The Influence of Communication Frequency with Social Network Actors on the Continuous Innovation Adoption: Organic Farmers in Germany

This study investigates previously experienced farmers’ adoption behavior of Agri-Environmental Measures (AEM) in Central Germany. We consider organic farmers as previously experienced with AEM as they already have practiced the environmental management standards for organic farming. The logit model is used to explain the influence of communication frequency on the probability of adoption of other environmental measures as a continuous innovation. Social network analysis is carried out to investigate the role of attitudes towards information sources. Our findings demonstrate the influence of communication frequency with interpersonal network actors (agricultural organizations and neighborhood farmers) on continuous innovation adoption in three ways: First, the communication frequency of organic farmers with both agricultural organizations and neighborhood farmers does not influence the original farmer’s decision to adopt AEM. Second, a higher education level of frequently communicated neighborhood farmers increases the probability of farmers’ AEM adoption, while the innovativeness of frequently communicated farmers does not. Third, inside the population of frequently communicated organic farmers, formal information sources (agricultural organizations) are considered as more important information sources about agricultural issues than are informal sources (other farmers).