Identifying and measuring behavioral indicators of sustainable livestock practices and welfare through Campbell’s Paradigm

• Sustainability and animal welfare has become a key issue attracting the attention of policymakers, researchers, farmers, and consumers in recent decades. • the original paradigm explained 40% of the variance in supportive livestock behavior, and the extended version explained 44%. • This research contributes significantly to the theoretical literature on animal welfare and sustainability. • The study provides valuable perspectives for researchers, policymakers, related organizations, NGOs, and the public to promote animal welfare For the past few decades, sustainability and animal welfare issues have received considerable attention from policymakers, researcher, farmers, and consumers. This research will identify and measure the internal and external socio-psychological factors that contribute to Iranian dairy farmer’s "supportive (positive) behavior" toward livestock using a conceptual framework based on an extension of Campbell’s Paradigm. Campbell’s Paradigm has been extensively used to study environmental and pro-social behaviors and is primarily comprised of two key components: "attitude" (internal motivational driver of behavior) and "cost" (contextual barrier to behavior). Campbell's Paradigm has not yet been applied in a livestock systems context. This study was a description and correlation, used a cross-sectional survey design. Data was collected from 208 traditional and 122 industrial farms with closed-ended questionnaires and stratified random sampling. To find relationships between variables, hypotheses were tested, and the measurement model was evaluated using SEM-PLS3 software. SPSS26 was used for descriptive analysis. Data analysis revealed that in the original Campbell's Paradigm, the variable attitude showed a positive significant effect (Beta= 0.60; p= 0.001) on supportive livestock behavior. However, cost was found to have a negative significant effect (Beta= -0.20; p= 0.001). Theoretically, two new constructs were added to the original Campbell’s Paradigm to respond to socio-psychological and resource-based factors unique to livestock farming: "anthropomorphic view" (the farmer's perception of the animal as possessing human emotions and feelings) and "access to production inputs" (the structural capacity of farmers to perform animal welfare-enhancing practices). In the extended version, anthropocentric view (Beta= 0.12; p= 0.009), attitude (Beta= 0.53; p= 0.001), and access to production inputs (Beta= 0.21; p= 0.001) had significant positive effects, while cost (Beta= -0.14; p = 0.002) retained a significant negative effect. Overall, the original paradigm explained 40% of the variance in supportive livestock behavior, and the extended version explained 44%. This research contributes significantly to the theoretical literature on animal welfare and sustainability. It also provides valuable perspectives for researchers, policymakers, related organizations, NGOs, and the public to promote animal welfare.