Socio-psychological Attributes Research Articles

Factors influencing adoption of agro-ecological pest management options for mango fruit fly under information constraints: a two-part fractional regression approach

The catalytic effect of climate change on the emergence and prevalence of invasive alien pests along with weak pesticide regulatory frameworks in developing countries calls for a transition towards sustainable pest management. Agro-ecological pest management (APM) offers a nature-based, cost-effective alternative for addressing systemic pest challenges, such as mango fruit fly invasion. We applied a two-part fractional regression to sequentially model APM adoption and intensity decisions among 423 smallholder mango orchard managers from Makueni County, Kenya. Despite APM’s potential, we observed moderate adoption rates (56.7%), with the average adopter implementing only 25% of the APM practices concurrently. Farmers’ socio-psychological attributes significantly influenced both adoption and intensity decisions. While perceptions of technology attributes and institutional and social factors primarily influenced both the adoption and intensity decisions, information constraints, resource endowment, gender and inter-generational factors significantly influenced only the intensity decision. To support the transition from synthetic insecticides to APM measures, policymakers should create more opportunities for awareness creation, training and knowledge co-creation and co-production, particularly through social networks and gender-disaggregated participatory group approaches.

A Study on the Vulnerability of Fruit Crop Growers to Climate Change in Kalyana Karnataka Region

Vulnerability of fruit crop growers due to climate change can be defined as the degree to which the growers are susceptible to or unable to cope with the adverse effects of climate change. An ex-post-facto research design was used for the study. The study was conducted in the Koppal and Bidar districts of Kalyana Karnataka during the year 2022-23, to analyse the climate change vulnerability of fruit crop growers. The total sample consisted of 80 fruit crop growers, comprising 40 mango growers and 40 guava growers from both districts, respectively. A well-structured interview schedule and the Climate Change Vulnerability Index (CVI) was used for the study, which comprised three components: exposure, adaptive capacity and sensitivity to climate change. The overall CVI was found to be 0.124, which indicated a moderate level of vulnerability of growers to climate change. The CVI of Koppal district was 0.144, and that of Bidar district was 0.105. This indicated that the growers in Koppal district were more vulnerable than those in Bidar district to climate change factors. It can be concluded that the socio-demographic and socio-psychological attributes of the farmers might have been influenced variably.

Analysis of Socioeconomics and Occupational Dimensions of Shrimp Farmers of Tamil Nadu

Studies on socioeconomic, communication media usage, occupational, and sociopsychological attributes of farmers are prerequisite for planning, designing, and successful implementation of sustainable management strategies of a sector which is true for Penaeus vannamei shrimp farming also. The state of Andhra Pradesh in India ranks first in shrimp farming. However, Tamil Nadu state has a lot of potential and is slowly catching with third position, so the baseline profile of shrimp farmers of Tamil Nadu was collected through interviews with 316 shrimp farmers in Nagapattinam, Mayiladuthurai, Thanjavur, and Thiruvallur districts. Most shrimp farmers were men of middle-age, with experience ranging from 1 to 5 years with secondary school to graduate level education. About 89.36% of shrimp farmers had taken loans for the purpose of shrimp farming whereas 78.16% were depending on income from shrimp farming as a repayment source. The benefit–cost ratio of shrimp farming was 2.2 indicating profitability so 79.37% of them were able to save money. However, for 86.53% this was a major expenditure too indicating its vital role in their life. For acquiring information for shrimp farming, 40% relied on friends and 24% relied on fellow farmers. Shrimp farmers were well-versed with the present-era mass-media and through smartphones they acquired information from apps like YouTube. Innovation proneness, scientific orientation, and economic motivation were found to be high in about 30% of farmers. Proper planning is essential for sustainable shrimp farming and sustaining the socioeconomic benefits. The studied attributes play an important role in formulation, designing, and successful implementation of sustainable shrimp farming.

Predictors of the Intention to Participate in Slum Upgrading Projects: Perceptions of Slum Dwellers in Mauritius

A global shift in urban slum improvement programmes is underway to step beyond the conventional approach by practicing a more participatory approach. Previous studies have found that slum upgrading projects are likely to be ineffective and unsustainable without the active participation of slum dwellers. Therefore, it is imperative to identify the pathways to improve or enhance slum dwellers’ participation in slum upgrading projects. Several studies highlight the need to consider socio-psychological attributes of the community. However, empirical evidence of the comparative significance of these attributes in predicting participatory behavioural intention of the slum dwellers has not been previously explored. In this article, we examine the factors that influence slum dwellers’ intention to participate in slum upgrading projects in Mauritius, which has been one of the early implementers of UN-Habitat’s flagship initiative, Participatory Slum Upgrading Programme. We conducted a household survey in highly dense slum areas in Cité EDC and Barkly. Using the Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling approach to analyse the relationships among the constructs affecting participatory behaviour, we find that enhancement of awareness and trust on authority can promote willingness to participate at a higher level in slum upgrading projects. Such information can be useful to design appropriate pathways to increase effective participation in slum upgrading programmes.

A Critical Essay on Black Male Teacher Recruitment Discourse

ABSTRACT Drawing from the framework of populational reasoning, this paper explores the implicit and explicit discourses within recruitment calls for Black male teachers. Populational reasoning helps to construct meaning about how students learn and the socio-psychological attributes that inform school achievement. In this sense, we are interested in how wider discourses about Black male youth are tied to longstanding histories about the sociology of the Black family, which inform recruitment discussions about Black male teachers.

Gender perspective on the factors predicting recycling behavior: Implications from the theory of planned behavior

This study aimed to assess the role of some socio-psychological attributes in explaining recycling behavior of Turkish university community from a gender perspective within the context of the theory of planned behavior with an additional variable (past experience). The recycling behavior of whole sample, females and males, has been examined in 3 sessions -depending on the arguments that explain gendered pattern of private and public environmental behavior and sticking to the fact why females’ stronger environmental values, beliefs, and attitudes do not translate consistently into greater engagement in public behavior. As a result of model runs, different variables shaping intention for behavior have been found, namely perceived behavior control for females and past behavior for males. Due to the low percent of the variance in explaining recycling behavior of females, they have been identified as the ones who do not carry out intentions (non-recyclers). Since intentions alone are capable of identifying recyclers accurately but not non-recyclers, there may be other factors to be considered to understand the reason for females not carrying out the intentions. The results of descriptive statistics supported the identification by attitudes toward recycling. Female attitudes were innate (recycling is good, necessary, useful and sensitive), whereas those of males were learnt (recycling is healthy, valuable and correct). Thus, it has been concluded that males’ intention for recycling is shaped by their past behavior and the conclusion is supported by males having learnt attitude toward recycling whereas females’ lack of intention for recycling is shaped by their perceived behavior control and is supported by their innate attitude for recycling. All in all, the results of the present study provide further support for the utility of the TPB as a model of behavioral prediction and concur with other studies examining the utility of the TPB in the context of recycling.

A Study on the Effects of Motivations to Use Smart Advertising and Sociopsychological Attributes on Satisfaction with Customized Smart Advertising among College Students －With a focus on the variables of social conformity, innovativeness, and apprehension with online privacy－

A Study on the Effects of Motivations to Use Smart Advertising and Sociopsychological Attributes on Satisfaction with Customized Smart Advertising among College Students －With a focus on the variables of social conformity, innovativeness, and apprehension with online privacy－

Estimating the Adoption Behaviour of Broccoli (Brassica oleraceavar.italica) Cultivators with Respect to their Socio-economic Attributes in West Bengal

The present study was conducted at Coochbehar-II block of West Bengal, India during 2011–12 and 2012–13 to estimate the adoption behaviour of the broccoli growers with respect to their biophysical, socioeconomic and socio psychological attributes. The study was conducted at Coochbehar-II block of West Bengal. The purposive as well as multistage random sampling procedures were followed to select the respondents of the study. The adoption behaviour was operationalized with the help of adoption index as a consequent variable. Fourteen antecedent variables were selected for the present study to explore the contribution in characterising the adoption behaviour of broccoli farmers. The data were collected with the help of structured interview schedule through personal interview method. The collected data were processed through descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, multiple regression analysis and factor analysis. The antecedent bio-physical variables like curd width, curd weight, yield, the socio-economic antecedent variables namely education, economic status, benefit cost ratio and horizontal expansion, the socio psychological antecedent variables like risk orientation and knowledge were found strongly associated with adoption behaviour of broccoli farmers. The predictor variables namely benefit cost ratio, effective farm size and economic status were strongly contributing in case of characterising the adoption behaviour of broccoli farmers. The study identified four distinct factors like biophysical and psychological orientation, socio-economic and educational exposure, socio-personal belongingness and family structure.

Opening the Black Box of Upper Echelons in China: TMT Attributes and Strategic Flexibility

Many scholars have suggested that strategic flexibility is a critical firm capability to survive in today's competitive arena. The decision to take strategic actions to make the firm more strategically flexible typically originates in the top management team (TMT). As the principal decision‐making unit of the firm, TMT members' information acquisition and processing capabilities and subsequent interpretation of environmental changes critically influence the decision to make the firm more strategically flexible to achieve a better fit with its market environment.Therefore, in order to understand how firms can adapt to environmental changes, scholars must study the sociopsychological processes of interaction among members of the TMT. This study examines the relationships between TMT's sociopsychological attributes (shared vision, social integration, and political ties) and strategic flexibility, which is decomposed into organizational flexibility and technological flexibility. The study further investigates how the level of competitive intensity can moderate the relationships. All the hypotheses are tested using structural equation models based on the survey data from 227 firms in China.The results show that organizational flexibility mediates the impact of TMT's social integration and political ties on technological flexibility. Surprisingly, a TMT's shared vision for the firm neither impedes nor facilitates the firm's effort in attaining the desired degree of organizational flexibility. However, TMT's shared vision does have a positive and direct impact on technological flexibility. Moreover, intense competition amplifies the positive impact of TMT social integration on the degree of organizational flexibility, but there is no significant moderating effect of competitive intensity on the relationship between a TMT's political ties and organizational flexibility. The results extend previous research by highlighting the importance of TMTs' sociopsychological attributes in driving technological flexibility, through the mediating impact of organizational flexibility.

Why land use patterns affect travel behaviour (or not)

Many studies try to measure the effect of land use patterns on daily travel behaviour of individuals. Results are controlled for socio-economic differences, and sometimes socio-psychological differences, among respondents. However, these studies do not mention why after all a relationship should exist between travel behaviour and spatial, socio-economic and socio-psychological attributes. This query can be answered by combining theories in transport geography and social psychology. Doing so, this paper aims to develop a conceptual model for travel behaviour that brings together concepts such as “spatiotemporal behaviour”, “activity behaviour”, “lifestyle”, “attitudes” and “habits”. Within this conceptual model two kinds of interdependencies are highly important: (i) interdependencies between explanatory variables, causing indirect effects on travel behaviour, and (ii) interdependencies between different data levels causing a nested data-structure. Structural equation models (SEM) are generally used to estimate indirect effects, whereas multilevel analysis account for the nested data structure. The paper recommends combining both statistical techniques in order to better understand the complexity of human travel behaviour.

Protective actions in the late phase--intervention criteria and decision-making.

Major countermeasures in the late phase of a nuclear or radiological accident where long-lived radionuclides have been dispersed in the environment are relocation/resettlement, foodstuff restrictions, agricultural countermeasures and clean-up of contaminated areas. There has essentially been a broad acceptance internationally of the principles for their introduction, but it has not been possible to reach an agreement for the purpose of defining a net benefit based upon the exact weighting to be attached to each of the attributes influencing the decision on intervention, e.g. socio-psychological attributes. Optimisation of protection, i.e. maximising the net benefit, is not a question of developing radiation protection philosophy to fully include socio-psychological factors but rather to include these factors--in parallel with the radiological protection factors--in cooperation between radiation protection experts and e.g. experts in social and psychological sciences under the responsibility of the decision-maker, who will take the final decision on the introduction of long-term countermeasures.

Television, aging and information seeking

Television and aging is one realm of social gerontology inquiry with descriptive consistency in research findings. Although we have an adequate profile of older persons' television use, we are lacking more heuristic explanations of television's role in the lives of the elderly. Such explanations need to emphasize the communication, social and psychological attributes of media users, information-seeking motives to communicate, and the relationship of television viewing to the use of other communication channels and sociopsychological attributes. Following a brief summary of television and aging descriptions from earlier research, and a discussion of the notion of information seeking, this essay focuses on how communication, social and psychological characteristics of older persons relate to using television to seek information.

Analysis of Fishery Management Decision Making in Hawaii: The Application of a Dogmatism-Rigidity Model

This article presents the results of a study on the application of two socio-psychological attributes, dogmatism and rigidity, to explain the capacity and predisposition of fishery decision makers for processing information in implementing the Magnuson Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MFCMA) of 1976, PL 94-265, in Hawaii. The MFCMA, considered to be the most comprehensive federal policy on the management of the nation's fisheries, established a 200-mile fishery conservation zone (FCZ) and regional fishery management councils (RFMCs) to develop management plans for fisheries within the FCZ. The RFMCs, composed of state and federal officials and private sector fishery interests, are an alteration of existing institutional structures. In essence, the MFCMA created fishy federalism-a tripartite decision-making structure. The present study attempted to answer the question, Under conditions of complete knowledge, when all options are known, would fishery-sector decision makers fully utilize that knowledge? This seemingly simple question is significant because such theories of organizational behavior as Lindblom's incrementalism and Simon's satisficing explain organizational behavior as the inability of decision makers to process information, the lack of sufficient information, or a combination of the two. Decision-making processes utilized by all public agencies, but especially those which are responsible for the management of natural resources, including fisheries, appear to be intrinsically tied to the need for new information to close the data breach so that all options are known. This notion, which underlies rational decision models, assumes that infinite capacity exists within an organization to process information.' Similar assumptions also underlie the inclusion of provisions in the

ANOTHER VIEW OF THE SIXTEEN-MILLION-HOUR QUESTION

What and how we teach reflect personal views of our responsibilities in libera! education, and thus clarity about objectives is crucial to significant debate about teaching strategies. Learning liberal arts disciplines is the basic purpose of a curricular view of liberal education. With this view, our most significant teaching decisions concern the content of our discipline, and debate about teaching methods is relatively unimportant. Another and more comprehensive view considers not only disciplinary content but also development of cognitive styles and socio-psychological attributes that help the student continue to learn and contribute in a complex world. Teaching methods are matters of great importance with this view.

Personality Trait Theory and Consumer Behaviour

An empirical study was conducted to test the relevance of personality trait theory in the Indian context. The objective was to define the scope of personality trait theory for research and marketing strategy by overcoming the limitations of past studies. The findings indicated that differences in brand use could be explained by personality theory under certain conditions. Specifically/ the findings showed that brands which occupied different product positions attracted different personality types. These positions might be created by a combination of physical properties and socio-psychological attributes of the product.

Sociopsychological Attributes Associated with the Early Adoption of a Sport Innovation

Sociopsychological Attributes Associated with the Early Adoption of a Sport Innovation