Water Saving Behaviors in Agriculture within the Framework of Norm Activation Model

Today, sustainable water use has become a critical policy area, as dynamics such as increasing global water demand, water scarcity, and climate change directly affect agricultural production. In this study, the role of psychological and social factors in explaining water-saving behaviors in agricultural production was examined based on the Norm Activation Model (NAM); the model was extended with the environmental concern (EC) variable. Within the scope of the field study carried out in Konya province, data were collected from 270 farmers. Structural equation modeling results showed that personal norms exert a strong positive effect on water-saving behaviors (β = 0.430 in the original model; β = 0.341 in the extended model). The original NAM explained 19.5% of the variance in personal norms, while the extended NAM increased this explanatory power to 22.0%, corresponding to an improvement of approximately 2.5 percentage points. Environmental concern directly affected both personal norms (β = 0.118) and water-saving behaviors (β = 0.234). Guilt emotions contributed positively to water-saving behaviors (β = 0.085), while pride did not show a statistically significant direct effect. The findings indicate that psychological and environmental drivers play a decisive role in shaping farmers’ water-saving behaviors. The study suggests that environmental sensitivity and normative approaches should be integrated into interventions aimed at increasing the sustainability of water management policies and agricultural irrigation practices