Integrating perceived economic wellbeing to technology acceptance model: The case of mobile based agricultural extension service

Adoption of mobile based agricultural extension services (AES) can serve as a tool for inclusive development in the rural farm land. This paper investigates the antecedents of behavioral intention in the context of mobile based AES. The aim of this study is to identify the important factors influencing the adoption of a mobile based AES in a rural context based on technology acceptance model (TAM). A survey of 327 respondents in rural areas was conducted. Structural equation modeling was employed to empirically test the complex causal relationship of perceived usefulness (PU), perceived ease of use (PEOU), social influence (SI), attitude (At), perceived economic wellbeing (PEWB) and behavioral intention (BI). All the six constructs are reliable and valid. The results show that social influence affects attitude, PEOU, PEWB and PU but not BI. Further, PEOU influences PU and attitude, while attitude and PU predicts BI. It also reveals PEOU and PEWB are antecedents to PU. The findings indicate that neither attitude nor BI is impacted by PEWB. A contribution of this research to the existing TAM literature is that perceived economic wellbeing is an antecedent to perceived usefulness. Finally we discuss the implication of these findings for agricultural extension services.