Predicting farmers' water conservation goals and behavior in Iran: A test of social cognitive theory

摘要: Lack of water constrains the economic development all countries in arid and semi-arid areas is forecast to become an even greater problem near future. Given complexity scarcity problem, emerging drought Iran (the worst 30 years) has increasingly important issue, making more sustainable management a necessity. Government bodies involved resource mainly concentrate on increasing supply, while approaches decreasing demand receive less attention. Iranian users have been slow implement voluntary conservation. Encouraging action requires understanding existing behaviors, how behavioral changes can be made. In this context, study was carried out identify most prominent drivers of, impediments to, conservation, using social cognitive theory. A sample 360 farmers living western parts selected through multi-stage, stratified, random sampling method. Findings revealed that farmers’ intention conserve predicted by outcome expectancy self-efficacy. Moreover, self-efficacy determinant actual behavior conserving water.