German farmers’ intention to use autonomous field robots: a PLS-analysis

Friedrich Rübcke von Veltheim · Ludwig Theuvsen · Heinke Heise

47 citations0/0 files storedPrecision Agriculture

No readable copy stored yet — this record is metadata only.

No open-access location is known for this record yet.

Literature note Cite in a project Citation map

Technology Adoption and User Behaviour Smart Agriculture and AI Agricultural Innovations and Practices

Abstract

Abstract Autonomous field robots are a promising technology for solving several problems in agriculture, as they are electrical driven, can control weeds single-plant based mechanically or with microdoses of pesticides and exert less ground pressure on the field. Whether such robots will be applied on a large scale in German agriculture depends on various parameters. Therefore, the factors influencing the behavioural intention of farmers with respect to their future adoption of autonomous field robots were investigated. The analysis applies a structural equation model based on an extended version of the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology. The dataset, collected in 2019, consists of 500 German farmers. The results reveal significantly positive effects of farmers’ expected performance, social influence and trust as well as significantly negative effects of farmers’ effort expectancy and anxiety on the behavioural intention to use autonomous field robots. Additionally, moderating effects of age on the relationship of individual constructs to the behavioural intent to use robots could be confirmed. The results provide important information for various stakeholders. Robot suppliers should better inform farmers about the performance of their products, for instance by involving farmers in the development process of the robots. The ecological benefits attributed to field robots could meet public expectations and should be better communicated to address farmers’ social influence on the behavioural intention to use the robots. Policymakers could try to create better framework conditions, for example by establishing a stable legal situation for autonomous systems or promote its use.

Paper brief

Loading…

Cite this work

Citation unavailable for this work.

BibTeX RIS CSL-JSON

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Citations in this library

Citation map →

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 47 citations exist upstream.

References

1981Evaluating Structural Equation Models with Unobservable Variables and Measurement Error 1991The theory of planned behavior 1989Perceived Usefulness, Perceived Ease of Use, and User Acceptance of Information Technology 2003User Acceptance of Information Technology: Toward A Unified View1 2014A new criterion for assessing discriminant validity in variance-based structural equation modeling 2000A Theoretical Extension of the Technology Acceptance Model: Four Longitudinal Field Studies 2011PLS-SEM: Indeed a Silver Bullet 2012Consumer Acceptance and Use of Information Technology: Extending the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology1

Cited by

2024The influence of subjective knowledge, technophobia and perceived enjoyment on design students’ intention to use artificial intelligence design tools 2024End-users' acceptance of intelligent decision-making: A case study in digital agriculture 2023Pandemic-driven acceptance of urban drone deliveries

Explore the map →

Papers that cite the same references — the relational fallback while embeddings are still backfilling.

Imported from OpenAlex (CC0) — nothing here is generated.