Does intention lead to behaviour? A case study of the Czech Republic farmers

Abstract

Agricultural development in both developed and developing countries is mainly dependent on the technology adoption by the farmers. Technology adoption depends on the farmers’ beliefs and motives. Many researchers have found that there is a significant difference between intention and the actual behaviour. What an individual intends to do may not be what an individual actually does. Therefore, this paper tries to address the above issue with the farmers of the Southern Moravian region of the Czech Republic. Further, the study tries to identify other possible variables that explain behaviour in the agricultural technology adoption decisions. The theory of planned behaviour has provided a useful framework for explaining the farmers’ behaviour. The results showed that intention has explained the behaviour. However, the attitude, the perceived behavioural control, the farmers’ age and the farmers’ education also show a significant relationship with behaviour. In order to increase the adoptability of new technologies, all these variables have to be taken into consideration by the policy makers and agricultural professionals when designing the agricultural development programmes as well as the technology dissemination programmes.