Farmers’ Satisfaction with Agricultural Extension: A Service Quality-based Assessment

Sharjana Akter Shaba; Md Mahbubul  Alam

doi:10.48165/IJEE.2024.60301

Authors

Sharjana Akter Shaba Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9387-6671
Md Mahbubul Alam Professor, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University

https://doi.org/10.48165/IJEE.2024.60301

Keywords:

Service quality, Farmer satisfaction , SERVQUAL model, Agricultural extension

Abstract

With an aim to contribute to the methodology in Agricultural Extension research and draw extension professionals' attention to evaluating farmers' satisfaction with extension service delivery, this research presents a comparative evaluation of the traditional research approach, which treats farmers' selected socioeconomic characteristics as the predictor variables against SERVQUAL five-dimensions (i.e., tangibility, reliability, assurance, responsiveness, and empathy). The study was carried out from 2022-2023 and data used in this research were collected from August 01 to August 15, 2022. Stratified random sampling was used to select 120 farmers from two unions of the Savarupazila (i.e., sub-district) of Dhaka district, Bangladesh, and analyzed using hierarchical regression analysis. Results revealed that without using SERVQUAL dimensions, farmers' socioeconomic characteristics explained 30.9 percent of the variance of their satisfaction when SERVQUAL dimensions were not used. However, this percentage increased to 61.8% upon adding SERVQUAL dimensions to the model. Therefore, the findings provide a novel dimension for further research on farmers’ satisfaction with agricultural extension and evaluate similar agriculture-based rural development programs.

Author Biographies

Sharjana Akter Shaba, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University

Sharjana Akter Shaba, has completed her MS in Agricultural Extension and B.Sc. (Hons.) in Agriculture from Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Bangladesh. She is an early career researcher, and has proven her dedication and promise in research. She has been engaged in a number of research projects. And her work has already been published in the Information Development Journal as a co-author. Her primary research interests are in organizational behavior, ICT for development, communication for development, and so on.
Md Mahbubul Alam, Professor, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University

Md. Mahbubul Alam is a Professor in the Department of Agricultural Extension & Information System at Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka, Bangladesh. He has obtained his PhD in Information Systems from the College of Business, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong in June, 2014. He received his M.S in Agricultural Extension in 2006 and B.Sc. (Hons) in Agriculture in 2002 from Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka, Bangladesh. At his early career, he studied technology adoption in agriculture, and communication media use by the knowledge workers in the field of agriculture in rural Bangladesh. Before joining the PhD in 2011, he served as a Full-time Faculty of Agricultural Extension and Information System at Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka, Bangladesh for more than 4 years. He has published regularly in national and international journals, and attending in international conferences. He is currently studying users’ post-adoption decision process in the social networking context. His research interests include but are not limited to IT adoption & continuation, social media, human behavior & IS and ICTs for development (ICT4D).

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