Rural small scale farmers' smart mobile phone usage acceptance prognosticators for agricultural marketing information...

The purpose of the article is to examine the rural small scale farmers' smart mobile phone usage acceptance prognosticators for agricultural marketing information access in selected farming towns in Zimbabwe. Responses were collected from rural small scale farmers in Marondera, farming town in Zimbabwe using structured questionnaire with a 7 point Likert scale. The research study depicted that trust, social influence, perceived risk and relative advantage have positive influence on rural small scale farmers' smart mobile phone usage acceptance for agricultural marketing information access adoption intention in Zimbabwe. The study has limitations which may affect the generalisability of the results since they can only be applied to the studied areas, all in Mashonaland East province of Zimbabwe. Agricultural marketers are encouraged to focus more attentively on smart mobile phone acceptance determinants such as social influence, perceived risk and trust when devising mobile agricultural marketing strategies especially during uncertain times. The study adds to theoretical literature development by extending knowledge on the UTAUT2 theoretical framework since there is paucity of research that have directly applied the same model in agricultural marketing and general agribusiness. Practically, the study enhances the need for adoption of contemporary technologies to solve the current challenges facing farmers in the marginalised rural areas, not only in Africa, but also dotted around the world.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s43545-022-00562-x.