Adoption of Environmental Best Practice Amongst Dairy Farmers

The adoption of environmental management practices is addressed in this paper. The use of consumer behaviour theory and a market research approach is discussed by describing how it was used in the study. Qualitative methods were used to gather data from dairy farmers in four New Zealand catchments. The environmental practices explored were; excluding stock from waterways, reducing phosphorus use, improving soil macroporosity, managing effluent and improving the efficiency of border-dyke irrigation. The findings are discussed, highlighting that farm contextual factors influenced farmers’ decision making in terms of adopting environmental management practices. The results suggest that environmental practices need to be linked to farm context. This should provide practical solutions that farmers’ will be more likely to adopt.Environment, adoption, dairy farms, context, Agricultural and Food Policy, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Consumer/Household Economics, Crop Production/Industries, Environmental Economics and Policy, Farm Management,

Do Employer Groups help with Dairy Farm Employment? Why hasn't the idea caught-on'?

Dairy employer groups began to appear about 2000 in response to employment difficulties as the dairy farm labour market encountered low unemployment. Edkins and Tipples (2002) reported to LEW 10 on the development of the Amuri Dairy Employers Group (ADEG). Since then other groups and enterprises have been established and flourished or failed. In this paper developments since 2002 are considered. Factors promoting their success are contrasted with causes of failure. In that time the labour force in dairy farming has changed radically (Tipples, Callister & Trafford, 2010). The paper considers how these changes have fitted with dairy employer groups and suggests ways in which the benefits experienced could be further developed and shared more widely

Mechanisms that Impact Online Auction Trust

This research investigates mechanisms that impact trust and trust as an organising principle at online auctions using data collected from a community website. Qualitative analysis is used to make sense of the data collected and to identify key factors that impact trust and organising for trust. As a result of the discussion, I attempt to explore key factors that impact trust at online auctions and relate the discussion to previous research. This research adds to the understanding of trust theory and online auction trust, and this research can be used by practitioners to better support users and improve the design of online auctions

Revealing power dynamics and staging conflicts in agricultural system transitions : Case studies of innovation platforms in New Zealand

Innovation platforms (IPs) that support agricultural innovation to enable transition processes towards more sustainable agriculture provide a space where conflicts of interest among actors in the existing agricultural system (the so called incumbent regime) may play out. Sometimes these conflicts over how actors will benefit from an action are not revealed until actors are brought together. However, a barrier to change occurs when IP actors use their existing power to mobilise resources to influence if and how individual and collective interests are aligned. In the context of agricultural innovation and transitions, this paper uses the power in transitions framework (Avelino and Wittmayer, 2016), along with analytical perspectives on conflicts and role perceptions, to understand how consciously staging or revealing conflicts of interest among IP actors changed role perceptions and power relations among these actors. The paper explores this topic in two IPs addressing agricultural production and sustainability challenges in New Zealand's agricultural sector. Conflicts were staged in IPs when one group of actors mobilised resources that enabled them to move existing power relations from one-sided, to synergistic or a mutual dependency. This enabled conflicts to be acknowledged and solved. In contrast, conflicts were not staged when actors mobilised resources to maintain antagonostic power relations. Our cases demontrate that staging conflicts to change actors' role perceptions is an important intermediary step to forming new power relations in the agricultural system. Our findings highlight the need for IP theory to conceptualise power relations in IPs as context specific, dynamic and a force shaping outcomes, rather than solely a force exerted by actors in the incumbent regime over IP actors.</p

Do employer groups help with dairy farm employment? Why hasn’t the idea ‘caught-on’?

Dairy employer groups began to appear about 2000 in response to employment difficulties as the dairy farm labour market encountered low unemployment. Edkins and Tipples (2002) reported to LEW 10 on the development of the Amuri Dairy Employers Group (ADEG). Since then other groups and enterprises have been established and flourished or failed. In this paper developments since 2002 are considered. Factors promoting their success are contrasted with causes of failure. In that time the labour force in dairy farming has changed radically (Tipples, Callister & Trafford, 2010). The paper considers how these changes have fitted with dairy employer groups and suggests ways in which the benefits experienced could be further developed and shared more widely

Online trust mechanisms: a domain study of online auctions

This research investigates mechanisms that impact trust at online auctions. A qualitative study is discussed within this paper to identify mechanisms that impact trust at online auctions. The mechanisms identified are discussed within normative and grounded theoretical approaches to trust. A result of this discussion I seek to answer the question: what factors do people perceive as important to increase online trust prior to an online transaction? This discussion will help professionals understand the factors that emerge from normative and grounded theoretical approaches to online trust research. A better understanding of online trust adds to the body of theory and can be used to improve the design of online auctions

Mangoes and Chilli Peppers: A Domain Study of Online Trust in e-Auctions

Auctions are one of the most successful types of e-commerce. The price of this success is the incidence of online fraud and an increasing number of disputes between buyers and sellers. A better understanding of online trust is required. A qualitative study is discussed within this paper to identify factors that increase online trust at an online auction. A result of this discussion I seek to answer the question: what mechanisms do people perceive as important to increase online trust prior to an online transaction? A better understanding of online trust adds to the body of theory and can be used to improve the design of online auctions

Distrust, fear and emotional learning: an online auction perspective

This exploratory research explores the emotional perspective of online distrust, where distrust is a fear. Fear is one of the negative emotions where the situational state is motive-inconsistent and uncertainty is present. A review of literature explores distrust as a fear, emotions, emotional learning and identifies cognitive dimensions consistent with fear. These cognitive dimensions are motive-inconsistent situational state, uncertainty, goal-path obstacle, effort, and agency/control. Textual data is collected from an online auction community website to support this research. The dimensions consistent with fear are identified within the data collected and analyzed using qualitative analysis. Goal-path obstacles are identified within the data as; value incongruence, user isolation, user inefficacy, and financial. The goal-path obstacles identified are consistent with types of fear. The research findings are discussed in terms of the theory and offers suggestions to practitioners to improve the design of online auctions by reducing the effects of fear and emotional learning