research employed the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) as a theoretical framework to analyze the antecedents of agricultural climate information use behaviour. Fars Province wheat growers (n= 314) were administered a questionnaire survey that measured standard TPB constructs. The data and hypotheses were examined using structural equation modeling (SEM) by AMOS 7. Results from the maximum likelihood estimation showed that attitude was positively related to farmers' climate information use in farming decisions. Thus, greater attitude (instrumental and affective) toward use of information in farming decisions was associated with stronger intention to engage in behaviour. Chi-square tests and fit indices indicated good fit for the final structural models. The results of this study demonstrated that the modified theory of planned behaviour provided a significant improvement on the model fit by adding a direct causal path linking attitude to behaviour. Applicability of the theory of planned behavior for measuring levels of wheat growers' climate forecast use and the implications for future research are discussed.