Understanding barriers and opportunities for diffusion of an agricultural decision-support tool: An organizational perspective

Decision-support tools (DSTs) are a type of innovation that can facilitate science-based decision-making, including nonpoint source pollution management in agricultural watersheds. However, organizational readiness for adopting innovations is a topic that has received limited attention in the literature. With the goal of filling this knowledge gap, we draw upon the diffusion of innovations (DOI) theory and literature around use of science by agency staff to assess United States Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Services' (USDANRCS) readiness towards using the Agricultural Conservation Planning Framework (ACPF) - a type of DST. To that end, we conducted 23 semi-structured, in-depth interviews with 27 NRCS staff holding leadership positions to explore how they perceive and use the ACPF, and their perceptions of organizational and structural elements that could enable or hinder NRCS' readiness to adopt the ACPF. Results suggest that NRCS' readiness was an outcome of both organizational- and individual-level factors. Factors such as perceived scientific credibility and the influential role of leaders positively influenced NRCS' readiness; however, factors such as low levels of ACPF knowledge and perceived complexity negatively influenced NRCS' readiness. Overall, our findings suggest that NRCS is in the initial stages of getting ready to adopt the ACPF, and that there is a need for the agency to pilot ACPF in different watersheds and measure social and bio-physical outcomes.