Abstract
An extended version of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) was applied by means of Structural Equation Modelling to testing various hypotheses on attitudes and intentions of dairy farmers towards three novel sustainable production strategies, as well as the influence of organic practices and collaborative behaviours, such as information sharing with supply-chain partners. Data on the acceptance of three sustainable production strategies, namely ‘Agro-forestry’, ‘Alternative protein source’, and ‘Prolonged maternal feeding’ were collected by a survey of dairy farmers in six European Union (EU) countries (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Italy, United Kingdom). We found that perceived usefulness is the key determinant of acceptance, while the intention to adopt a sustainable production strategy may derive from the influence of opinions (and behaviours) of relevant others (e.g., leading dairy farmers, family members, advisors) showing the role of interactions among farmers and other stakeholders in the adoption of innovations. Finally, the perceived usefulness of all of the investigated strategies is higher for organic farmers, while collaborative patterns reduce the impact of subjective norm on usefulness and overall acceptance. Our findings should encourage policy makers to consider the important role of supply chain management practices, including collaboration, to enhance the sustainability of dairy farming systems.
Highlights
Research into the acceptance of innovations in the last two decades has yielded many competing models
Full metric invariance could be established for the organic and conventional groups (p < 0.01), but—quite expectedly—not for the three strategies. These results suggest that while organic and conventional farmers form their intention in identical manners, the way constructs are measured and the strength of the path differs in relation to each production strategy
The modelling results shows that the intention to adopt one of the three innovations is strongly influenced by the understanding of the usefulness of the innovation itself, while this understanding is strongly influenced by the opinion of “relevant others”
Summary
Research into the acceptance of innovations in the last two decades has yielded many competing models. The Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA), proposed by Fishbein and Ajzen [1] and extended by Fishbein [2], informs all of the technology acceptance models. This suggests that only a small number of variables can explain the individual’s intention to perform a behaviour. We refer the interested reader to the systematic review by Venkatesh et al [6], as well to Kings and He’s [7] and Li and Shu’s [8] meta-analyses In recent years, these models have been applied to many innovation research topics, including new food and new food technologies and their acceptance to consumers and other stakeholders
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