A STUDY OF THE IMPACT OF COMMUNICATION ON THE ACCEPTANCE OF TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATIONS IN A SELECTED RURAL COMMUNITY IN EAST JAVA, INDONESIA

                         BATARA-GOA, AMBROSIUS WAROUW; EDD

                         EAST TEXAS STATE UNIVERSITY, 1983

                         EDUCATION, AGRICULTURAL (0517)
 

                         Purpose of the Study. The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of communication on the
                         acceptance of agricultural-technological innovations in a rural Indonesian community. The independent
                         variables were identified as the following: peers, extension agents, local civil administrators, school
                         teachers, commercial farm salesmen, radio, printed matter, demonstration, and exhibition. The
                         intervening variables were formal education, economic status, age, length of farming experience, and
                         size of farm operation. Procedure. The data were collected from an interview guide administered by
                         personal interviews with 362 farmers in the Batu District, East Java, Indonesia in the spring of 1982. The
                         chi-square test and correlation analysis were used to test hypotheses. Partial correlation and stepwise
                         multiple regression were also used to analyze the data. Factor analysis was employed for exploratory
                         purposes. Major Findings. The results of the study included the following: (1) Interpersonal
                         communication channels were utilized at all stages in the innovation-decision process. Mass-media
                         channels were mainly used at the awareness stage. (2) Correlation analysis revealed that utilization of
                         communication channels, formal education, and economic status were positively related to the
                         acceptance of agricultural-technological innovations while age and length of farming experience were
                         both negatively related to the dependent variable. (3) Multiple regression analysis indicated that
                         communication contributed the highest percentage (79.83 percent) to the total variance explained in the
                         acceptance of technological innovations. (4) Through the use of varimax orthogonal rotation, two distinct
                         factors were extracted: time span and education. Calculated on the basis of their eigen values, time span
                         and education accounted for 74.44 percent and 26.66 percent, respectively, of the common variance in
                         the data. Conclusions. Major conclusions of this study included the following: (1) The effectiveness of
                         communication in extension work depended significantly on the farmers' level of formal education. (2)
                         Each communication channel performed a specific or a number of functions in the innovation-decision
                         process. Mass-media channels were of prime importance in changing the cognitive levels while
                         interpersonal communication channels affected attitudinal changes. (3) Radio was of prime importance
                         among the four mass-media channels in terms of its utilization as a source of farm information.
 
 


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