Water protection based on predictive structures of farmers’ behavior in Ardabil County: Extending the protection motivation theory (EPMT)

Introduction
Facing the drought crisis and water resource depletion is a major global challenge, and this crisis is expected to intensify due to overexploitation of water resources, especially in agriculture. Agriculture in Iran consumes approximately 90% of water resources. However, frequent groundwater withdrawals in Iran and inefficient irrigation methods have exacerbated the negative effects of water resource depletion more than ever before. This situation requires a comprehensive understanding of the factors that determine farmers’ willingness to engage in water conservation behaviors. In recent years, Ardabil County has faced an increasing acceleration of drought and water resource depletion. Despite the expansion of various types of deep and semi-deep wells (authorized and unauthorized), the prevalence of water-intensive crops and reliance on traditional irrigation systems have led to over-extraction of surface and groundwater. In the face of increasing drought and water resource depletion, improving farmers’ behavioral practices plays a decisive role. In this context, conservation motivation theory is one of the most important theories on improving protection intention and behaviors, which sometimes enhance its behavioral effectiveness through developmental constructs. Therefore, the main aim of this research is to explain the predictive constructs of farmers' behavior in Ardabil County in protecting water resources in ten hypotheses by expanding the conservation motivation theory (developmental constructs of moral norms and technical knowledge). 
Materials and Methods
The present study was a descriptive-analytical and applied research in terms of its purpose, which was carried out in the field. The statistical population of this study included all active farmers with irrigated agriculture (18,582 people) in Ardabil city, which was determined to be 274 people based on the Cochran formula and the multi-stage random sampling method with proportional assignment. Therefore, from the three parts of the County, four selected rural districts were selected: Sardabeh (4 villages with 95 people as the statistical sample), East Rural District (4 villages with 86 people as the statistical sample), Hir Rural District (2 villages with 49 people as the statistical sample), and West Rural District (2 villages with 44 people as the statistical sample). The data collection tool in this study included a questionnaire containing personal-professional characteristics and the main part that included scales related to measuring health motivation theory (perceived sensitivity in 7 items, perceived intensity in 5 items, self-efficacy in 5 items, response effectiveness in 5 items, response cost in 5 items, protection intention in 6 items, and water conservation behavior in 8 items) and the developmental and supplementary constructs of moral norm (in 5 items) and technical knowledge about water resource conservation (in 5 items). The behavior leveling formula was used to estimate the status of farmers' water conservation behavior. Also, structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to analyze the hypotheses, fit the initial theory, and develop the conservation motivation theory with the help of SmartPLS software.
Results and Discussion
According to the findings, most farmers were at a relatively unfavorable level in terms of applying water conservation methods. The findings of the structural equation model showed that the developed model (extended model) improved the variance in the original model and the explanatory power of the model increased by 10.9%. As a result, the modified model explains 69.3% of the variance in farmers' water conservation behavior. Technical knowledge and moral norms show their influence through the desire and intention to conserve water to express water conservation behavior; therefore, it challenges the assumption that having sufficient technical knowledge or merely having a moral norm in accordance with water conservation directly leads to the occurrence of behavior. Other findings showed that response effectiveness and response cost were positively and significantly affected water protection intention and behavior in both models. Therefore, when farmers strongly believe that new behaviors can increase their performance and the related actions are not too costly, complicated, and laborious, they develop a positive tendency towards adoption. According to the results, the construct of perceived intensity and then perceived sensitivity were determined to be the strongest constructs affecting the intention to conserve water resources in both models. Also, all research hypotheses were confirmed except for the two hypotheses of the direct effect of technical knowledge and moral norms on water conservation behavior.
Conclusion
Since most farmers were at a relatively unfavorable level in terms of the level of application of water conservation methods, in this context, a program to expand pressurized irrigation methods in the region, create and develop financial support (in the form of loans and credits and agricultural and rural funds) and technical support (the presence of technical water experts in the region) is suggested as the first step. Other results showed that the perceived severity construct was determined to be the strongest influential construct on the intention to conserve water resources in both models. In this regard, the use of posters and local media to express the severity of deficiencies in water resources (improving perceived severity) can be effective. The findings of the fit of the extended model also showed that the inclusion of the two constructs of technical knowledge and moral norm in the initial conservation motivation model has increased the explanatory power of the model. Agricultural and rural planners can improve the moral norm of farmers to prevent overconsumption of water resources to some extent by attracting the opinions of opinion leaders. To maximize the effectiveness of technical education, training based on experiential learning, holding local exhibitions and visiting model farms, and implementing the Farmers-Field-School (FFS) approach can play an effective role in improving technical knowledge and restoring the ethical norms of farmers in order to protect the region's water resources.