Pranay Ranjan's Graduate Defense Seminar

Pranay Ranjan, PhD Candidate in Environmental Social Sciences, will present Promoting Adoption of Two-stage Ditches in the Western Lake Erie Basin: A Change Agent Perspective as his Graduate Defense Seminar in 333 Kottman Hall.

Much has been written about adoption of conservation practices designed to alleviate problems associated with nonpoint source pollution from agricultural runoff. Decades of scholarly work on adoption of conservation practices has examined characteristics of three primary sets of variables:  the adopter, the change agent, and the conservation practice. Diffusion of innovations theory highlights the importance of change agents in promoting innovations. However, the extant literature is thin on examining the factors affecting change agents’ willingness to promote an innovation. Given the knowledge gap, in this study, I examine change agents’ perception of the attributes of two-stage drainage ditches, and identify factors which affect their willingness to promote them. I also compare the factors affecting change agents’ willingness to promote two-stage ditches with the factors affecting landowners’ willingness to adopt them. Additionally, I compare change agents’ recommendations to promote two-stage ditches with the factors affecting landowners’ willingness to adopt them. The data for this study come from a mixed methods research approach using semi-structured phone interviews with one change agent each in 17 counties across the Western Lake Erie Basin (WLEB) in Ohio, and a landowner survey administered in 3 WLEB counties in Ohio. Analysis indicates that change agents’ perceptions of environmental benefits drives their willingness to promote two-stage ditches. Although landowners are most motivated by perceptions of reduction in future maintenance costs and flood control benefits. Results are more broadly informative about promoting conservation practices, and is relevant for both academicians and practitioners.