Impact of personal values and personality on motivational factors for farmers to work with farm animal welfare: a case of Swedish dairy farmers

Abstract

In this study, we sought to explain why dairy farmers give importance to various use and non-use values of animal welfare. In partic-ular, we examined how the farmers could be segmented according to the relative importance they give to various use and non-use values in animal welfare and whether this segmentation could be explained by farmers' personal values and personality traits. Based on a latent class analysis using best-worst scaling data on 123 Swedish dairy farmers, three segments of farmers were found: animal-centred, human-centred and business-orientated. These groups were related to measures of farmers' personal values and personality traits in a point-biserial correlation and a hierarchal multinomial logistic regression analysis. The results suggest that the segmentation is related to personal values, but not to personality traits. This finding is important from a policy perspective, because the existence of different segments of farmers who are motivated by different values in animal welfare indicates a need to approach different farmers in different ways if policy is to succeed in improving animal welfare. It also indicates a possibility to influence the segments to improve animal welfare by measures that are sensitive to value dynamics of the farmers.

Keywords

animal welfare; best-worst scaling; non-use values; personal values; personality traits; use values

Published in

Animal Welfare
2018, volume: 27, number: 2, pages: 133-145
Publisher: UNIV FEDERATION ANIMAL WELFARE

SLU Authors

• Hansson, Helena

  • Department of Economics, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Lagerkvist, Carl-Johan

  • Department of Economics, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

UKÄ Subject classification

Animal and Dairy Science
Social Sciences Interdisciplinary

Publication identifier

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.7120/09627286.27.2.133

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/95476