STUDY OF SITUATIONAL THEORY OF PROBLEM SOLVING (STOPS) IN CONCEPTUALIZING FARMER’S RESPONSE TOWARDS INSUFFICIENT INFORMATION DELIVERY IN MALAYSIA

Abstract

Purpose: Insufficiency of information delivery within agricultural extension services (AES) is a worldwide concern and been recognized as unresolved debate. This issue triggered AES on governance structure demand upward communication to encourage more input at farm level to allow farmers to make a decision and improve their ability to problem-solving. Methodology:  This research includes review the literature on the issue, the theoretical arguments of STOPS and finally to test the items for the measurement of farmers’ response in this problem and identified items for future study. Items were tested through a survey distributed to 110 respondents. The exploratory data analysis was performed using principal components with varimax rotation to assess the performance of each items in measuring their respective variables. Study only retained items that loaded on the variables at .50 cut off criterion, and the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin measure verified the sampling adequacy for the analysis, KMO more than .50 Findings: Result of analysis found the items fell into factor groups as suggested by theory and finalized with 58 items of measurement for future study. Practical implications: These results offer initial guidance into the relevance of STOPS on farmers response in problem-solving towards insufficient information delivery within AES and how they react to issues that affect them. Social Implications: The investigation of STOPS on the sample in the local context of the public would provide a deeper understanding of farmers in Malaysia on their dimensions of conceptual of situational perception, communicative behavior and motivation in problem-solving towards insufficient of information delivery. Research Limitation: Evaluation of Malaysian farmer’s perception and communicative action is limited to the theoretical proposition of STOPS. Originality Value: Study unleashed farmers response in problem-solving capacity towards insufficient of information delivery which have not been fully addressed through the assumption and concept of STOPS.