The power of social norms and perceived incentive support in shaping farmers’ adaptive behavior to water scarcity

The intensification of water stress and unsustainable consumption patterns threatens the sustainability of agricultural production in various regions of Iran. Despite extensive studies on behavioral adaptation to water scarcity, empirical evidence on extended normative models that simultaneously incorporate social norms and perceived incentive support in real agricultural settings remains limited. This study extends the Norm Activation Model by incorporating social norms and perceived incentive support and empirically examining its explanatory power in an agricultural context. Data were collected through a survey questionnaire administered to irrigated farmers in the Bilavar district of Kermanshah province and analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). The basic NAM explained 24% of the variance in adaptive behavior toward water scarcity, whereas the enhanced model increased the explained variance to 51%. The enhanced model showed that awareness of consequences, awareness of needs, ascription of responsibility, and outcome efficacy significantly influenced personal norms, while personal norms, social norms, and perceived incentive support had significant direct effects on adaptive behavior ( p < 0.01). In addition, denial of responsibility and perceived ability showed negative and significant effects on adaptive behavior. Among the examined predictors, perceived incentive support exhibited the strongest positive path coefficient for adaptive behavior (β = 0.571), followed by social norms (β = 0.468), highlighting the important role of motivational, social, and perceived institutional support mechanisms in shaping farmers’ adaptive responses to water scarcity. The findings provide practical implications for designing extension policies and support programs that jointly strengthen social norms and enhance farmers’ access to and perception of effective support mechanisms.