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Driving Adoption of Sustainable Feed Innovations: The Pivotal Role of Product Assessment over Environmental Awareness in Shaping Farmers Willingness to Pay (a) Department of Socio-economics, Faculty of Animal Science, Universitas Brawijaya, Malang 65145, Indonesia Abstract Despite the potential of innovative feed additives to enhance livestock productivity and environmental sustainability, their market penetration is often hindered by low farmer adoption. This study addresses a critical gap by investigating the psychological and economic drivers of farmers willingness to pay (WTP) for a novel sustainable feed supplement, AETT Multi-Nutrient Granule. Grounded in a robust theoretical framework, we posit purchase intention as a central mediator between key antecedent familiarity, environmental awareness, and product assessment and WTP. Data were collected from 30 livestock farmers and analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). The results demonstrate that product assessment is a powerful direct predictor of purchase intention, which in turn, directly governs WTP. Furthermore, purchase intention fully mediates the relationship between product assessment and WTP. Interestingly, neither familiarity nor environmental awareness significantly influenced intention or WTP, suggesting that in this context, pragmatic product evaluation outweighs general environmental concerns or prior knowledge. These findings offer pivotal insights for businesses and policymakers, highlighting that strategic communication must pivot from creating general awareness to convincingly demonstrating tangible product benefits to drive adoption and support the transition towards more sustainable agricultural practices. Keywords: Willingness to Pay, Sustainable adoption, Product Assessment, Feed innovation, farmers decision-making, agricultural sustainability Topic: Animal Agribusiness and Related Subjects |
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