Exploring innovation adoption behavior for sustainable development of Mediterranean tree crops

Introduction: The combination of knowledge, personal skills and company resources influences, all things being equal, such as the availability of new technologies, market conditions and other factors external to the company, farmers in their innovation choices. This study is an attempt to understand which psychological constructs influence the decision-making process of farmers specialized in typical Mediterranean crops with regard to innovation. Previous studies on the adoption of agricultural innovations have often considered socio economic characteristics and ignored the underlying motivational factors that influence the behavioral intention of farmers. Methods: This study adopted three socio-psychological constructs, Attitude (ATT), Subjective Norm (SN), and Perceived Behavioral Control (PBC), derived from the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), and proposed three new constructs, Perceived Innovations Characteristics (PIC), Benefits (B), and Transferability (T), thus using an Extended Model of the Theory of Planned Behavior. Results: The outcome of the multiple regression revealed that farmers' intention (I) to adopt sustainable irrigation innovations is positively influenced by attitude (ATT), subjective norm (SN), and perceived innovation characteristics (PIC). This last construct had mediating effects on the indirect relationships between PBC, benefits (B), transferability (T), and intention (I). Discussion: The results provide numerous insights, useful both for outlining the demand for innovation and for calibrating future policies aimed at the primary sector, especially on the sustainable management of irrigation resources. In particular, the analyses carried out highlight the importance of factors external to the company as key levers in shaping the demand for innovations.