The Role of Attitudes and Objectives in Farmer Decision Making: Business and Environmentally‐Oriented Behaviour in Scotland

Abstract

Despite considerable effort to understand and represent decision making by farmers, there has been little attempt to integrate socio‐economic, psychological and farming variables within a comprehensive framework. This paper attempts to do this in the context of two types of farming behaviour ‐ business and environmental ‐for a sample of over 200 Scottish farmers. Using variables covering their attitudes, objectives and behaviours relevant to many aspects of farming, we proposed mediating variables models of business‐oriented and environmentally‐oriented farming behaviours. Structural equation modelling was used to test the adequacy of the proposed models. The results of the study emphasise the importance of psychological factors in the decision making of farmers.