Role of behavioural intention and selective profile on the relationship between behavioural factors and mobile phone usage among paddy farmers in Selangor, Malaysia

Agriculture is the backbone of Malaysia’s economy. One of the powerful tools in Information and Communications Technology (ICT) is in this millennium the mobile phone Mobile phone usage has a significant impact on the spread of agricultural information. Undoubtedly, mobile phone plays an active role in the development of agriculture in rural areas. Information is a key component in order to improve production including agricultural production. In order to achieve the success of ICT implementation in development efforts, understanding the impact of social structures on how the technology adopted provides benefits from its use is more important. For this study, a modified Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model was combined with Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB). A total of 400 paddy farmers involved in this study were selected through multi- stage cluster simple random sampling. A survey method was conducted using adopted and adapted instruments. The result was analysed using SPSS and Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) -AMOS. Two types of data analyses were conducted: first, descriptive analysis to identify the pattern and levels of all the related variables; and second, inferential analysis was performed using SEM - AMOS to test fifteen hypotheses drawn from the research model. The analyses revealed numerous noteworthy findings. First, it was found that 68% of the respondents experienced using mobile phone for 11 to 20 years. The main purpose of mobile phone usage is for their routine life, but still not completely for their agricultural work. Second, this study exposed that four behavioural factors: performance expectancy, effort expectancy, attitude, and perceived behavioural control have significant relationships with mobile phone usage among paddy farmers. Third, the SEM analysis indicated the attitude is the strongest behavioural factor associated with mobile phone usage. Fourth, bootstrapping analysis showed behavioural intention as the significant mediator factor between performance expectancy, effort expectancy, and mobile phone usage. Fifth, age and experience moderated the relationship between effort expectancy and mobile phone usage, while income moderated the relationship between attitude and mobile phone usage. Finally, this study confirms that all the behavioural factors jointly explained 19% of the variance in mobile phone usage. Based on these findings, this study highlights some implications and recommendations for future research in terms of policy and practice towards mobile phone usage for agricultural development.

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