Investigating the role of good governance components in distinguishing levels of likely scenarios for the adoption of water management technologies in Isfahan Province

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Department of Agricultural Extension and Education, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of Tehran

2 Department of Agricultural Extension and Education, College of Agriculture, University of Tehran, Karaj, Iran.

3 Faculty of Public Administration and Organizational Sciences, University of Tehran

Abstract

The increasing water scarcity crisis in arid and semi-arid regions, especially in the agricultural sector, has made the need to transition to water management technologies one of the main priorities of policymaking. However, evidence shows that the adoption of these technologies is not solely subject to technical or economic factors and is strongly influenced by the quality of governance and institutional contexts. This study aims to investigate the role of good governance components in distinguishing levels of likely scenarios for the adoption of water management technologies, and has studied Isfahan Province as one of the most critical water basins in the country. The present study was conducted with a quantitative and scenario-based approach and data were collected through structured questionnaires consisting of 120 experts, specialists, and activists in the field of agriculture and knowledge-based companies in the field of smart irrigation technologies. For data analysis, a multinomial logistic regression model was used to distinguish different levels of technology adoption in five policy scenarios including financial support and subsidies, education and access to information, risk-taking and outcome assurance, social interactions and peer pressure, and government laws and supervision. The results show that the effect of good governance components on technology adoption is heterogeneous and scenario-dependent. Under adverse governance conditions, most components are unable to meaningfully differentiate adoption levels and farmers' behavior converges. In contrast, with the gradual improvement of governance quality, the role of components such as cooperation and participation, laws and regulations, access to information, culture building, and technical support becomes prominent at different levels of adoption. The findings also show that some tools, such as education or technical support, in the absence of complementary support mechanisms, can even have a deterrent effect on widespread adoption. Overall, the results of this study emphasize that the transition to water management technologies is possible not through individual interventions, but by designing integrated, phased policy packages tailored to different levels of adoption.

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