End-users Attitude Towards the aAQUA e-Agriservice: Dairy Farmers Perspective in Maharashtra

Abstract

End-users acceptance has been major obstacle to the success of new technology. Attitude is vital for acceptance and sustainability of new technology or knowledge interventions. The study envisaged to evaluate the attitude of dairy farmers towards aAQUA (Almost All Questions Answered) e-Agriservice. A Likert-type-scale was developed, consisted of 22-items, covered under four construct, viz., pessimistic, utility, technical and efficacy perspectives. Cronbach's alpha coefficient (α=0.91) of reliability test was measured. Instrument was administered to randomly selected, 120 users of aAQUA in four districts of Maharashtra covering four zones of state during 2012-13. The results indicated that about one third (32.50%) of the users had more favourable attitude towards the aAQUA e-Agriservice followed by 24.17 per cent of the users with favourable attitude. The existing and proposed ICT based services in India would undertake this scale considering four perspectives for developing favourable attitude of end-users and for its effective utilization and sustainability. This study enhances value to the body of knowledge in evaluation and theory building through understanding the attitude about ICT based e-Agriservice from different perspective.