Green Innovativeness in Farm Enterprises: What Makes Farmers Think Green?

Abstract This work is based on the conjecture that multiple motivational pathways might lead to the adoption of green innovations. A sequence of two studies was designed to identify motives driving farmers to adopt green innovations. Study 1 aimed at the development of a scale assessing potential adoption motives. Study 2 – using this measure – examined which of these motives predict farmers' adoption behavior. Study 1 uncovered five factors that affect adoption decision: adaptation to the social process of innovation diffusion, environmental concern, convenience, economic incentives and the internal need to pursue change. Study 2 showed that perception of the convenience of an innovation is a significant antecedent of farmers' green innovativeness. Economic drivers, farmers' environmental concern and their need to pursue novelty are also positively associated with aspects of green innovativeness. Our results underscore the multidimensional nature of green innovativeness and generate challenging directions for future research in the field of sustainable development. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment