Analysis of Effective Factors on the Level of Transgenic Agricultural Production Technology Usage in Iran Agricultural Research Centers

Research centers are important parts of the research and development, innovation, and technology system of the country and have a crucial place in expanding the boundaries of knowledge and technology and solving the scientific issues of the country. The purpose of this study was to analyze the factors affecting the level of transgenic agricultural production technology usage in agricultural research centers in Iran. The statistical population consisted of 421 researchers in transgenic domain which worked in 14 agricultural research centers. The Yaman formula was used to determine the sample size. The sample size was 205, which increased to 216 researchers to reduce the error and also to cover the unanswered questionnaires. A questionnaire was designed and used to collect the data. This questionnaire consisted of nine sections, including individual-social characteristics, Transgenic knowledge, transgenic attitude, perceived usefulness, perceived risk, ease of use, social impact, ethical concerns, and the level of transgenic technology usage. The structural equation modeling technique was applyed to analyze the data. Based on the obtained information, there was sufficient evidence for the confirmation of negative and significant effect of the two variables of perceived risk and ethical concerns about the level of transgenic technology usage, as well as the positive and significant effects of the two variables of attitude and social impact on the level of transgenic technology usage. Based on the results, the following recommendations are proposed: Providing the appropriate context for training courses inside and outside the country, bottom- up management, using experienced and provident managers, giving the opportunity to researchers to further engage in all stages of planning, government funding, completing the researches and labeling the transgenic products.