dc.description.abstract | The study is focused on the use of communication technology in
agricultural development. It is inevitable for the farmers to utilise the
communication technology, which is a well known innovation, in
order to get hold of various agricultural information that could help
them to heighten the quality and quantity of agricultural products.
Innovation is the implementation of ideas, products, practices, and
services that adds the value to individuals (Rogers, 2003). The
Malaysian farmers are merely way behind in terms of utilizing
communication technology, which have prompted the researchers to
look at this phenomenon in greater depth. The aim of this study is to
help more farmers to use communication technology, henceforth
naturally increases the number of knowledgeable and informative
farmers. Based on Diffusion of Innovation Theory and Unified
Theory of Acceptance and Use of Techology (UTAUT), this study
observes the effectiveness of the combination of these two theories
specifically on the use of communication technology among farmers.
The construct of innovation characteristics includes relative
advantages, compatibility, trialibility, complexity, and observability,
whereas the construct of technology acceptance includes effort
expectation, performance expectations, social influence, and
facilitating situation. A total of 398 malaysian farmers were involved
in this study as the respondents. The result shows that the use of
communications technology such as interactive media and social
media, can largely be utilised by the farmers, as the use and the
acceptance of communication technology have increased. A linear
regression test has shown the effect on the Diffusion of Innovation
Theory and UTAUT is at 10.2 variance changes. Thus, the combined use of these 2 theories suits effectively to be the foundation to
investigate the use of the communication technology among farmers.
This model can be improved or further modified for future research
to identify other factors that could play a role in the use and
acceptance of innovation, especially among farmers. | en_US |