Application of the theory of planned behaviour to understand citrus stakeholders’ intention to manage quarantine plant pest outbreaks

Abstract

In the European Union (EU), after an outbreak of a quarantine plant pest, contingency plans help to mitigate its progression. However, opposition to their implementation limits their effectiveness and leads to social unrest, together with socio-economic and environmental losses for stakeholders and governments. Thus, stakeholders’ decision making about contingency plans is a major issue for plant health authorities in the EU. In fact, a limited understanding of the factors influencing the adoption of plant health regulations by stakeholders has led to inadequate management of some quarantine plant pests. This study aims to better understand stakeholders’ intentions to follow contingency plans. To this end, questionnaire data collected from a sample of 252 Spanish citrus stakeholders, using citrus Huanglongbing (HLB) disease as a case study, was analysed according to the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) using structural equation modelling (SEM) for the model estimation. Results show that Intention (INT) to follow the contingency plan for HLB is primarily driven by Subjective Norm (SN) followed by Attitude (ATT) but not by Perceived Behavioural Control (PBC). We also observed that SN predicts ATT and PBC, as expected, and that age has a positive effect on INT. These results suggest that decision making programmes should encourage individuals who are relevant to the community to advocate for the adoption of the measures in case of an outbreak. Furthermore, to be effective, the implementation of contingency plans should take into account the stakeholders’ views from the inception phase onwards. Our findings improve the understanding of variables influencing the intention to follow the contingency plan for HLB and support the use of TPB to explain stakeholders’ intention to manage quarantine plant pest outbreaks.