SELF-EFFICACY IN TECHNOLOGY ADOPTION

Dr. D. Dutta Roy, Ph.D.Psychology Research UnitIndian Statistical Institute

203, B.T. Road, Kolkata – 700 108E-mail: ddroy@isical.ac.in

http://www.isical. ac.in/~ddroy/invt.html

2-days Sensitization Workshop on ‘Technology Application in Animal and Fishery Sciences’, ICAR-

ATARI, Kolkata on 17th March 2017. 

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Thank you

▪Thank you Dr. Avijit Haldar,  Principal Scientist (Animal Reproduction) ICAR- Agricultural Technology Application Research Institute (ATARI), Bhumi Vihar Complex, Block- GB, Sector- III, Salt Lake, Kolkata- 700097.▪Grateful to DR. F. H. RAHMAN,

Principal Scientist, ICAR- Agricultural Technology Application Research Institute Kolkata.

Part-1: Basic Concept

What is technology adoption ?

▪The word technology means knowledge of techniques. ▪Technology adoption is cognitive,

evaluative and psychomotor co-ordination or the behaviour. ▪Cognitive process involves understanding

the utility and operational skills. ▪Evaluative process implies the attitude

towards technology.▪Psychomotor co-ordination includes

specific operations or technique specified actions.

Technology dynamics

▪Techniques are changing with repeated study on effectiveness of techniques. ▪Each technique has

specific life expectancy. Techniques are developed based on existing socio-cultural needs and explored science and technology.▪Therefore, today’s

technique will be obsolete tomorrow.

Ancient fish preservation

Fish drying rack in Norway

Technology learning curve

▪Technology adoption follows principles of technology skill learning curve.▪Progress in skill learning commonly

follows an S-shaped curve, with some measure of skill on the Y axis and number of trials on the X-axis. Progress is slow at first, then a subject may experience a burst of learning that produces a rapid rise on the graph.▪The S-shaped learning curve is most

obvious when someone learns a highly complex task. The initial part of the curve rises slowly as a person becomes familiar with basic components of a skill. The steep ascending phase occurs when there is enough experience with rudiments or simple components to start "putting it all together." Rapid progress follows until the skill "hits a ceiling" or stabilizes at a high level.

Technology Cost

▪Technology Adoption depends on cost. ▪Newer

technology is costlier than existing.

Self-efficacy in technology adoption

▪Despite the change, some people prefer obsolete techniques. On the other hand, some people prefer innovations. Innovation acceptance depends on skill learning.▪Self-efficacious

person accepts innovation and diffuses it to others.

Part-2: Characteristics of Self-efficacious person

Characteristics of Self-efficacious person

▪Having strong beliefs in judgment of own capabilities to organize and execute courses of action required to attain designated types of technology.

Monitoring the internal and external task agents

▪Fishing and Animal husbandry is in unorganized sectors. But it has own hierarchical system, span of control, departmentalization, formalization but all are controlled by internal (fish or livestock quality, fishing or animal conservation process, leadership ) and external task agents (dealers, subsidies of the Government, agricultural technology, consumer attitude and climatic conditions). ▪Monitoring changes in the task agents reduces

level of perceived environmental uncertainty. Prolonged uncertainties and failure to overcome lead to accidents and faulty decision making.

Monitoring ▪Judgment in

monitoring capability reduces uncertainty about dynamicity and complexity of technology used by task agents.

Monitoring by experiment

▪Self-efficacious farmers understand dynamicity and complexity using experimental approach. ▪Farmer uses

different psychophysical methods in fish selection.

Self-regulation

▪Suicide is one’s failure to adopt self regulation. Regulation of self to control goal setting prevents farmers from suicide. Unattainable goal setting leads to suicidal ideation or suicidal intent. Usually, farmers set unachievable goals. They want four times crop production. So, they often use excessive fertilizers and pesticides in lands. Heavy use of pesticides has led to increased resistance in pests, which in turn has caused substantial crop losses and a slide into crushing debt. Achievable goals will reduce possible uncertainties in the task environment and to regulate task agents in own favor. This will reduce unbearable emotions, feelings and negative thoughts. Cognitive restructuring can be made by using cause-effect or fish bone diagram, critical part method or by pareto analysis.

Self-regulation

Enactive mastery experiences:

▪ Enactive experience is the process by which farmers acquire information regarding farming behavior by the reactions it produces in others.

▪ Range of enactive experience can vary from explicit reactions, such as verbal praise of family members, neighbors, local agricultural trainers, to implicit experience of success in playing roles of farmers.

▪ Roles enacted by farmers can be understood by job analysis. Job analysis of farming includes ten activities seeding, weeding, irrigating, harvesting, threshing, drying, milling, storage, product processing and trading.

Vicarious experience▪ Bandura (1986) suggests that vicarious

experience occurs by observing others perform tasks successfully. Such experience can be more facilitated by multimedia mode (VCD, audio, video) of presentation. In such experience, individual selects certain model. Vicarious experience is particularly powerful when observers see similarities in some attribute and then assume that the model’s performance is diagnostic. Observing the successes of such models contributes to the observers’ beliefs about their own capabilities (“if they can do it, so can I”). Conversely, watching models with perceived similar attributes that fail can undermine the observers’ beliefs about their own capability to succeed. When farmers perceive that the model’s attributes are highly divergent from their own, the influence of vicarious experience is greatly minimized. It bears noting that people seek out models who possess qualities they admire and capabilities to which they aspire. A significant model is one’s life can help instill self-beliefs that will influence the course and direction that life will take. In farming, success varies with seed quality, land fertility, irrigation and good climatic conditions. Therefore, in vicarious learning, farmers must consider success of several determinants and their relations among others instead of being blind followers.

Physiological and affective states▪According to Bandura (1986), somatic and emotional

states such as anxiety, stress, arousal, and mood states also provide information about efficacy beliefs. People can gauge their degree of confidence by the emotional state they experience as they contemplate an action. Strong emotional reactions to a task provide cues about the anticipated success or failure of the outcome. When they experience negative thoughts and fears about their capabilities, those affective reactions can themselves lower self-efficacy perceptions and trigger additional stress and agitation that help ensure the inadequate performance they fear. To control such stress, it is important to teach farmers “deep breathing exercise, time management, control of negative self-image (I can’t do), positive thinking, sleep, relaxation and exercise

Part-3: Self-Efficacy measures

Belief, Value and Attitude▪Belief refers to a set of doctrines, statements

or experiences a person holds as true, usually with evidence or proof. Both beliefs and values are deeply intertwined because beliefs influence how an individual develops values. Value is judgment of worthiness. Attitude is evaluation. ▪Fishing is profitable – Belief▪Fishing is preferred to Animal husbandry – Value.▪ I like fishing – Attitude.

Judgment of own capabilities▪Regularly engage in environment

monitoring, ▪Able to regulate self,▪Able to enact mastery over

experience,▪Able to make vicarious experience, ▪Able to control physiological and

affective states.

Monitoring environmental uncertainty:

Belief in ones’ capability to monitor changes in the task agent of the agricultural environment.

Questionnaire▪Able to prove wrong information as incorrect (item 1).▪Can find out agricultural training center.(item 6).▪Able to reach at training centers how far it is (item 11).▪Can inspect plant condition every day in spite of other

commitments (item 16).▪Able to collect new agricultural information (item 21).▪Able to be successful in agricultural experiment. (item 26).▪Able to monitor regularly the effect on plant after application of

fertilizer (item 31).▪Can examine raw materials during purchase(item 36).▪Can do experiment on new technology in small plot of land.

(Item 41)  

Enactive mastery experience:

Capable to play roles and responsibility of agricultural farmer.Questionnaire▪Able to engage in agricultural activities most of the time

(item2).▪Able to be successful in new agricultural techniques.(item 7).▪Despite of physical and mental weakness, can do agricultural

work (item12).▪When needed , able to acquire agricultural skills and abilities

(item17).▪Able to ignore words against agriculture (item 22).▪Able to be successful in following high yielding technology

(item27).▪Able to solve agricultural problems alone (item 32).▪If needed, can collect raw materials from other sources (item

37).▪Able to create new customer for farm products (item 42).

Self regulation

Belief in ones capability to regulate self for goal setting and its achievement.

Questionnaire▪Regulating self despite of agricultural anxiety (item3).▪Able to maintain production goal in spite of difficulties (Item 8).▪Able to pay much attention to specific plans with poor growth

(item 13).▪Able to determine correct amount of fertilizers and insecticides

(item 18).▪Able to regulate balance between profit and loss (item23).▪Can control excess application of fertilizers and insecticides (item

28).▪Able to control not to take much loan though there is a scope

(item 33).▪Able to determine specific agricultural training (item38).▪Able to control unreasonable amount of expenditures in

agriculture (item 43).

Vicarious experienceBelief in capability to imitate successful farmers and to follow the

agriculture related information of mass-media.Questionnaire▪Able to imitate successful farmers (item 4).▪Able to apply experience of successful farmers (item 9).▪Able to ask other’s advice during problem (item 14).▪Able to participate into any agriculture related discussion (item

19).▪Can listen to experienced farmers’ words (item 24).▪Can adopt skills of experienced farmers (item 29).▪Can apply knowledge through training (item 34).▪Can apply mass-media based information in own farming

practices (item 39).▪Can apply experience of senior farmers after judging (item 44).

Controlling physiological and emotional states

Belief in one’s capability to control self-anxiety and physical illness.▪Can  overcome agriculture related anxiety (item 5).▪Able to keep mentality strong in loss (item 10).▪Can keep self in resting phase during worry (item 15).▪Not to be depressed for repeated loss (item 20).▪Able to apply experience of loss in future (item 25).▪Can take the loss at ease (item 30).▪Not to make responsible for non production of crop as

 anticipated (item 35).▪Helping other farmer to overcome anxiety (item 40).▪Can keep self at ease during agriculture related problems

(item 45).   

References

▪Dutta Roy, D., Ghosh,S. and Rahman, F.H. (2012).Perceived Environmental Uncertainty in Crop cultivation in West Bengal: Agro Psychological Counselling Perspective. Indian Journal of Psychology. Special issue, January, 111-120.▪Dutta Roy,D.(2009)- Self-efficacy of Agricultural farmers:A case study. Journal of the Indian Academy of Applied Psychology,, 35,2,323-328.▪Dutta Roy,D. Chatterjee, Debalina (2009).PREVENTION OF SUICIDE AMONG FARMERS: SELF-EFFICACY APPROACH. In. Sandhya Ojha and Shambhu Upadhyay (Eds.). Psychosocial aspect of health and illness. New Delhi: Global Publishing House.