Abstract Climate change impacts the water sector in a manner that reduces the harvest and income of farmers, thereby exacerbating poverty and many other social problems. However, through adaptation measures, farmers can manage climate change impacts and thus reduce their vulnerability. To design effective public adaptation strategies, it is crucial to understand farmers’ behaviors at the farm level in response to water shortage due to climate change. Thus, the aim of this research is to accrue empirical evidence about farmers’ perceptions of and responses to water shortage due to climate change, using the Protection Motivation Theory. To increase the predictive power of the model, this paper added the collective efficacy variable to the model. The population of interest consisted of farmers from Shushtar, a county in Khuzestan Province, southwestern Iran. A total of 251 farmers were selected using a multi-stage, clustered, random sampling method. The results of structural equation modeling revealed that model variables accounted for 39 % of variance in farmers’ adaptation behaviors. The inclusion of collective efficacy in the original model increased its predictive power and produced a model of a better fit; the proportion of variance accounted for an increase of about 11 %. These findings are expected to yield recommendations for public policy, as well as agricultural extension and education recommendations for stimulating successful adaptation behaviors among Iranian farmers.

中文翻译：

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集体效能如何在应对伊朗西南部气候变化导致的水资源短缺方面产生影响

摘要 气候变化以减少农民收成和收入的方式影响水资源部门，从而加剧贫困和许多其他社会问题。然而，通过适应措施，农民可以管理气候变化的影响，从而降低他们的脆弱性。为了设计有效的公共适应策略，了解农民在农场层面应对气候变化导致的水资源短缺的行为至关重要。因此，本研究的目的是使用保护动机理论积累关于农民对气候变化导致的水资源短缺的看法和反应的经验证据。为了提高模型的预测能力，本文在模型中加入了集体效能变量。感兴趣的人群包括来自胡齐斯坦省舒什塔尔县的农民，伊朗西南部。采用多阶段、成群、随机抽样的方法，共选择了 251 名农民。结构方程建模结果表明，模型变量占农民适应行为方差的39%。在原始模型中包含集体效能增加了它的预测能力并产生了一个更好的模型；方差占比增加约11%。预计这些发现将为公共政策以及农业推广和教育提出建议，以刺激伊朗农民的成功适应行为。结构方程建模结果表明，模型变量占农民适应行为方差的39%。在原始模型中包含集体效能增加了它的预测能力并产生了一个更好的模型；方差占比增加约11%。预计这些发现将为公共政策以及农业推广和教育提出建议，以刺激伊朗农民的成功适应行为。结构方程建模结果表明，模型变量占农民适应行为方差的39%。在原始模型中包含集体效能增加了它的预测能力并产生了一个更好的模型；方差占比增加约11%。预计这些发现将为公共政策以及农业推广和教育提出建议，以刺激伊朗农民的成功适应行为。