Climate risk communication and farmers’ adaptive behaviour in the Indo-Gangetic Plains: Insights from the Stimulus-Organism-Response (S-O-R) framework

The Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP) remain highly climate vulnerable, where farmers experience limited access to timely, trusted, and contextualized risk information necessary for adaptation. This study examines how exposure to risk communication, along with key socio-psychological determinants, shapes behavioural responses to climate change. Using the Stimulus-Organism-Response (S-O-R) framework, six constructs were conceptualized and validated—Risk Communication, Social Participation, Institutional Awareness, Risk Perception, Negative Emotions, and Behavioural Change. A multistage sampling approach was applied across Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, engaging 240 farmers. PLS-SEM was used to develop indicators, evaluate construct validity, and test structural relationships. Among the significant predictors, Negative Emotions strongly impacted Behavioural Change (β = 0.961), while Institutional Awareness significantly influenced both Negative Emotions (β = 0.817) and Risk Perception (β = 0.711). Beyond model fit, the validated indicators generated through this study can support future assessment of climate risk communication effectiveness and serve as reference metrics for extension and sustainability research. Overall, the study offers a contextually grounded and empirically strengthened risk communication model that can inform more responsive and farmer-centric advisory strategies to enhance climate resilience in the IGP. It provides valuable insights for designing more effective, psychologically informed risk communication strategies to strengthen climate resilience among vulnerable farming communities. • Climate risk communication and farmer behaviour were examined in the Indo-Gangetic Plains. • The S-O-R framework was applied to explain farmers’ behavioural responses to climate risks. • Six socio-psychological factors shaping climate-related behaviour were identified and validated. • Negative emotions and institutional awareness showed strong associations with behaviour change. • A validated model is proposed to guide farmer-focused climate advisory strategies.