The Role of Perceived Benefits, Environmental Identity, and Social Influence in the Adoption of Green Agricultural Technologies: A Study on the Extended Technology Acceptance Model
1 Selcuk University, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Department of Business Administration, Konya, Türkiye
2 Selçuk University, Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Agricultural Economics, Konya, Türkiye
3 Selcuk University, Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Agricultural Economics, Konya, Türkiye
4 Malatya Turgut Ozal University, Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Agricultural Economics, Malatya, Türkiye
5 Selcuk University, Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Agricultural Economics, Konya, Türkiye
Abstract
This study investigates factors influencing the acceptance of environmentally friendly agricultural technologies through a survey of 462 farmers in Konya Province, Türkiye. An expanded version of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) is used to incorporate the constructs of perceived usefulness (PU), perceived ease of use (PEOU), social influence (SI), and facilitating conditions (FC) as well as environmental psychology constructs of environmental identity (EI) and the New Ecological Paradigm (NEP). A partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) analysis demonstrates that facilitating conditions (β=0.605, p<0.001) are the most influential factor toward behavioral intention along with perceived usefulness (β = 0.257, p<0.001) and perceived ease of use (β=0.112, p<0.01). The relationship between behavioral intention and usage behavior (β=0.880, R²=0.532) indicates a strong positive relationship between these two variables. In contrast, the expected positive effect of environmental identity (β= -0.243, p<0.001) is supported by the literature’s discussion of the ecological concern paradox. Quality measures for the structural model (R² =0.594; Q² =0.584) indicate both explanatory and predictive capability. The sample size was determined based on the proportionally representative sampling method suggested by Newbold (1995). The research is expected to contribute to the literature by incorporating environmental psychology constructs into TAM.
Keywords
Green agricultural technologies,Technology acceptance model,Environmental identity,Social influence,PLS-SEM,Konya
How to Cite
AYVAZ, G., DOĞAN, H. G., BOZDEMİR AKÇİL, M., CANDEMİR, S., & BAMRAMOĞLU, Z. (2026). The Role of Perceived Benefits, Environmental Identity, and Social Influence in the Adoption of Green Agricultural Technologies: A Study on the Extended Technology Acceptance Model . MAS Journal of Applied Sciences, 11(3), 447–467. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20786563
📄Abdallah, A., Abdul‐Rahaman, A., Issahaku, G., 2021. Sustainable agricultural practices, farm income and food security among rural households in Africa. Environment Developmentand Sustainability, 23(12): 17668-17701.
📄Adamsone-Fiskovica, A., Grivins, M., 2024. Understanding the potential of sustainability turn in farming: Review of sociotechnical adoption factors of agri-environmental cropping practices. Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems, 39(e16): 1-16.
📄Bagheri, A., Tarighi, J., Emami, N., Szymanek, M., 2024. Extension experts' intentions to use precision agricultural technologies: A test with the Technology Acceptance Model. Acta Technologica Agriculturae, 27(2): 84–91.
📄Beasley, S., Workman, W., Williams, N., 1986. Estimating amenity values of urban fringe farmland: A contingent valuation approach: Note. Growth and Change, 17(4): 70-78.
📄Brick, C., Sherman, D.K., Kim, H.S., 2017. "Green to be seen" and "brown to keep down": Visibility moderates the effect of identity on pro-environmental behavior. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 51: 226–238.
📄Byrka, K., Hartig, T., Kaiser, F.G., 2010. Environmental attitude as a mediator of the relationship between psychological restoration in nature and self-reported eco al behavior. Psychological Reports, 107(3): 847–859.
📄Chen, X., Zhang, X., Chen, J., 2024. TAM-based study of farmers' live streaming e- commerceadoption intentions. Agriculture, 14(518):1-22.
📄Chin, W.W., 1998. The partial least squares approach to structural equation modeling. In Modern methods for business research. Psychology Press.
📄Chua, K., Quoquab, F., Mohammad, J., Basiruddin, R., 2016. The mediating role of new ecological paradigm between value orientations and pro-environmental personal norm in the agricultural context. Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, 28(2): 1-32.
📄Chuang, J.H., Wang, J.H., Liou, Y.C., 2020. Farmers' knowledge, attitude, and adoption of smart agriculture technology in Taiwan. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(19):1-8
📄Clayton, S., Opotow, S. (Eds.). 2003. Identity and the natural environment: The psychological significance of nature. MIT Press.
📄Cohen, J., 1988. Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences (2nd ed.). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers.
📄Dai, Q., Cheng, K., 2022. What drives the adoption of agricultural green production technologies? An extension of TAM in agriculture. Sustainability, 14(21): 1-18.
📄Davis, F.D., 1989. Perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and user acceptance of information technology. MIS Quarterly, 13(3): 319–340.
📄Dawid, I., 2021. Small scale irrigation farming adoption as a climate-smart agriculture practice and its impact on household income in Ethiopia: A Review Paper. International Journal of Food Science and Agriculture, 5(4): 584-591.
📄Degieter, M., De Steur, H., Tran, D., Gellynck, X., Schouteten, J.J., 2023. Farmers' acceptance of robotics and unmanned aerial vehicles: A systematic review. Agronomy Journal, 115(5): 2159–2173.
📄Despotovic, J., Rodic, V., 2021. Ecological knowledge and connectedness to nature as predictors of farmers' ecological attitudes. Zbornik Matice Srpske za Drustvene Nauke, (179): 435–445.
📄Dong, H., Wang, H., Han, J., 2022. Understanding ecological agricultural technology adoption in China using an integrated technology acceptance model-theory of planned behavior model. Frontiers in Environmental Science, 10: 1-11.
📄Dunlap, R.E., Van Liere, K.D., Mertig, A.G., Jones, R.E., 2000. New trends in measuring environmental attitudes: Measuring endorsement of the new ecological paradigm: A revised NEP scale. Journal of Social Issues, 56(3): 425-442.
📄Fatemi, M., Rezaei-Moghaddam, K., 2020. Sociological factors influencing the performance of organic activities in Iran. Life Sciences, Society and Policy, 16(3):1-16.
📄Fielding, K.S., Hornsey, M.J., 2016. A social identity analysis of climate change and environmental attitudes and behaviors: Insights and opportunities. Frontiers in Psychology, 7(121):1-12.
📄Filho, H.M.S., Vinholis, M.M.B., Carrer, M.J., Mozambani, C.I., 2023. Adoption of farm management information systems (FMIS): The case of Brazilian sugarcane farmers. Information Development, 41(4):1131-1145.
📄Fornell, C., Larcker, D.F., 1981. Evaluating structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error. Journal of Marketing Research, 18(1): 39–50.
📄Gatiso, T.T., Knook, J., 2025. Mind the gap: Perception of environmental performance of farms in Aotearoa New Zealand through farmers' and public lenses. Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand, 55(6): 2103–2120.
📄Geisser, S. 1974. A predictive approach to the random effect model. Biometrika, 61(1): 101–107.
📄Giller, K.E., Andersson, J.A., Corbeels, M., Kirkegaard, J., Mortensen, D., Erenstein, O., Vanlauwe, B., 2015. Beyond conservation agriculture. Frontiers in Plant Science, 6(870):1-14.
📄Griffin, T.W., Shockley, J.M., Mark, T.B., 2021. Economics of precision agriculture. In D.K. Shannon, D.E. Clay, & N.R. Kitchen (Eds.), Precision agriculture basics. American Society of Agronomy.
📄Gwara, S., Wale, E., Odindo, A., 2022. Psychometric analysis of the ecological dispositions of rural farming communities in South Africa: Implications for human excreta reuse in agriculture. Plos Sustainability and Transformation, 1(6): 1-18.
📄Hair, J.F., Risher, J.J., Sarstedt, M., Ringle, C.M., 2019. When to use and how to report the results of PLS-SEM. European business Review, 31(1): 2-24.
📄Harman, H.H., 1976. Modern Factor Analysis (3rd ed.). University of Chicago Press.
📄Hassan, S., Olsen, S.B., Mohammad Afandi, S.H., Thorsen, B.J., 2016. Measuring rural and urban attitudes towards wetlands using the New Ecological Paradigm: Setiu Wetlands, Malaysia. Environment-Behaviour Proceedings Journal, 1(2): 132–142.
📄Henseler, J., Ringle, C.M., Sarstedt, M., 2015. A new criterion for assessing discriminant validity in variance-based structural equation modeling. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 43(1): 115–135.
📄Hoover, B., 2013. White spaces in black and latino places: urban agriculture and food sovereignty. Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development, 3(4): 109–115.
📄Karmarkar, U.R., Bollinger, B., 2015. BYOB: How bringing your own shopping bags leads to treating yourself and the environment. Journal of Marketing, 79(4): 1–15.
📄Kock, N., 2015. Common method bias in PLS-SEM: A full collinearity assessment approach. International Journal of e- ollaboration, 11(4): 1–10.
📄Lindell, M.K., Whitney, D.J., 2001. Accounting for common method variance in cross- sectional designs. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86(1): 114-121.
📄Marcineková, L., Štěrbová, M., Výbošťok, J., Hajdúchová, I., Giertliová, B., Šulek, R., Sarvašová, Z., Šálka, J., 2024. Slovakia and its environmental transformation: Measuring environmental attitudes using the New Ecological Paradigm. Frontiers in Psychology, 15: 1-9.
📄Mollel, M., Quiroz, L., Firestine, A., McLoughlin, M., Kafunah, J., Kharkar, S., Spillane, C., 2025. Digital technologies to accelerate the impact of climate smart agriculture by next-generation farmers in Africa. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, 9: 1-20.
📄Muromba, P., Keeni, M., Fuyuki, K., 2025. A systematic review of mobile agricultural service applications for smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa: Perspectives from the Technology Acceptance Model. Agriculture & Food Security, 14(34): 1-15.
📄Newbold, P., 1995. Statistics for business and economics (4th ed.). Prentice Hall.
📄Nkhoma, S., Kalinda, T., Kuntashula, E., 2017. Adoption and Impact of conservation agriculture on smallholder farmers’ crop productivity and income in Luapula province, Zambia. Journal of Agricultural Science, 9(9): 168-181.
📄Nunnally, J.C., Bernstein, I.H., 1994. Psychometric theory (3rd ed.). McGraw-Hill.
📄Osburg, V., Yoganathan, V., Brueckner, S., Toporowski, W., 2019. How detailed product information strengthens eco-friendly consumption. Management Decision, 58(6): 1084-1099.
📄Podsakoff, P.M., MacKenzie, S.B., Lee, J.Y., Podsakoff, N.P., 2003. Common method biases in behavioral research: A critical review of the literature and recommended remedies. Journal of Applied Psychology, 88(5): 879-903.
📄Purnomo, S.H., 2018. Barriers to acceptance of information and communication technology in agricultural extension in Indonesia. Information Development, 35(4): 512–523.
📄Rogers, E.M. 1983. Diffusion of innovations (3rd ed.). Free Press.
📄Sahoo, B., Behera, A.R., 2025. Determinants of crop insurance adoption: Farm-level evidence from Odisha, India. International Journal of Rural Management, 21(3): 293– 310.
📄Savari, M., Damaneh, H.E., Damaneh, H.E., Cotton, M., 2023. Integrating the norm activation model and theory of planned behavior to investigate farmer pro- environmental behavioral intention. Scientific Reports, 13(1):1-14.
📄Schrank, Z., Running, K., 2018. Individualist and collectivist consumer motivations in local organic food markets. Journal of Consumer Culture, 18(1): 184–201.
📄Sofi, F., Al-Fattal, A., 2026. The attitude-behavior gap in technology adoption: A consumer behavior perspective on HRIS use. Platforms, 4(1): 1-20.
📄Spínola, H., 2023. Environmental attitudes among students at the university of madeira, Portugal. International Journal of Development Education and Global Learning, 15(1): 56-68.
📄Stern, P.C., Dietz, T., Kalof, L., Guagnano, G.A., 1995. Values, beliefs, and proenvironmental action: Attitude formation toward emergent attitude objects. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 25(18): 1611–1636.
📄Suvittawat, A. 2024. Investigating farmers’ perceptions of drone technology in thailand: exploring expectations, product quality, perceived value, and adoption in agriculture. Agriculture, 14(12): 1-25.
📄Takahashi, K., Mano, Y., Otsuka, K., 2019. Learning from experts and peer farmers about rice production: Experimental evidence from Cote d'Ivoire. World Development, 122: 157–169.
📄Thapa, B., 1999. Environmentalism: The relation of environmental attitudes and environmentally responsible behaviors among undergraduate students. Bulletin of Science Technology & Society, 19(5): 426-438.
📄Tolentino, T.R., Hernandez, A.A., 2020. User acceptance of agricultural market information system with analytics: Insights from the Philippines. International Journal of Enterprise Information Systems, 16(4): 39-57.
📄Venkatesh, V., Davis, F.D., 2000. A theoretical extension of the technology acceptance model: Four longitudinal field studies. Management Science, 46(2): 186–204.
📄Venkatesh, V., Morris, M.G., Davis, G.B., Davis, F.D., 2003. User acceptance of information technology: toward a unified view1. MIS Quarterly, 27(3): 425–478.
📄Wang, Y., Möhring, N., Finger, R., 2023. When my neighbors matter: spillover effects in the adoption of large-scale pesticide-free wheat production. Agricultural Economics, 54(2): 256–273.
📄Whitmarsh, L., O’Neill, S., 2010. Green identity, green living? The role of pro- environmental self-identity in determining consistency across diverse pro- environmental behaviors. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 30(3): 305–314.
📄Wibowo, N., Sumarmi, S., Utaya, S., Bachri, S., Kodama, Y., 2023. Students’ environmental care attitude: A study at adiwiyata public high school based on the new ecological paradigm (NEP). Sustainability, 15(11): 1-18.
📄Zambrano-Gutiérrez, J.C., Valente de Macedo, L.S., Picavet, M.E.B., Puppim de Oliveira, J.A., 2022. Individuals in collaborative governance for environmental management. Environmental Management, 71(3): 565–586.
📄Zheng S, Wang Z, Wachenheim C.J., 2019. Technology adoption among farmers in jilin province, China: The case of aerial pesticide application. China Agricultural Economic Review, 11(1): 206–216.
,
Hasan Gökhan DOĞAN2