Discussion

6. Discussion

Several authors recognize the need to tie the individual’s cognitive processes to the environment where s/he is embedded, as farmers’ psychological characteristics are important

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non-economic elements of decision-making (Edwards-Jones, 2006; Manteleone, 2019). More interestingly, our work goes deeper to show that such attitudes, subjective norms, networks, and trust (general and institutional) are interconnected elements of two different frameworks that jointly explain farmers’ intentions to perform a specific action. This finding provides insights into the associations among a large number of variables that individual models are not able to show (Klöckner, 2013). In this sense, TPB acts as a mediator to unveil a more complex interaction of interconnected internal (psychological) and external (institutional) factors that can help us understand the decision-making processes underlying adoption.

Although we are aware that a model that incorporates all factors might not be feasible, our proposed model sheds light on important cognitive, social capital, and economic factors that affect adoption.

An additional contribution of our work is that it tests intention and actual behavior using a one-year lifespan analysis. This approach is rare in the literature and even scarcer in decisions related to the agricultural sector. The results show that intention predicts actual behavior, and that modeling actual behavior enables testing both direct and indirect effects of interconnected variables, not only on intention but also on actual adoption. Farmers reported a positive attitude towards pressurized irrigation technology, believing that pressurized irrigation is profitable, improves crop management, and increases yields. This positive attitude indirectly affects adoption through intention. The impact of subjective norms on intention and its indirect effect on adoption is noteworthy, as is the fact that a farmer’s perception of what others expect him/her to do is influenced by institutional trust. Farmers are keen to adopt technologies that others approve of; this is in line with the findings of Läpple and Kelley (2013), who showed that social norms and the ability and resources of the farmer limited the adoption of organic practices. Yet, the implications of social norms go beyond social acceptance. Social norms define what is acceptable or unacceptable, providing the basis for maintaining trust and, at the same time, such norms create an obligation to engage in mutual effort (Lyon, 2000).

Social capital provides access to more and better information (Jacques et al., 2018; Wuepper et al., 2018); hence, its inclusion, mediated through TPB variables, gives a sense of what is affected by this access to information. Being a member of an association provides access to information that can shape the willingness to adopt. In our results, membership directly impacts the intention to adopt the technology and indirectly affects actual adoption. This finding fills the gap identified by Prokopy et al. (2008), as our model provides evidence that membership has a positive and significant influence on intention. Our results also indicate that

35 if the farmer trusts water community associations and water monitoring boards, it is more likely that he/she will have a higher intention to adopt modern irrigation technologies. Nonetheless, other studies have found that trust is negatively related to decisions regarding the adoption of irrigation technology and climate change adaptation ( Paul et al., 2016; Hunecke et al., 2017).

Such contradictory results highlight the importance of understanding the relations of the elements of social capital and behavior on a case-by-case basis in order to design locally adapted policies. Overall, we can see that general and institutional trust, social norms, and membership are relevant in explaining adoption, directly or indirectly, through intention.

Despite this, only 23% of the sample has had a role within local organizations. This represents an opportunity to design an intervention in which local organizations promote the engagement and active participation of farmers.

The influence of perceived control on intention is positive and significant in our model. An individual’s belief in their capacity to execute the action will affect their behavioral intention.

How confident a farmer is in adopting pressurized irrigation depends on the people around him/her who have adopted the technology, as shown by the influence of networks on perceived control. Social networks should be strengthened and used as an instrument to increase self-confidence levels among farmers. As Dowd et al. (2014) noted, strong networks make individuals feel more satisfied and confident with the amount of information they receive through their network. Social influences help shape a person’s estimation of their confidence and capability to use a system well (Bhatti, 1970). We measured social networks, through membership and the number of farmers that have adopted, so strategies should focus on encouraging an increase in membership and in the creation of discussion forums that foster interaction and, therefore, enlargement of the network.

In the estimated model, we also included control variables focusing on the traditional economic incentives and restrictions that are part of the utility maximizing models. The results are indeed revealing. In general, other than physical capital, these variables do not have a significant effect on adoption, meaning that socio-psychological variables are capturing the effect they usually express in traditional models (Engler et al., 2016). Hence, more emphasis should be placed on developing a pro-adoption environment than on relaxing farmers’ constraints, such as providing high subsidies to promote adoption.

Key policy implications can be derived from our empirical results. First, attitude campaigns are not enough to influence intentions. Therefore, policies introduced by governmental institutions

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could achieve better results by promoting long-term changes in beliefs and social norms. Even a policy without any financial incentive could result in more environmentally friendly and socially responsible behavior if it were designed to strengthen self-confidence and perceived social pressure (Czap et al., 2016). Second, initiatives from the government could define a strategy to change the current practice (the generally acceptable norm of traditional irrigation).

Influencing farmers’ core beliefs associated with water conservation awareness, and boosting farmers’ trust in water organizations that could foster cooperation, could both lead to the adoption of pressurized irrigation systems as a norm (Klöckner, 2013). Third, extension services should focus on transferring knowledge and information through social networks to facilitate action and increase farmers’ perceived self-confidence about undertaking the challenge of switching from superficial to pressurized irrigation. In this context, such as strategy is more important than improving attitudes towards the technology.