Analysis of farmers' behavior in using low pressure irrigation technology based on the development of the decomposed theory of planned behavior

The present study aimed to analyze the Farmers' Behavior in Using Low-pressure Irrigation System. This qualitative study is performed in East Azarbaijan province. The statistical sample population consists of 393 farmers out of 112010 farmers of East Azarbaijan province. The research instrument was a researcher-made questionnaire that face validity and convergent validity were used to assess the validity of the questionnaire. The results of confirmatory factor analysis showed that the mean of variance extracted was acceptable for the studied structures (AVE≥0.522). Also, the combined reliability value was suitable for all structures (CR≥0.785). The SPSS version 20 and AMOS version 21 were used to analyze the data. In order to better understand the main factors influencing the behavior of low-pressure irrigation systems, the research model was based on the Decomposed Theory of Planned Behavior (DTPB) and extended. In this study, two variables of moral norm and self-identity have been added to the initial model of the decomposed theory of planned behavior, which has made it more complete and comprehensive. The results of using structural equation modeling showed that EDTPB had a suitable effectiveness and efficiency to predict farmers' behavior in using low-pressure irrigation system. In addition, variables including compatibility, advantages, facilitators, self-efficacy, attitudes, moral norms, self-identity and behavioral control were explained 72% of the variance changes.