Motivational Factors, Job Satisfaction, and Economic Performance in Romanian Small Farms

Silvia Ștefania Maican, Andreea Cipriana Muntean, Carmen Adina Paștiu, Sebastian Stępień, Jan Polcyn, Iulian Dobra, Mălina Dârja and Claudia Olimpia Moisă
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Silvia Ștefania Maican: Faculty of Economics, University “1 Decembrie 1918” of Alba Iulia, 510009 Alba Iulia, Romania
Andreea Cipriana Muntean: Faculty of Economics, University “1 Decembrie 1918” of Alba Iulia, 510009 Alba Iulia, Romania
Carmen Adina Paștiu: Faculty of Economics, University “1 Decembrie 1918” of Alba Iulia, 510009 Alba Iulia, Romania
Sebastian Stępień: Department of Macroeconomics and Agricultural Economics, Institute of Economics, Poznan University of Economics and Business, 61-875 Poznań, Poland
Jan Polcyn: Department of Economics, Stanislaw Staszic State University of Applied Sciences in Pila, 64-920 Pila, Poland
Mălina Dârja: Faculty of Economics, University “1 Decembrie 1918” of Alba Iulia, 510009 Alba Iulia, Romania
Claudia Olimpia Moisă: Faculty of Economics, University “1 Decembrie 1918” of Alba Iulia, 510009 Alba Iulia, Romania
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Carmen Adina Pastiu

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 11, 1-23

Abstract: The agricultural sector ensures food security and is a major source of employment, income, and economic activity in rural areas. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) considers that family farms are the key to a sustainable future in Europe and Central Asia. In Romania, small farms represent the pillar on which Romanian society has been developed. Although the trend has been a reduction in the number of small farms and an increase in the number of large farms, the Government of Romania understands the importance of small farms and therefore supports them through policies involving direct payments, rural development instruments, special initiatives, and loans and outstanding obligations, among others, which focus on increasing their economic performance. The aim of our research was to determine the relationship between farmers’ motivation, their job satisfaction, and the farm economic performance in the case of small Romanian farms. The research sample consisted of 900 small farms (utilized agricultural area (UAA): under 20 ha; standard output (SO): under EUR 15,000). The data obtained after applying the questionnaires were analyzed using SPSS 20.0 and Amos 24.0. For the exploratory factor analysis, values of Bartlett’s test of sphericity, the Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin test, and Cronbach’s alpha coefficient were calculated for each dimension of the proposed model. The hypothesis that motivation, job satisfaction, and farm economic performance directly and positively influence each other was confirmed. An important finding was that the correlation coefficient between farmers’ motivation and farm economic performance was ρ = 0.78, while that for the relation between farmers’ job satisfaction and farm economic performance was ρ = 0.53, which was similar to the correlation coefficient calculated for the relationship between farmers’ motivation and farmers’ job satisfaction. This result allows us to conclude that the influence of farmers’ motivation factors on farm economic performance is stronger than the influence of job satisfaction in the case of Romanian farmers on small farms. This might explain why, although work in agriculture is considered to be worse than an office job and the people that work in agriculture are sometimes stigmatized and receive lower incomes, there are still very strong motivators for Romanian farmers to continue their work in agriculture. This is proven by the fact that Romania has the highest number of small farms in Europe, and this number is not decreasing.

Keywords: small farms; agriculture; motivation; job satisfaction; economic performance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

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