Determinants of the Transfer of Sustainability Learning in Agricultural Sector of Iran

Literature review indicates that systemic agricultural human resource development interventions are rarely carried out in developing countries, and limited knowledge exists about how successful they are. Learning transfer is the generalization of material learned, such as skills acquired or knowledge gained in training, back to the job. The main aim of this study was to analyze factors influencing sustainability learning transfer among farmers participating in Diffusion-Push Plans in Fars Province, Iran. A total number of 120 subjects were selected through stratified random sampling method. Results revealed that performance-outcomes expectations, perceived content validity, transfer design, opportunity to use, supervisor support, years of experience in farming, and age had a significant effect on participants’ learning transfer. The formula developed in this study contributes to quantify learning transfer and provides new opportunities for a deeper investigation of causal relationships among learning transfer factors using advanced statistical methods. Farmer training decision makers and other actors in the extension system should pay particular attention to the factors reported here as critical to learning transfer.