Factors affecting farmers' intention to engage in on-farm food safety practices in Iran: Extending the theory of planned behavior

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the factors affecting the intention of lettuce producers to engage in on-farm food safety (OFFS) practices in Iran. A research-based model incorporating the psychologybased theory of planned behavior (TPB) was proposed to obtain a better understanding of motivational factors underlying intention to engage in OFFS practices. The data were collected from the survey conducted in four different counties of Alborz province located at northern part of Iran, with a total of 230 lettuce producers randomly selected from these counties. Empirical results of a structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis revealed that the three following components of the original TPB model had statistically significant positive relationships with farmers' engagement intention in OFFS practices and generally explained 41% of its variance. These components were attitude, perceived behavioral control (PBC) and social norms. Furthermore, after the inclusion of two constructs of moral norms and knowledge as additional intention predictors of the extended TPB model, the predictive power of the model was increased up to 16.4%, which is considerable. The findings provide valuable inputs to design effective approaches to motivate farmers' engagement in food safety behaviors. They furthermore help policy makers to support farmers in OFFS practices' accomplishment in Iran.