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Intervention Strategies on the Wastewater Treatment Behavior of Swine Farmers: An Extended Model of the Theory of Planned Behavior

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  • Ming-Yeu Wang

    (Department of BioBusiness Management, National Chiayi University, Chiayi City 60054, Taiwan)

  • Shih-Mao Lin

    (Ministry of Health and Welfare, Taipei City 115204, Taiwan)

Abstract

Untreated swine wastewater pollutes rivers and harms the environment. The pollution can be minimized if swine farmers take wastewater treatment (WWT) action before the wastewater is discharged into rivers. Thus, the WWT behavior of swine farmers is key to environmental sustainability. However, WWT behavior, characterized by high costs and inconvenience, has received little attention from previous studies. Due to the high cost, some intervention strategies are helpful in ensuring that farmers behave in a pro-environmental manner. Therefore, this study compares the effects of two intervention factors, i.e., environmental knowledge and perceived effectiveness of enforcement, on the WWT behavior of swine farmers in Taiwan. The comparisons and empirical tests are based on an extended model of the theory of planned behavior (TPB). The findings reveal that all three classic factors in the TPB, i.e., attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control, had significant and positive effects on the intention of farmers to perform WWT behavior. Contradicting most previous studies, behavioral intentions did not have a significant effect on WWT behavior; however, perceived behavioral control did. The total effects of both intervention factors on WWT behavior were significant and positive. Moreover, the total effect of environmental knowledge was larger than that of the perceived effectiveness of enforcement. The findings suggest that a combination of the two strategies of increasing the environmental knowledge of individuals and enhancing the enforcement of environmental regulations will be helpful in inducing the sustained WWT behavior of farmers. Policy makers can allocate more resources to increasing farmers’ environmental knowledge than to enhancing the enforcement of environmental regulations. Finally, future research directions are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Ming-Yeu Wang & Shih-Mao Lin, 2020. "Intervention Strategies on the Wastewater Treatment Behavior of Swine Farmers: An Extended Model of the Theory of Planned Behavior," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(17), pages 1-20, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:17:p:6906-:d:403914
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    1. Saeed Gholamrezai & Vahid Aliabadi & Pouria Ataei, 2021. "Understanding the pro-environmental behavior among green poultry farmers: Application of behavioral theories," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 23(11), pages 16100-16118, November.

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