Evaluation of the Entrepreneurial Ability of Small-Scale Farmers through the Rasch–Andrich Model

Carlos Alberto Cortés-Rodríguez, Gladys Martínez-Gómez (), José Luis Romo-Lozano and Ezequiel Arvizu-Barrón
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Carlos Alberto Cortés-Rodríguez: Departamento de Sociología Rural, Universidad Autónoma Chapingo, Km. 38.5 Carretera México-Texcoco, Chapingo, Texcoco 56230, Mexico
Gladys Martínez-Gómez: Departamento de Preparatoria Agrícola, Universidad Autónoma Chapingo, Km. 38.5 Carretera México-Texcoco, Chapingo, Texcoco 56230, Mexico
José Luis Romo-Lozano: División de Ciencias Forestales, Universidad Autónoma Chapingo, Km. 38.5 Carretera México-Texcoco, Chapingo, Texcoco 56230, Mexico
Ezequiel Arvizu-Barrón: Dirección de Vinculación, Colegio de Postgraduados-Campus Montecillo, Km. 36.5 Carretera Federal México-Texcoco, Montecillo 56264, Mexico

Agriculture, 2023, vol. 13, issue 3, 1-14

Abstract: Entrepreneurial skills are fundamental to the success of agricultural production units. Since small-scale farmers have developed production skills but not market-oriented skills, it is necessary to assess their entrepreneurial skills to provide a reference for sustainable community development plans. The objective was to evaluate the entrepreneurial ability of small-scale farmers in San Pablo Huixtepec, Oaxaca, using the Rasch–Andrich rating scale, a psychometric model that makes it possible to obtain measurements with a certain degree of precision. A survey was conducted among 45 small-scale farmers to collect the characteristics of their production unit, the characteristics of the small-scale farmers, and to determine their entrepreneurial skills (17 items). The data were processed using Winsteps software. Item 14 “I easily market what I produce” was eliminated because it did not contribute to the unidimensionality of the variable. The data fit the model and the Rasch–Andrich thresholds and, together with the category probability curves, demonstrated the good performance of the rating scale. The entrepreneurial ability ranged from −1.54 to 10.11 logits. Since most of producers (66.6%) were below average (1.09 logits), it is considered pertinent to support them to improve their ability.

Keywords: market access; agricultural entrepreneurship; unit development; rating scale (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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