Social-psychological determinants of perceived transfer of hard and soft agricultural skills training among smallholder farmers of Central Uganda

Abstract

Farmer training is a key strategy for developing skills that contribute to increased productivity in the fields of small-scale farmers. Remarkably, the realization of training benefits depends on farmers applying the training to their fields. However, the factors that determine the subsequent perceived transfer of training, including those with mediating effects, are not known. It remains unclear how different factors in the training transfer system interact to subsequently influence the application of acquired knowledge and skills among smallholder farmers. This study examined the influence of socio-psychological factors on the perceived training transfer of agricultural skills training among smallholder farmers in central Uganda. Specifically, the study aimed to determine: 1) the influence of contextual factors on transfer system factors; 2) the mediating effects of perceived content validity in the relationship between perceived trainee motivation and perceived training transfer; 3) the mediating effects of perceived transfer design in the relationship between farmers' perceived work setting and perceived training transfer; and 4) whether the predictors of perceived training transfer of soft and hard skills differed when the skills were offered by the same training organization. A crosssectional study was conducted among 603 randomly selected smallholder farmers one month after they received agricultural training from two selected NGOs (CARITAS and CEDO) operating in Rakai, Lyantonde, and Luweero districts. Linear regression results showed that both situational and demographic variables significantly influenced perceived motivation to transfer (R2 = .15, p≤.001), Perceived content validity (R2 = .22, p ≤ .001), and perceived extension worker support (R2 = .33, p ≤ .001). For objective two, perceived intrinsic motivation directly influenced perceived training transfer (β = 0.246; t = 2.991; P < .05), and its influence was partially mediated by perceived content validity (β = 0.325; t = 2.693; P < .05). For objective three, the results show that perceived household resources and support directly influenced perceived training transfer while perceived extension worker support did not. Furthermore, perceived transfer design mediated the influence of the two work environment xx factors (perceived household resources and support and perceived extension worker support) on the perceived training transfer of agricultural skills training. For objective four results showed that irrespective of the organization conducting the training, the perceived transfer of either soft or hard skills training was enhanced by trainees’ perceived intrinsic and extrinsic motivation as well as the expectation of household resources and support from household members. This study has demonstrated the influence of social-psychological factors on perceived training transfer, beyond the traditional direct predictors. It is therefore, recommended to pay particular to both the direct and mediating factors for optimal training transfer of agricultural training.