Influence of Subjective Norms on the Use of Information and Communication Technologies for Agricultural Risk Management: Empirical Evidence from Malaysia

Abstract

Social influence plays a significant role in the adoption of new technologies exclusively in the context of climate change. Although various studies have been undertaken to manage agricultural risk from the field perspective. However, less attention has been paid to examine the influence of subjective norms on ICT usage among farmers for the management of agricultural risk in Malaysia. Therefore, the present study was designed to meet the objective. The research data were collected through a field survey in which 360 farmers were interviewed through the multistage cluster sampling technique. The subjective norms were measured through 5 points Likert scale (ranging from 1 as strongly disagree to 5 as strongly agree) based statements. The result exhibited that farmers had realized the significance of ICTs which helped them in staying connected with fellow farmers and extension service providers. Furthermore, majority of the farmers had a high level of subjective norms influence to use ICTs for agricultural risk management. However, it seems that still a lot to be done in order to socially influence farmers particularly resource poor farmers to use ICTs for agricultural risk management for ultimately coping with the impacts of climate changes. Last but not least, agricultural extension service providers are urgently needed to organize farmers to address climate changes collectively.