A Psychosocial Assessment of Agritourism Associations: Members' Incentives, Commitment, and Social Capital and Network

Agritourism, referred as educational and recreational activities in working agricultural settings, has grown steadily since the 1980s. However, many of the farmers offering agritourism lack the entrepreneurial skills and business competencies to deal with the increasing demand. In response, agritourism associations have emerged to provide a diverse range of services aiming to increase members' entrepreneurial preparedness. Despite the services association provide, many are struggling to survive because of high members' inactivity and decreasing membership. Given the economic benefits agritourism brings to farmers, the entrepreneurial needs agritourism farmers have, and the role associations have in supporting entrepreneurial farmers, it is critical to understand the factors affecting associations' performance.;This study conducted among two agritourism associations (North America Farm Direct Marketing Association, North Carolina Agritourism Networking Association) undertook a psychosocial approach comprising three independent yet interrelated aims: 1) evaluate members' incentives for joining agritourism associations; 2) assess members' commitment to their affiliated agritourism associations; and 3) examine the impact of social capital and networks among members. The Incentive Theory, Psychosocial Commitment Framework, and Social Capital theory were used to guide this study. Web-based survey was adopted to address the study aims.;Overall, the psychosocial assessment of agritourism associations showed an overall good performance of both associations examined. Study results show that members join agritourism associations seeking a variety of private (educational, networking, and economic) and public (policy and advocacy) incentives; yet the private incentives were perceived as more important than the later. Accordingly, members can be clustered into three distinct groups, Maximizers, Progressists, and Indifferents based on the incentives they seek; these groups statistically differ on their socio-demographic, agricultural, and membership profiles, as well as information needs and satisfaction levels with their affiliated associations. Members perceived high levels psychological commitment, following by affective, normative, and continued commitment. Several attributes (e.g., age, years of membership) were found to be statistically associated with members' commitment and participation. Results also indicated high levels of relational, cognitive, and structural social capital among members of the studied association. They also perceived high levels of trust, cooperation and reciprocity among members in both directions (to/from). Social Network Analysis indicated that responding members were well connected (large number of social ties), and a healthy information flow existed amongst members. Beyond, this study enhanced the scholarly understanding of association performance, and carried significant managerial and marketing implications that can be used to improve association performance both short term and in the long run.