Behavioural determinants of ranchers towards sustainable edible-nest swiftlet ranching in Malaysia

• Main Author: K N Vaiappuri, Selvakkumar
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: 2017
• Online Access: http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/70323/1/FP%202017%2017%20-%20IR.pdf; http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/70323/
• Institution: Universiti Putra Malaysia

The edible-nest swiftlet ranching is a unique industry in the agriculture sector in Malaysia, which also holds the same position in a global context. The edible-nest swiftlet ranching is an activity of which the edible-nest swiftlet birds are lured into a man-made building (bird house) which emulates a cave-like environment in order to provide alternative nesting sites to populate their colony. This edible bird nest (EBN) will be collected by a rancher after the young bird starts to fly. In the edible-nest swiftlet ranching, the birds will have the freedom to live in their natural “lifestyle” and will not be disturbed by the ranchers in any aspects. The development of the edible-nest swiftlet ranching in Malaysia has expanded rapidly when the Malaysian government gave special attention to the sector. However, this has led to an unplanned expansion among the ranchers which triggered several sustainability issues. If the sustainability issues are not handled well, the future of the sector will be at stake. Thus, it is indeed important to study the ranchers’ behaviour in the context of sustainable edible-nest swiftlet ranching in Malaysia. The assessment of the edible-nest swiftlet ranchers’ behaviour in implementing sustainable ranching practices was established as the general objective of the study. The conceptual framework was designed based on the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB), Theory of Interpersonal Behaviour (TIB), and Theory of Organisational Knowledge Creation (SECI Model) to achieve the specific objectives of the study. This study was divided into three stages, namely pre-test, pilot study, and actual study. The pre-test stage was carried out mainly in the instrument development and the research design. In the second stage, the pilot study was carried out with a sample of 107 respondents to determine the underlying determinants on each main construct. The final stage which was the actual study, a total of 650 respondents were interviewed to get their in-depth responses. Descriptive analysis, correlation analysis, reliability analysis, chi-square analysis, exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmation factor analysis (CFA), and structural equation modeling (SEM) were used to analyse the data. The socio-demographic background of the respondents and their involvement in the ranching sector were detailed out as part of the main findings of the study. The results further revealed that most of the respondents were involved in the ranching sector with the raw uncleaned EBN as their end product, while the type of bird house that widely used was the single lot. The structural equation modeling (SEM) was employed in this study to confirm the four factors namely externalisation, combination, socialisation, and internalisation have contributed to the ranchers’ knowledge in terms of sustainable edible-nest swiftlet ranching. Furthermore, it was found that four constructs namely attitude, peer factor, affect, and self-efficacy have influenced the ranchers’ psychology to practise sustainable edible-nest swiftlet ranching practices. All these four constructs also influenced the ranchers’ intention to practice sustainable practices. The second order confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) confirmed that six factors have influenced the role of governance in enhancing the sustainability of the edible-nest swiftlet ranching. Besides that, the perceive attributes of the sustainable practices have also influenced the implementation level of sustainable practices in the edible-nest swiftlet ranching. The study identified and confirmed that the ten perceived attributes of sustainable practices of edible-nest swiftlet ranching were relative advantage, image, perceived resources, compatibility, trialability, ease of use, perceived risk, visibility, voluntariness, and result demonstrability. All the constructs showed a positive effect on sustainable practices. Thus, by implementing these constructs into edible-nest swiftlet ranching practices, it could be part of the policy maker strategies for knowledge transformation among the ranchers and thus sustainable edible-nest swiftlet ranching could be achieved. Indeed, the role of the agriculture governance is really crucial in keeping the sustainability of the sector for a long term.