Membership in farmers’ organizations and intention to innovate: A mixed random utility and behavioral approach

Luca Mulazzani, Simone Piras, Claudia Giordano, Atsede Ghidey Alemayehu, Carla Barlagne (), Ali Chebil, Chokri Thabet, Faten Khamassi, Johnny Mugisha, Josephine Kisakye, Evans Ligare Chimoita, Sophia Ngala, Dismas Lyegendili Mwaseba, Noureddine Mokhtari and Marco Setti
Additional contact information
Luca Mulazzani: UNIBO - Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna = University of Bologna
Simone Piras: The James Hutton Institute
Claudia Giordano: UNIBO - Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna = University of Bologna
Carla Barlagne: The James Hutton Institute, ASTRO - Agrosystèmes tropicaux - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement
Chokri Thabet: Institut supérieur agronomique de Chott Mariem - USO - جامعة سوسة = Université de Sousse = University of Sousse
Faten Khamassi: INAT - Institut National Agronomique de Tunisie
Johnny Mugisha: College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda.
Josephine Kisakye: Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Nairobi, Kenya.
Evans Ligare Chimoita: Department of Agricultural Economics, College of Agriculture and Veterinary Sciences, University of Nairobi, P.O.Box 29053 - 00625, Kangemi, Nairobi, Kenya.
Sophia Ngala: Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Nairobi, Kenya.
Dismas Lyegendili Mwaseba: Department of Agricultural Extension and Community Development, Sokoine University of Agriculture, P. O. Box 3002, Morogoro, Tanzania.
Noureddine Mokhtari: ENA - Ecole Nationale d'Agriculture de Meknès
Marco Setti: UNIBO - Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna = University of Bologna

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Abstract: Despite a growing body of literature on the adoption of agricultural innovations, their uptake by smallholder farmers in developing countries is often slow. The processes underpinning farmers' decision-making in these countries are yet to be fully understood, and the existing literature remains contradictory regarding the factors explaining adoption. Conflicting conclusions emerge from studies on different countries, which may result from specific social, cultural, and institutional environments. We develop a theoretical model that combines random utility and behavioral approaches to assess how membership in farmers' organizations affects the intention to innovate. Using a two-step framework, we assume that membership in such organizations acts as a mediator variable between background factors and the intention to innovate. Three distal behavioral factors – openness to new ways of production, attitude toward risk, and trust in organizations promoting innovations – are considered additional intermediate drivers. We test our framework using primary survey data from five African countries, covering a total of 4,529 farmers and more than twenty farmers' organizations. We find that generic organizational membership has limited mediating power and a marginally positive impact on the intention to innovate, which becomes non-significant when accounting for the behavioral attitudes of individual farmers. These attitudes do work as mediator variables between the background factors classically included in random utility models (i.e., farm, household, and farmer's characteristics) and the intention to innovate. In turn, membership in some specific organizations proves to be a significant predictor of the intention to innovate, although the direction is not univocal. A specific institutional approach is thus needed to evaluate which characteristics of a farmers' organization impact its members' intention to innovate. We provide some hypotheses based on local knowledge.

Keywords: Trust; Risk atttitude; Farmers' organizations; Innovation adoption; Behavioral factors; Africa (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025-12
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Published in World Development, 2025, 196, pp.107192. ⟨10.1016/j.worlddev.2025.107192⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05294571

DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2025.107192

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