Application of the extended theory of planned behavior to predict Iranian farmers’ intention for safe use of chemical fertilizers

Abstract

In recent years, due to the excessive consumption of chemical fertilizers in Iran, the environment and human health have been in serious danger. Therefore, the main idea of this study is to find determining factors in the safe use of chemical fertilizers. An extended theory of planned behavior (TPB) by adding risk perception (RP) and moral norm (MN) has been utilized as a study’s theoretical framework. The research was conducted using questionnaire survey method and by the help of structural equation modeling (SEM). The statistical population of the research was all wheat farmers in Khuzestan province (located in southwest of Iran). Using Krejcie and Morgan table, the sample size was estimated 410 individuals. In this study, the sampling method was multistage stratified clustered. The results of Extended TPB variables among respondents showed that only two variables of attitude and MN are in proper status. The results indicated that the original TPB explains 0.69% of the variance of farmers’ behavioral intention in the safely use of chemical fertilizers. The three main structures of the original TPB included attitude, perceived behavioral control (PBC), and subjective norms (SN), all of which had positive impacts on farmers’ intention. Most importantly, the extended TPB by adding RP and MN increases the model’s ability to explain farmers’ safe behavioral intention by 11.2%. In this study, the most important variables in initial TPB included attitude and subjective norms, but in the extended TPB, moral norm and risk perception were the most important. Therefore, policymakers by emphasizing these variables can promote safe behaviors in using chemical fertilizers.