Investigating the adoption of smartphone apps in crop protection

Abstract

Based on an online survey of 207 German farmers conducted in 2019, we investigated farmers’ adoption decision for crop protection smartphone apps based on the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) framework applying partial least squares equation modelling and a binary logit model. Descriptive results show that 95 % of the surveyed farmers use a smartphone, but only 71 % use a crop protection smartphone app. Apps providing information about weather, pest scouting and infestations forecasts are perceived as most useful by the majority of farmers. However, reported use fell short of reported usefulness. All hypotheses of the UTAUT model could be verified. 73 % of the variation in the behavioral intention to use a crop protection smartphone app and 50 % of the variation in the actual adoption is explained by the model.