The Iranian Wheat Growers' Climate Information Use: An Actor-Network Theory Perspective

This research project employed an interdisciplinary attempt to study agricultural climate information use, linking sociology of translation (actor-network theory) and actor analysis premises in a qualitative research design. The research method used case study approaches and purposively selected a sample consisting of wheat growers of the Fars province of Iran, who are known as contact farmers. Concepts from actor-network theory (ANT) have been found to provide a useful perspective on the description and analysis of the cases. The data were analyzed using a combination of an actor-network theory (ANT) framework and the dynamic actor-network analysis (DANA) model. The findings revealed socio political (farmers’ awareness, motivation, and trust), and information processing factors (accuracy of information, access to information, and correspondence of information to farmers’ condition) as the key elements in facilitating climate information use in farming practices. DOI: 10.4018/jantti.2012100101 2 International Journal of Actor-Network Theory and Technological Innovation, 4(4), 1-22, October-December 2012 Copyright © 2012, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited. The issue of not considering climate information in farming decisions was scholarly investigated from different perspectives. Existing literature on economic and management research related to climate science indicates that the methodologies commonly used in modeling decision-making are based on the assumption that users have an idealized response to the information (Sherrick et al., 2000). However, as human actors are not always optimizing, rational and idealized decision-makers, smallholder farmers will not all make the same decisions in the same way and in isolation (Ziervogel, 2004). In contrast to an earlier wave of optimism in economic and management science regarding the use of climate information, psychological theories aim to explain the relation between intention and action in particular contexts and in relation to specific practices. The scholarly literature reveals that these theories have also been criticized by some psychologists (Richetin et al., 2008) for relying on analyses of correlation, rather than causes, and for assuming too much about the instrumental relation between attitude and intention (May & Finch, 2009). Therefore, in the 1980s, a growing interest in the social foundations of behaviour within the Information Systems (IS) field led to a shift towards a broader perspective with the continuum of theories, all of which examine the relationships of individuals and technology, the varying influences that affect these relationships and how together they influence technology adoption and use. Giddens’ structuration theory, Bijker’s social construction of technology, Orlikowski and Gash’s technology frames, and Latour and Callon’s sociology of translation (Actor-Network Theory – ANT) are amongst this stream of attempts (Mac Leod, 2001), which are now used much more extensively in investigating information systems and IS adoption. The ANT approach by posing opportunities to function as a go-between for the two extremes of actor and system perspectives, has inspired a number of IS researchers to conceptualise the interrelation of actors in the socio-technical contexts of systems development during the past decade (Walsham, 1997; Tatnall, 2000; Dunning-Lewis & Townson, 2004; Bakhshaie, 2008; Everitt-Deering, 2008). Policy science, as another body of scholarship, focuses on different approaches available to study the characteristics of actors and networks. Stakeholder analysis (Cameron, 2005; Rubas et al., 2006; Lybbert et al., 2007), social network analysis (Ziervogel, 2004; Ziervogel & Downing, 2004; Ziervogel et al., 2005), and actor perception analysis (Bots et al., 2000; Hermans, 2008; Hermans & Thissen, 2009) are probably the most widely used approaches by environmental management in policy science literature. A comparison of the aforementioned theoretical approaches suggests that perceptions, values and interests, and resources are the three basic dimensions in multi-actor decision making processes (Hermans, 2005; Hermans & Thissen, 2009). Perceptions (causal beliefs, cognitions or frames of reference) are the image that actors have of the world around them, both of the other actors and networks, and of the substantive characteristics of a problem (Bots et al., 2000; Enserink et al., 2010). Values (specific ‘objectives,’ ‘goals,’ ‘interest,’ and ‘targets’) provide the directions in which actors would like to move. Resources are the practical means over which actors have control and in which they have some interest.’ Such resources enable actors to influence other actors, relations and rules in a network (Hermans & Thissen, 2009; Enserink et al., 2010). In other words, farmers’ perceptions can be a result of constrained or bounded decisions due to limited knowledge, interests, cognitive capacity, resources and the structure of the environment in which decisions occur. Besides, climate information use as an important interest in the farming context is not issued in a ‘neutral environment’. Many non-weather factors may preclude the uptake of climate information (Klopper et al., 2006). Furthermore, some users are in a better position than others to capitalize on the information provided through climate information. These factors together with actor associations and networks are seen as filters in determining what the responses to new information will be. 20 more pages are available in the full version of this document, which may be purchased using the "Add to Cart" button on the product's webpage: www.igi-global.com/article/iranian-wheat-growers-climateinformation/74180?camid=4v1 This title is available in InfoSci-Journals, InfoSci-Journal Disciplines Communications and Social Science. Recommend this product to your librarian: www.igi-global.com/e-resources/libraryrecommendation/?id=2