A trans-theoretical model for farmers' perceived usefulness of digital risk management tools : a case study from Germany

Digital risk management tools (RMTs) are promising to help farmers manage risk. However, these recently developed tools are still unexplored and hardly used by farmers. This study is the first to investigate how German farmers perceive the usefulness of digital RMTs and which factors influence them. A novel modification of the trans-theoretical model was made to determine farmers' perceived usefulness gradually. The regression results show that, on average, farmers perceive digital RMTs as potentially useful. Perceptions are positively influenced by a higher level of education, full-time employment on the farm, use of mobile devices and a higher perceived importance of digital tools. The study contributes to the literature by investigating the extent to which farmers are willing to accept the combination of digitisation and risk management. The results are of interest to policy makers involved in digital agriculture and to agricultural tool providers, as they offer first insights into farmers' acceptance of digital RMTs. Researchers benefit from the successfully applied trans-theoretical model fitting.