Awareness, trust, and perception as determinants of farmers’ incremental adaptation to water scarcity: a PLS-SEM approach in Western Iran

The water-scarcity crisis is one of the most critical challenges in many parts of the world, particularly in the Middle East and North African countries, including Iran. Managing this crisis requires farmers, as the largest consumers of water, to adopt adaptive strategies for water scarcity. However, previous studies have primarily focused on socio-economic factors, while the role of psychological and cognitive constructs, such as awareness of water scarcity, trust, and perception of water scarcity, has been less examined. The present study aims to fill this knowledge gap by proposing a framework grounded in environmental psychology to examine the effects of these constructs on farmers’ incremental adaptation intentions and behaviors in the context of Iran. A total of 380 farmers were selected using a multistage cluster sampling method. Data were collected through a questionnaire, the reliability and validity of which were tested and confirmed. The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM) with the partial least squares (PLS) technique. The results revealed that the construct of awareness of water scarcity had a significant impact on farmers’ trust. Additionally, awareness and trust positively and significantly influenced farmers’ perceptions of water scarcity. Furthermore, awareness, trust, and perception significantly affected farmers’ intentions to adopt water-scarcity adaptation measures, explaining 46.3% of the variance in this construct. Finally, awareness, trust, and behavioral intention had a significant impact on adaptation behavior, predicting approximately 48.8% of the variance in adaptation behavior. These findings can be beneficial for policymakers and planners in the agricultural sector to promote behavioral change and enhance farmers’ adoption of water-scarcity adaptation practices. Moreover, the results can assist in designing and implementing more effective strategies to improve farmers’ adaptation behaviors by increasing their awareness and trust regarding such practices.