Explaining the conversion to particularly animal-friendly stabling system of farmers of the Obwalden Canton, Switzerland – Extension of the Theory of Planned Behavior within a Structural Equation Modeling Approach

Aysel Tutkun and Bernard Lehmann

No 244400, 80th Annual Conference, March 30-31, 2006, Paris-Grignon, France from Agricultural Economics Society

Abstract: Farmers’ intentions about conversion to particularly animal-friendly stabling system (PAFS) are analyzed with a structural equation model. The Theory of Planned Behavior (ToPB, AJZEN 1985) is used as the theoretical basis of this study. Though ToPB is a well-defined theory, it is static rather than procedural and cannot model the individual decision-making as a process. Therefore, we first examine the general applicability of ToPB in an agricultural context and explain the variance in intentions of farmers to convert to PAFS. Second, we extend the ToPB to make it more procedural. For this purpose, research findings from the Diffusion Theory are included as part of the behavioral model. The empirical results indicate that the model has a good fit to the data. The effects of the additional variables ‘Goal’ and ‘Communication’ are highly significant. This illustrates the importance of forming personal goals in the behavior domain and that people act in a goal-directed, rational way. Moreover, it gives empirical evidence that communication through personal channels has a great impact on individual decision-making. Altogether, this study shows that the extended ToPB provides an appropriate approach to investigate individual decision-making processes in agriculture.

Keywords: Livestock Production/Industries; Research Methods/Statistical Methods (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 14
Date: 2006-03
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:aes006:244400

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.244400

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