Rural people’s intention to adopt sustainable water management by rainwater harvesting practices: application of TPB and HBM models Vahid Aliabadi, Saeed Gholamrezai and Pouria Ataei ABSTRACT Water is the prerequisite for human adaptation to climate change and is the key link among climatic conditions, humans, and the environment. Human behavior can mitigate the impacts of climate change. The present study aimed to evaluate rural people’s readiness for sustainable management of water resources. To achieve this goal, the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and Health Belief Model (HBM) were used as the research framework. The research instrument was a closed-end questionnaire developed on the basis of TPB and HBM. The face and content validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by a panel of experts in sustainable agriculture. Its reliability was also checked in a pilot study by calculating Cronbach’s alpha, the average variance extracted (AVE), R 2 , and composite reliability (CR). The research sample was composed of 480 villagers from Hamadan province, Iran, who were familiar with sustainable water resources management in the context of the rooftop rainwater harvesting project. The results showed that in TPB, the variables of moral norms, attitude, and self-identity could account for 61 percent of the variance in rural people’s intention to adopt the practices of sustainable water resources management. Based on HBM, the variables of perceived benefits, perceived susceptibility, and perceived severity could capture 49 percent of this variance. The results revealed that both theories had the potential to predict rural people’s intention to engage in the sustainable management of water resources, but TPB proved to provide a more robust prediction than HBM. Key words | Health Belief Model, rooftop rainwater harvesting, sustainable water management, Theory of Planned Behavior HIGHLIGHTS • Moral norms, attitude, and self-identity had significant effect on rural people’s intention to adopt the practices of sustainable water resources management. • Perceived benefits, perceived susceptibility, and perceived severity could capture 49 percent of this variance. • TPB proved to provide a more robust prediction than HBM. Vahid Aliabadi Department of Agricultural Extension & Education, Faculty of Agriculture, Bu-Ali Sina University, Hamadan, Iran Saeed Gholamrezai (corresponding author) Department of Rural Development, Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Lorestan University, Khorramabad, Iran E-mail: gholamrezai.s@lu.ac.ir Pouria Ataei Department of Agricultural Extension & Education, Faculty of Agriculture, Tarbiat Modares University (TMU), Tehran, Iran INTRODUCTION In addition to its vital role in the survival of humans, water is the cornerstone of sustainable development and is necessary for socio-economic development and a safe environment. Water is the prerequisite for human adap- tation to climate change and is the key link of climatic conditions, human society, and environment. However, water is a finite and irreplaceable source that is renewable if it is well managed (Ataei et al. ; Shahid et al. ; Izadi et al. ; Valizadeh et al. ; Veisi et al. ). Nonetheless, presently over 1.7 billion people reside 1847 © IWA Publishing 2020 Water Supply | 20.5 | 2020 doi: 10.2166/ws.2020.094 Downloaded from http://iwaponline.com/ws/article-pdf/20/5/1847/728298/ws020051847.pdf by guest on 08 October 2023