Comparing the predictive power of the RANAS approach through planned behavior theory in applying sustainable water consumption measures among Minoodasht county farmers

IntroductionAgriculture is the main consumer of water and also the most vulnerable economic sector in the face of water shortage. This issue has become one of the main challenges in water management in the dry regions of the world where the socio-economic risks of water shortage are unavoidable; One of the most important solutions is to pay attention to the problem of changing the current behavior of water consumption and achieving a sustainable behavior of agricultural water consumption. Changing human behavior is complex and usually requires a combination of components to induce a person to try, adopt, and maintain a new behavior. There are different models for investigating behavior change and identifying the factors affecting behavioral intention. One of the models that has received the most attention from researchers is the theory of planned behavior. This theory was proposed by Ajzen in 1991. This theory has good power in predicting behavioral intentions due to considering individual, social and environmental factors; In fact, this model considers the complexity of relationships between human behavior and its determining factors, and ultimately considers human behavior as a result of his intentions. The constituent components of this theory include attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavior control. In addition to the theory of planned behavior, another model that is considered as one of the best methods to know the determinants of behavioral components and can be used to examine the key factors of behavior change is the Risk, Attitude, Norm, Ability and Self-regulation (RANAS) approach. The effectiveness of the RANAS for predicting behavior has been confirmed in comparison with some behavior change models; Because it creates a strong foundation for designing behavior change interventions. Therefore, The purpose of the research is to compare the predictive power of the theory of planned behavior with the RANAS approach to measure the intention to use sustainable agricultural water consumption measures in Minoodasht county. Materials and MethodsThe statistical population of the study was made up of 2358 farmers of Minoodasht county, Golestan province, of which 331 people were selected as a sample using Cochran's formula. Considering the distribution and dispersion of farmers in different districts and in order to obtain a representative sample of the studied statistical population, multi-stage random sampling was used. The data collection tool w