Adapting the Tendency of Rural Youth in Baghmalek Township to Work in Agriculture with Developed Theory of Planned Behavior

Agriculture is one of the most important economic sectors of the country and its role in economic and political development and stability is undeniable. The purpose of this study was investigating rural youth’ intention toward agriculture jobs in Baghmalek Township. To achieve the purpose of the present study, the developed theory of planned behavior was used as the research framework. Research method in terms of purpose and in terms of data collection, it is survey. The population of interest was rural youth between 15 to 29 years old three rural districts of Meidawood, Mongasht and Haparo in baghmalek township. In the second phase, out of these three districts with a population of about 900 young rural people, the sample was selected as 270 rural youth based on Morgan table. Thus, the method was multi-stage cluster sampling. Data gathering tool was a questionnaire whose face validity was confirmed by several experts. In addition, to determine the reliability of different sections of the questionnaire, Pre-test and ordinal theta coefficient were used (θ= 0.73- 0.91). The results of the structural equation modeling of path analysis showed, that both self-identity variables and descriptive norms of developed theory of planned behavior have directly and positively influenced youth's willingness to work in agriculture. The results also show an increase in the predictive power of the developed theory of planned behavior over the main theory of planned behavior