Factors influencing volunteering in urban agriculture: Implications for recruiting volunteers

摘要

Urban agriculture (UA) has been receiving significant attention from researchers in agricultural production, yet there has been less attention focused on volunteering intention within UA that has the potential of resulting in effective volunteer recruitment and development. Our research tested the relationship between various predictors from the theory of planned behavior (TPB) and volunteering intentions in UA with a sample of 890 undergraduate students from across a university in Malaysia. In addition, we tested potential moderators between the predictors and volunteering intention. Our structural equation modelling showed that the predictors affect students' intention to volunteer in the program. Further, age, gender, participation in campus-based activities, and academic achievement moderated the effect of moral obligation on volunteering intention. We found that the effect of social norms on volunteering intention was higher for female students. The effect of perceived behavioral control on volunteering intention was higher for students involved in campus-based activities. Our findings provide support for future interventions to promote volunteer recruitment and development for UA. Interventions, therefore, should focus on moderators, while increasing the strength of TPB constructs with volunteering intention. Suitable techniques include segmenting target audiences of students to reach those who are a good fit for the program could be strengthened.