Modeling the behavioural intentions of farmers towards active participation in Farmer Producer Companies (FPCs): an extended Theory of Planned Behaviour

This study examined the factors influencing the behavioural intentions of farmers towards active participation in Farmer Producer Companies (FPCs). Data were collected using structured interview schedule from the member farmers of eight FPCs in crop and dairy sectors of Southern India. The hypotheses were tested using Partial Least Square-Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM). The initial part of the schedule consisted of demographic characteristics of the respondents such as age, education, income. The later part of the schedule consisted of items measuring the constructs under Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) i.e. attitude, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control along with the additional variables, economic motivation and egalitarianism of the respondents. The findings revealed that besides the exogenous constructs in the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) model (i.e. Attitude of farmers towards FPCs, Subjective norms and Perceived behavioural control), economic motivation and egalitarianism of farmers had a significant positive direct and indirect influence on the farmers’ intention towards active participation in the FPCs. Attitude was identified as a significant mediator between the economic motivation and intention as well as egalitarianism and farmers’ intention towards active participation in FPCs. Annual income and education of farmers had a significant negative moderating effect on the positive relationship between economic motivation and farmers’ intention. The R2 (0.533) and Q2 effect size (0.365) values confirmed the ‘goodness of fit’ of the model in predicting the farmers’ intention to continue active participation in FPCs. The findings of the study provide valuable insights to policy makers and researchers in designing effective strategies to consciously select the farmers at the formation stage itself and ensure their active participation in FPCs during their promotion stage, thus contributing to the FPCs’ sustainable performance.