Absence of conflict of interest.
Highlights
- The study's objective was to examine the impact of marketing campaigns following each of Cialdini’s six principles of influence (POIs) on farmers’ attitudes toward using power take-off (PTO) shielding to cover attachment points on pieces of farm equipment.
- The authors used a pre-post survey regression analysis. The primary source of data was baseline and follow up surveys sent to farmers in 14 New York counties. Seven treatment counties received an intervention designed to mirror each of Cialdini’s POIs and one county received a mixed treatment. Seven control counties received no intervention. The authors compared the effects of the interventions among treatment and control groups at baseline and one year follow up periods in a pre-post analysis.
- The authors did not present evidence that any of these campaigns changed the attitudes of farmers’ beliefs about the importance of using PTO shielding.
- This study earns a low evidence rating. This means we are not confident that the estimated effects are attributable to the intervention; other factors are likely to have contributed.
Intervention Examined
Features of the Intervention
While previous interventions to increase use of power take-off (PTO) shielding in farm equipment targeted cost and time required to purchase and install shielding, less work has been done to address the denial of personal risk. This study uses Cialdini’s six principles of influence (POI) to persuade farmers to use PTO shielding. Each treatment was composed of a marketing campaign targeted to a county as follows: (1) Authority - county sheriff's departments mailed letters to farmers urging them to consider shielding, (2) Reciprocity - information packets on how purchase PTO shields through the New York Center of Agricultural Medicine and Health (NYCAMH) Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) program were mailed with $5 Dunkin Donuts gift cards, (3) Scarcity - a week-long PTO shielding sale with free shipping on all PTO shield orders was offered, (4) Liking - well-known farmers passed on information about new PTO shields and where to purchase them, (5) Social Proof – farmers were mailed materials noting the high percentage of other farmers with positive views of the new PTO shields, (6) Consistency – farmers were mailed information that noted how PTO shielding is aligned and consistent with farm values, and (7) Miscellaneous - a combination of liking and social proof strategies that engaged farm wives to distribute PTO shielding information through their own social circles. Participants were mailed surveys at baseline and one year follow-up to examine changes in attitudes toward PTO shielding.
Features of the Study
The study was implemented in 14 counties in New York State: treatment counties included Cayuga, Chautauqua, Oneida, Otsego, St. Lawrence, Steuben, and Washington and comparison counties included Cattaraugus, Erie, Jefferson, Madison, Ontario, Wayne, and Yates. Each treatment county designed and received a different POI intervention. The study used a pre-post survey design that compared the results of multiple interventions at baseline and follow up periods to assess how POI strategies were associated with PTO shielding attitudes along the Kelman scale, which measures compliance (the individual feels the behavior is required), identification (the individual feels behavior is socially encouraged by family or peers), and internalization (the individual has an intrinsic belief in the behavior). The primary source of data was baseline and follow up surveys.
Potential study participants were randomly selected from the Farm Market ID database across the 14 counties, yielding 2,952 potential participants. Participants in each treatment county were mailed surveys at baseline and one year follow-up to examine changes in attitudes toward PTO shielding. Of these potential participants, 627 farmers completed the baseline survey and 613 were able to be classified into treatment and comparison counties (525 treatment vs. 88 comparison). Participants who completed a baseline survey were mailed a follow-up survey one year later. Of this group, 403 farmers completed follow-up surveys (347 treatment vs. 56 comparison). The authors presented mean differences in baseline and follow-up share of respondents in each Kelman stage by the 7 treatments and the comparison group.
Findings
Attitudes
- The study did not find any statistically significant results on the association between the seven Cialdini treatment conditions and farmers’ Kelman attitudes toward PTO shielding.
Considerations for Interpreting the Findings
The study was conducted in 14 counties in New York, divided into seven treatment and seven comparison counties. Though participants in these counties were randomly selected, the overall sample is too small to generalize. Similarly, the study collected data at only two points in time, baseline and follow-up. Some concerns that authors raised about the outcomes include financial issues in implementing treatments, counties may have been implementing treatments differently, surveys had high attrition, and survey questions measuring attitudes were not robustly tested.