Analysis of factors influencing farmers’ sustainable environmental behavior in agriculture activities: integration of the planned behavior and the protection motivation theories

• Published in: Environment, development and sustainability Vol. 25; no. 9; pp. 9903 - 9934
• Main Authors: Badsar, Mohammad, Moghim, Matin, Ghasemi, Mehdi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.09.2023; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Agricultural industry; Agricultural products; Agriculture; Agronomy; Behavior; cognition; Cognitive ability; Cognitive behavioral therapy; Cognitive-behavioral factors; cross-sectional studies; Developing countries; Earth and Environmental Science; Ecology; Economic Geology; Economic Growth; Effectiveness; Environment; Environmental behavior; Environmental behaviour; Environmental Economics; Environmental impact; Environmental Management; equations; Farmers; Horticulture; Iran; LDCs; Livestock; Motivation; Multidimensional approach; Multivariate statistical analysis; Natural resources; Perceived control; prediction; Protection motivation theory; Protective factors; Psychological models; Rural areas; Rural communities; Self-efficacy; Sustainability; Sustainable Development; Theory of planned behavior; Variables; variance; Iran; Protection motivation theory; Theory of planned behavior; Farmers' sustainable environmental behavior; Agriculture activities
• ISSN: 1387-585X; 1573-2975
• DOI: 10.1007/s10668-022-02468-3

Unsustainable agricultural activities have made governments in developing countries confront numerous environmental challenges and crises in rural areas. The environmental problems of the agricultural sector, in addition to being affected by factors such as the economy and the specific characteristics of agricultural products, are also influenced by the individual and professional farmers’ behavior. The importance of farmer’s behavior in environmental concerns may be traced back to the effect and control which behavior has over other variables. However, the lack of appropriate environmental cognitive behavioral and socio-psychological models and poor understanding of factors influencing the environmental behavior of farmers, inhibit farmers from adopting pro-environmental behaviors in agricultural activities. As a result, the current study aimed to fill this gap by combining the theory of planned behavior (TPB) and the protection motivation theory (PMT) to identify the key predicting factors of farmers’ sustainable environmental behavior (SEB) and their behavioral intentions in various agricultural activities (such as agronomy, horticulture, livestock and natural resources).This research was a descriptive, causal and correlational study conducted through a cross-sectional survey of 300 farmers in Zanjan Province of Iran for which the structural equation modeling (SEM) technic has been utilized for analysis. The results indicated that the PMT variables, including self-efficacy, perceived vulnerability, and severity, response costs, and efficacy could significantly explain variability of farmers’ intention toward sustainable environmental behavior. Through adding the variables of TPB consisting attitude toward behavior, subject norm and perceived behavioral control increased the prediction variance of intention and behavior of farmers. Thus, the integrated model provides a better understanding of SEB, especially via the behavioral intention of farmers. The development of SEB in agricultural activities among farmers and their intention toward sustainable environmental behavior requires a comprehensive, systematic, and multidimensional approach such as the integrated model outlined in this study.