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Doris Läpple Rural Economy Research Centre (RERC) Teagasc

Understanding farmers’ intentions to convert to organic farming An application of the theory of planned behaviour using structural equation modelling. Doris Läpple Rural Economy Research Centre (RERC) Teagasc Department of Economics, National University of Ireland, Galway

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Doris Läpple Rural Economy Research Centre (RERC) Teagasc

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  1. Understanding farmers’ intentions to convert to organic farming An application of the theory of planned behaviour using structural equation modelling Doris Läpple Rural Economy Research Centre (RERC) Teagasc Department of Economics, National University of Ireland, Galway AESI student awards day 5th November 2009 Rural Economy Research Centre

  2. Overview of presentation • Background • Theory • Survey design and data • Methodology • Preliminary results • Summary and further work Rural Economy Research Centre

  3. Background • Organic sector • Currently 1,220 organic farmers (1% of UAA) • Government target: 5% of UAA by 2012 • Increased information provision • Changes in organic support payments • Conventional sector • Extensive mainly grass based systems • many drystock farmers could easily switch to organics • What effects the intention of conventional farmers to convert? Rural Economy Research Centre

  4. Background • PhD: Adoption of organic farming • Previous paper: Adoption and abandonment of organic farming • Policy context • Conversion of existing farmers • Identify drivers and barriers • Application of the TPB to understand/predict different human behaviours • Hunting behaviour (Hrubes et al, 2001), leisure choice (Ajzen and Driver, 1992), food choice (Cook et al, 2002; Lobb et al, 2007), investment behaviour (East, 1993), consumer adoption intention (Taylor & Todd, 1995) Rural Economy Research Centre

  5. Theory of planned behaviour Behavioural beliefs Attitudetowardthe behaviour Normative beliefs Subjective norm Intention Behaviour Control beliefs Perceived behavioural control Source: Ajzen, 2005. Rural Economy Research Centre

  6. Theory of planned behaviour belief based measures • Behavioural belief: If you produce organic meat you will receive higher prices strongly agree (5) to strongly disagree (1) • Outcome evaluation: Receiving higher prices is… very important (+2) to very unimportant (-2) Rural Economy Research Centre

  7. Theory of planned behaviour • Components consist of direct and belief based measures • Belief based measures should correlate well with direct measures of the specific component → Salient beliefs • The more positive the attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavioural control the more likely the person is to perform the behaviour under study Rural Economy Research Centre

  8. Methodologysurvey design • Step 1: Open interviews to elicit salient beliefs (n = 53) • Outcome beliefs • Important referents • Expected problems • Step 2: Design structured questionnaire (n = 193) • Principle of compatibility • Target - organic meat • Action - producing meat organically • Context - the farm • Time - 5 years • Data from NFS farms Rural Economy Research Centre

  9. Methodologysurvey design Intention (2 items): How likely is it that you will produce organic meat on your farm within the next five years? measured from very likely (5) to very unlikely (1) Attitude (3 items): Producing organic meat on your farm within the next five years would be… very good (+2) to very bad (-2) ; very foolish (-2) to very wise (+2) SN (2 items): Most people who are important to you think you should produce organic meat on your farm within the next five years… definately false (-2) to definately true (+2) PBC (2 items): How confident are you of your technical ability to produce organic meat on your farm within the next five years? not at all (-2) to very confident (+2) Rural Economy Research Centre

  10. Resultsdescriptive statistics Rural Economy Research Centre

  11. Resultsvalidation of belief based measures Rural Economy Research Centre

  12. Resultsvalidation of belief based measures Rural Economy Research Centre

  13. MethodologyStructural Equation Model (Covariance Structure Model) y1 y2 x1 y3 y4 x2 x h h y5 y6 x3 • SEM: Statistical methodology to test a theoretical model • Causal inferences of the theory are consistent with the data population covariance matrix of the observed variables vector of model parameters • Two major subsystems: • Measurement model (confirmatory factor analysis) • Latent variable model (structural model) Rural Economy Research Centre

  14. Model A1 d A2 d A z A3 d I1 e BI SN d SN1 I2 e PBC PBC2 d Rural Economy Research Centre

  15. Results Structural equation model Rural Economy Research Centre

  16. Summary and further work • Belief measures significant determinants of direct measures • Confirms model • Direct components are be significant indicators of intention • Attitude strongest predictor • PBC – lower value explained by measure (self-efficacy) • Further work: • Improve modelling • Include belief based measures Rural Economy Research Centre

  17. Thank you for your attention! Rural Economy Research Centre

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