School of Psychology and Vision Sciences, University of Leicester, Leicester, Leicestershire, United Kingdom.
PLoS One. 2024 Oct 14;19(10):e0301881. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0301881. eCollection 2024.
This study enhances our understanding of the psychological factors influencing farmers' adoption of sustainable farming practices, specifically those related to achieving NetZero emissions. It achieves this by integrating various psychological theories with practical farming methods within the context of Behavioral-Adoption and Purpose-Driven contexts. The research consisted of two studies. Study 1 employed Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) to analyze responses from 438 UK farmers regarding their attitudes toward a series of Net Zero policy commitments, drawing on psychological theories including the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology, the Theory of Planned Behavior, the Prototype Willingness Model, Implementation Intentions, Self-Determination Theory, Eudaimonia, and the Integrated Model of Health Literacy. The findings revealed a new Integrated Motivation Model for Sustainable Farming that comprises seven factors: Agricultural Commitment and Stewardship, Sustainable Farming Readiness and Confidence, Sustainable Incentive Engagement and Acceptance, Climate Adaptation Competence and Confidence, Net Zero Accountability and Reporting Commitment, Community Influence and Commitment in Sustainable Farming, and Innovation and Technological Competence. Study 2 validated these factors through the development of a 21-item Integrated Motivation Model for Sustainable Farming scale and use of Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) to confirm the 7-factor structure using a subsample of 418 UK farmers from Study 1 and an additional 230 US farmers. Furthermore, Study 2 tested the concurrent validity of the new scale by demonstrating significant associations with reported sustainable farming behaviors. These findings underscore the complex interplay of motivational, cognitive, and social processes influencing sustainable farming practices. The integrated psychological model developed through this research provides parsimonious and valuable insights for policymakers to foster sustainable practices in farming effectively. The confirmation of this model across farming populations enhances its generalizability and potential to guide targeted interventions aimed at achieving behavioral change in pursuit of Net Zero targets in agriculture.
本研究通过将各种心理理论与行为采用和目的驱动背景下的实际农业方法相结合，深入了解影响农民采用可持续农业实践的心理因素，特别是与实现净零排放相关的因素。该研究由两项研究组成。研究 1 通过探索性因素分析（EFA），对来自英国的 438 名农民对一系列净零政策承诺的态度进行了分析，研究中借鉴了包括统一技术接受和使用理论、计划行为理论、原型意愿模型、实施意图、自我决定理论、幸福和健康素养综合模型在内的多种心理理论。研究结果揭示了一个新的可持续农业综合动机模型，该模型由七个因素组成：农业承诺和管理、可持续农业准备和信心、可持续激励参与和接受、气候适应能力和信心、净零责任和报告承诺、可持续农业社区影响和承诺、创新和技术能力。研究 2 通过开发一个包含 21 个项目的可持续农业综合动机模型，并使用验证性因素分析（CFA）来确认 7 个因素结构，对来自研究 1 的 418 名英国农民和另外 230 名美国农民的子样本进行验证。此外，研究 2 通过证明与报告的可持续农业行为之间存在显著关联，测试了新量表的同时效度。这些发现强调了影响可持续农业实践的动机、认知和社会过程的复杂相互作用。通过这项研究开发的综合心理模型为政策制定者提供了简洁而有价值的见解，以有效地促进农业中的可持续实践。该模型在不同农业群体中的确认提高了其通用性和潜力，可用于指导旨在实现农业净零目标的行为改变的有针对性干预措施。
