Introduction
Since the World Health Organization (WHO) officially declared coronavirus (COVID-19) a world pandemic on 11 March, 2020 (Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, 2020), governments have implemented policies such as self-quarantine, social distancing, and travel restrictions in order to prevent expanding the virus and this has brought many changes to people’s lifestyle across the world (Nicola et al., 2020). This has had an impact on overall life including physical and mental health (Brooks et al., 2020), and Korea has also shown that psychological impact was found to be negative caused by the concerns about the infection on the basis of 2021 Community Health Survey conducted by Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency. In particular, people living in cities have increased their interest in healing since they faced desolate, competitive, and overcrowded environment (Kim and Kim, 2021). This has led environment-friendly farming and CF using agricultural resources to be rediscovered and drawn attention. In addition, population structure change caused by low birth rate and aging society, and the increasing new demand for health such as stress and depression, lifestyle-related diseases made people’s interest extended to rural area based on natural environment, and agricultural activities, moreover, the perception that caring is necessary even for people without health problem is raised (Lee et al., 2022).
As the issues such as urbanization and population aging have spread since 2000s, CF actively started on the basis of advanced countries in Europe in earnest to improve physical and mental health (Cho et al., 2019). CF in Europe was suggested to European Union by European Cooperation in Science and Technology and its theoretical base was established on the basis of the result of conducting the research on ‘Green Care in Agriculture’ reviewed in various ways by European researchers from 2007 to 2010, and it meant the agriculture comprehensively contributing to health (Braastad and Hauge, 2007). The CF in Europe proved its effectiveness as a means of alternative healing for individuals with physical or mental health problems (Artz and Davis, 2017), and it also encompassed not only the meaning of healing to promote quality of life and health but experiences and activities that can have healing value (Braastad and Hauge, 2007). The study on the perception of care farms in the UK showed that the care farms were recognized as a place that provided comprehensive environment to have sustainable agricultural experience with nature and help personal growth. In addition, the farms could make people participate in agricultural activities as it could be helpful to maintain people’s survival ability and promote public interaction with nature, and it could be a therapy by improving health, social and educational environment (Hemingway et al, 2016). In the case of Netherlands, its CF has grown in connection with the National Health Insurance by enacting of Act on Care Farming and operating National Support Center (Gim et al., 2013).
In the case of Korea, the introduction of CF has been spread as a response to changed rural environment such as vulnerability of small-scale farming, widening income gap between urban and rural areas, low birth rate, and decrease in agricultural population caused by aging (Bae et al., 2019). Visiting rural areas or experiencing activities have brought attention in order to rural areas as a place of leisure activities and healing using rural resources to reduce and relieve stress of urban people (Kwon, 2010), and it has positive effects on city residents living in vulnerable environments with overcrowded cities. In addition, CF is expected as a multi-functional new industry in the long term (Kim and Kim, 2021), therefore, the function of agriculture is expanded from its own unique function of food production and the converged and integrated function of CF is led to draw attention, and various policies (Kim and Kim, 2021) were established in a situation where CF was emerging as a solution to improve physical and mental health (Lee et al., 2022). As ‘Act on Research Development, and Promotion of Healing Agriculture’ was enforced in 2020, the programs on CF using agricultural and rural resources for healing were developed, distributed, and commercialized, as well as legal base to nurture and support experts in CF was established. The perception and interest in CF, which can revitalize rural areas and become an alternative for coexistence between urban and rural areas, have been increased as mentioned above.
Therefore, this study aims to provide basic data to revitalize CF in order to use CF service for the healthy life of city residents and encourage co-prosperity between urban and rural areas by identifying factors and empirically analyzing the factors that affect the intention to participate in CF.
Research Methods
Hypothesis
Hypothesis on causal relationship among self-leadership, perceptual factor, and intention to participate in CF
(1) Causal relationship between self-leadership and intention to participate in CF
Self-leadership as an extended concept of self-management suggested by Manz (1983) has been defined as leading oneself through self-management without relying on others and having a positive effect on individual effectiveness (Neck and Houghton, 2006). The self-leadership has been a necessary leadership concept in modern society as oneself set the level of goal that one wanted to achieve and rewards and reflection were also autonomously done to achieve the goal (Shin, 2009). Kim (2011) argued that self-leadership was effective in attracting behavior voluntarily through the management customized to each member’s characteristics and it influenced oneself to achieve self-direction and self-motivation, and Houghton and Neck (2002) suggested three sub-factors of self-leadership as follows: behavior-focused strategies, natural reward strategies, constructive thought pattern strategies.
As for self-leadership, Houghton and Neck (2002) argued that it affected self-efficacy and had positive (+) relationship with personality variable, and Jeung and Yun (2016) argued that it had a positive (+) effect on intentional innovative behavior that suggested and applied new ideas, procedures, and others to one’s work. Jung and Ha (2015) argued in the study on participation level in sports climbing and self-leadership, the higher participation level was, the more self-leadership tendency, and Cho (2007) argued that the self-leadership of volunteers at convention had a positive effect on their motivation of participation and willingness of re-participation, and Park (2015) argued that lifelong educator’s self-leadership had statically significant effect on adult learner’s self-determination. Healing, another subject of this study, emphasized the autonomous and selective aspects focusing on mind, experience, and humane aspects unlike heteronomous and deterministic treatment (Kim and Ma, 2006). Therefore, the process of healing is also considered as similar to the process of self-leadership in which self-influence is exercised on oneself.
The study on self-leadership has been conducted in various fields. However, it is difficult to find a study that directly explains the causal relationship related to CF. Therefore, H1, research hypothesis was established, since the self-leadership which had a positive effect on individual effectiveness and attract voluntary action would also have a positive effect on the intention to participate in CF containing willingness on the basis of the previous study that self-leadership affected the thought of doing something or intention of planned action.
H1. Self-leadership would have a positive (+) effect on the intention to participate in CF
(2) Causal relationship between perception and intention to participate in CF
Perception as a human capacity that includes the way of perceiving, learning, thinking, and remembering (Hurr et al., 2006) is defined as a conscious activity to distinguish and judge an object to understand it as a whole unified thing and the interaction with the environment to identify by using the activity (Noe et al., 2011). In addition, Jung et al. (2019) defined value perception as a property that satisfied or was thought to satisfy human’s needs or interests, therefore, the author argued that acquired abundant knowledge information based on the perceptual aspect could bring about perceptual change in value, and that value could be settled through the mutual relationship between human and subject, and it affected thoughts and attitudes. Therefore, in the previous study related to the perception on the intention to participate in CF, Jang et al. (2006) argued that the perception of the role of urban farming was positive in general, and they had high expectation for the role of rest area, natural scenery, and experiencing activities. Choi (2020) argued that recognitive experiencing factor had causal relationship that positively affected experience intention, and recognitive experience among the five factors of Schimitt (1999)’s experience model increased positive perception and awareness of participation in goods or services and had a positive effect on the experience intention for the 6th industry (Park et al., 2019). Kang (2021) argued that the subjective perception of the natural environment and rural areas acted as the main pulling factor when deciding to return to farming or to home village, and Kim and Min (1994) argued that the value of agriculture could be formed in consciousness only when the role of agriculture was recognized socially and, furthermore, it could be put into practice for maintaining agriculture. In the study by Yoo (2021) on the perception of animal sympathy healing, if the general public has a positive perception of animal sympathy healing, the value of CF is highly evaluated and the higher the value, the greater the intention to use it, leading to more positive effect on the intention to pay the price.
An and Lee (2016) argued that emotional values perceived as an important concept for understanding customers’ attitudes and behaviors directly affect intentions to maintain relationship and influence decision-making on revisit intentions. Swait and Sweeney (2000) argued that the value consumers perceived after using goods and services is a psychological part, and that the perceived value of consumers is a major factor in determining satisfaction, positive word of mouth, recommendation intention, and repurchase intention. In Shin (2020)’s study that applied the general consumer behavior model, it showed that perception of Korean Wave dramas has a positive effect on attitude, and this led to positively affect purchase intention.
Recognized value can be considered to affect participation intention through attitude, and recognition and value have a mutual relationship based on such previous studies and this led to affect decision-making on intention to participate in CF. Therefore, this study established the hypothesis H2 that the perceptual factor of CF would affect the participation intention by categorizing the perceptual factor of CF into recognition and value factor of CF.
H2. Perceptual factor of CF would have a positive (+) effect on the intention to participate in CF
(3) Intention to participate in CF
Engel and Blackwell (1982) argued that intention is the probability of an attitude that set up the plan for consumer’s future behaviors and determine those behaviors. In other words, intention is recognized as an important factor leading to actual use before using a service or selecting a product (Park and Bae, 2015), and is closely related to behavior as an important factor that reflects consumers’ actual behaviors (Fishbein, 1980). Intention refers to a thought or planned action to do something (Yoon and Kim, 2019), and it was said that the result expected by an individual is influenced by the perceived positive desire (Park, 2017). Kim and Ha (2018), who studied the factors of consumers’ intention to use CF, defined intention to use CF as perception of the need for CF, intention to use it, and future use plan. Venkatesh et al. (2003) viewed participation intention as a continuous behavior while maintaining a relationship, rather than temporarily ending when a person satisfactorily uses a particular service.
Therefore, this study aims to clarify the causal relationship between self-leadership and perception of CF, the plan to participate in CF and the participation intention to continuously use CF with positive desire based on previous studies.
Hypothesis on moderating effects of pulling factors-farming experience and mentoring
In the Push-Pull model of Lewis (1982), which started from the human movement theory, the pulling factor is a cause that promotes and activates behavior that occurs in anticipation of a goal, and means an action that induces a behavior, and as an attraction to a certain behavior is the significance of a subjective preference tendency, pulling power can be positive or negative depending on the individual’s value structure (Cho, 2000). Farming experience and mentoring that could build up expectations for CF were derived as sub-concepts of pulling factors for intention to participate in CF based on such previous studies.
Farming experience refers to the dictionary meaning of ‘farming’, which is ‘managing agriculture’, and the experience of ‘actually seeing, hearing or experiencing, and the entire introspection realized through senses and perceptions of objects’ (Kang, 2021). It was said that this farming experience gives rich field knowledge and know-how, and it is available to solve trials and errors or difficulties that may arise with skill (Honoré, 2020). Kang (2021) argued that when returning to farming or settling down in home village, real environmental experience such as farming experience or residential experience in rural areas is one of crucial factors. In the case of Taiwan, city residents showed much interest in various farming experiences and those with farming experience have said it psychologically helped to mental stabilization and it served as an opportunity to create business in rural area (Chang, 2018). Farming experience in the analysis of previous studies showed that consumers who wanted to use CF, growing crops as one of CF providing services had positive impact on the intention to use (Kim and Ha, 2018). Therefore, those who had lived in farming village and had experience in farming showed positive attitude to agriculture (Kim and Ma, 2006), and it was found that the more farming preparation and faming experience before returning to farming, the higher one’s intention to return to farming (Kim, 2022).
Levinson et al. (1986) defined mentor as ‘a senior who has been in certain field that a person tries to enter for long time and has a lot of experiences in the field’, meanwhile, Allen (2003) defined it as ‘a person who instructs many techniques to mentee, inspire confidence through counseling and psychological support, and exerts influence on the mentee.’ It is said that mentoring, in which a mentor and a mentee work together, is a lasting relationship between them in order to support to have the mentee overcome difficult times and correct his initial problem (Flaxman et al., 1988). Therefore, it is defined that mentoring is a longstanding relationship which builds and sustains intentional, purpose-oriented, and progressive relationship between experienced mentor and a mentee (Bae, 2010). Park (2012) argued in the study on intention to re-participate in mentoring program that the emotional development function of mentee who received mentoring showed positive (+) effect, however, the development function and social psychology function development didn’t seem to have an effect. In the study by Kim (2022) on the intention to return to farming, the mentoring of returning to faming working as a pull factor of farming experience was ignored, however, the influence of mentoring of returning to farming was adopted in terms of eco-friendly life and government support, thus, moderating effect of the mentoring resulted in differently.
Therefore, this study established hypothesis H3 based on the previous studies to verify the moderating effect which farming experience and mentoring have an impact on the intention to participate in CF.
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H3. Farming experience and mentoring would have a moderating effect on self-leadership and Perceptual factor of CF in the relationship between participation intention.
H3-1. Farming experience would have a moderating effect on the relationship between self-leadership and intention to participate in CF.
H3-2. Farming experience would have a moderating effect on the relationship between Perceptual factor of CF and participation intention.
H3-3. Mentoring would have a moderating effect on the relationship between self-leadership and intention to participate in CF.
H3-4. Mentoring would have a moderating effect on the relationship between Perceptual factor of CF and participation intention.
Research Model
In this study, the following research model was established based on previous studies and research hypotheses on the intention to participate in healing agriculture (Fig. 1).
Operational Definition of Variables
Self-leadership
Self-leadership in this study follows the definition of “the process to exert influence on oneself in order to induce self-direction and self-motivation” based on the previous study by Manz (1986), Shin (2009), Kim (2011). To measure the self-leadership based on the operational definition by Manz (1986), self-leadership questionnaire(SLQ) developed by Houghton and Neck (2002) and the previous studies by Yoon (2020), Na (2022), and Shin (2009) were referred and revised and supplemented for the purpose of this study and the questionnaire items were designed as follows: ‘I work with the goal I set in mind’, ‘I am very interested to find the most interesting field of what I enjoy doing’, ‘when running into a problem, I simulate the best available solution in my mind’.
Perceptual factor
This study defined perception as ‘an interaction with the environment for recognition of experience or information, subjective expectation and interest as a conscious activity to discern and judge things’ based on the studies by Noe et al. (2011) and Yoo (2021). To measure the perceptual factor, the questionnaire was designed with the questions regarding whether there was experience of CF and perception of value of CF by referring to the previous studies by Yoo (2021), Choi (2020) and Shin (2020).
Participation intention
This study defined intention to participate in CF as ‘an attitude which perceives CF based on its expected effects from CF service and personal desire and continuously tries to participate in CF, and a participation plan’ based on the previous studies by Fishbein (1980), Venkatesh et al. (2003), Park (2017), and Yoon and Kim (2019). To measure the participation intention, the questionnaire was designed with the questions regarding participation plan of CF and continuous participation intention, and others by referring to the previous studies by Shin (2016), Kim (2010), and Cho (2000).
Pull factors (farming experience, mentoring)
Pull factors were defined as ‘an action to promote and trigger behavior in the expectation for the goal’ based on the previous study by Lewis (1982) and the operational definitions of the farming experience and the mentoring which are drawn as sub-factors are as follows.
Farming experience is to be defined as ‘all tolerance action of seeing, hearing, experiencing, and realizing farming through sensation and perception as well as agricultural management’ based on the previous study by Kang (2021), Honoré (2020). To measure the farming experience in this study, the questionnaire was designed with the questions regarding urban farming and agricultural activity experience by referring to the previous study by Kang (2021), Kim (2022).
Mentoring is to be defined as ‘lasting relationship to build and maintain intentional, goal-oriented, and developing relationship between a mentor who acts as a role model and his mentee’ based on the previous studies by Flaxman et al. (1988) and Bae (2010). To measure the mentoring in this study, the questionnaire was designed with the questions regarding regular assistance from experts in agriculture, and others by referring to the previous studies by Kang (2021) and Cho (2000).
Measurement Tool
The structured questionnaire modified and supplemented to suit the purpose of this study was used as a measurement tool. The variables used in the research model were composed of self-leadership, the first independent variable, with 14 questions (6 for behavior-focused strategies, 4 for natural reward strategies, and 4 for constructive thought pattern strategies), perceptual factor, the second independent variable, with 6 questions (3 for recognition and 3 for value), farming experience (4 questions) and mentoring (3 questions), which were moderating factors, with a total of 7 questions, and intention to participate in CF, which was dependent variable, with 4 questions. The questionnaire was designed based on the Likert scale ranging from point 1 for ‘not so at all’ to point 5 for ‘very so much”. The general demographic characteristics of the sample were measured by nominal scale by selecting detailed items such as gender, age, education, occupation, and others, which were mainly used in the previous studies (Table 1).
Data Collection and Analysis Methods
After conducting preliminary survey based on the questionnaire considering the previous study to collect empirical data suited for this study, the survey result was modified and supplemented on the basis of this study, and the main survey was conducted online and offline from June 16, 2022 to July 25, 2022 and the data was collected. A total of 268 copies were collected and 255 copies were used for data analysis except 13 copies with double missing values or insufficient responses. As for the sampling method for selecting research subjects, sample group was selected from the city residents in Seoul and metropolitan area by adopting convenience sampling.
Analysis of basic statistics was performed to identify general characteristics of the research sample, and factor analysis was conducted by using principal component analysis and orthogonal rotation (Varimax) in order to verify the validity of measurement tool. Reliability analysis identified internal consistency by extracting Cronbach’s α coefficient. Correlation analysis was conducted to measure the correlation between the variables and multiple regression analysis was performed to verify the hypothesis of causal relationship. As for the analysis of moderating effect on the moderating variables, hierarchical regression analysis and the conditional effect search method suggested by Hayes (2018) and West and Aiken (1991) were adopted. Therefore, the change in the slope (b1 + b3M) of regression formula (Y = i1 + b1X + b2M + b3XM = i1 + (b1 + b3M) X + b2M) between independent variables and dependent variables depending on the level of moderating variables was presented by graphs, and statistical analysis was conducted by using R-based JAMOVI statistics package, which was useful for graph analysis (Seol, 2022).
Results and Discussion
General Characteristics of Sample
The result of frequency analysis in this survey to identify the general characteristics of 255 survey subjects showed that there were 134 females (52.5%) and 121 males (47.5%) by gender and most of them were the residents in Seoul, and 255 persons (88.2%) were in their 40s or older which accounted for a high proportion. As for job, jobs in urban areas were generally evenly distributed, however, the retirement rate based on older age group (22.7%) was high. Other respondents’ demographic characteristics are shown as the following table (Table 2).
Validity of Measuring Tool and Analysis of Reliability
Factor analysis was conducted by using principle component analysis and varimax orthogonal rotation method as a factor extraction method to verify the validity of the data, and the result showed that KMO value to check sample goodness of fit test was .894 and the result of Bartleet’s Sphericity test verifying significance of correlation matrix showed that significance probability was less than .05, therefore, it was considered that the factor analysis model was appropriate (χ2 = 5413.426, df = 465, p = .000). Eight factors with cumulative variance of 74%, factor loading of 0.6 or more, and eigen value more than 1 were accepted. Two questions that didn’t meet the factor loading standard of 0.6 or more were excluded. In the case of independent variables, secondary factor analysis was conducted to reduce dimension to self-leadership and perceptual factor.
Internal consistency method was used to measure reliability. To verify the internal consistency, Cronbach’s α coefficient of 0.7 was considered as the standard, and all measurement items were appropriate as their analysis result was 0.7 or more (Table 3).
Analysis of Correlation
The correlation analysis in this study measured Pearson correlation coefficient, and the results are shown in Table 4. The correlation between all variables was found to be positive (+) linear relationship and it was relevant at the significance level of .001. If the correlation coefficient is in the range of ± .81 – ± 1.0, there can be multicollinearity, however, this analysis showed that the correlation coefficient was .655 or less, therefore, there was no multicollinearity.
Hypothesis Test
Hierarchical regression analysis was conducted by setting self-leadership and perceptual factor as independent variables and farming experience and mentoring as moderating variables to analyze the effect on the intention to participate in CF. In the model 1 of the hierarchical regression analysis, multiple regression analysis was conducted by using independent variables and intention to participate in CF as a dependent variable, and in the model 2, regression analysis was performed by adding farming experience and mentoring, which were moderating variables, to the independent variables used in the model 1. To verify the moderating effect of farming experience and mentoring when self-leadership and perceptual factor have an impact on the intention to participate in CF, the model 3 was established and verified by adding the interaction effect term of the independent variables and the moderating variables to the model 2. If the interaction term was included in the regression formula, the probability of multicollinearity would be high, therefore, the problem of multicollinearity was solved by performing mean centering (VIF < 10). To analyze the moderating effect, the verification was conducted by identifying conformity of regression model, significance of interaction variables and increase of explanatory power. In the case of the interaction term of the independent variables and the moderating variables was significant, the meaning of moderating effect was interpreted with the regression coefficient and the aspect of interaction was identified by the graphs together.
Hypothesis testing of causal relationship
Multiple regression analysis was conducted to analyze the causal relationship by setting ‘self-leadership and perceptual factor of CF’ as independent variables and ‘intention to participate in CF’ as dependent variables (Table 5). The analysis result showed that the explanatory power of the regression model was 46.6% and the regression formula was statistically significant (F = 111.9, p < .001). It was found that the multicollinearity which was the relationship of independence between the independent variables had no issue since VIF value was lower than 10. It was found that the influence of self-leadership on participation intention (β = .227, p < .001) and the influence of perceptual factor on participation intention (β = .556, p < .001) were significant, and the size of relative influence of the independent variables were shown in the order of the perceptual factor of CF followed by self-leadership. It was shown that all independent variables had a significant positive (+) effect on the ‘intention to participate in CF’. Therefore, hypotheses H1 and H2 were adopted since they were the hypothesis that self-leadership and perceptual factual would have significant effect on the intention to participate in CF.
Verification of farming experience and moderating effect
Hierarchical regression analysis was conducted to identify the moderating effect of the farming experience between the independent variables of the self-leadership and the perception, and the intention to participate in CF. The analysis results of hypothesis H3-1 and H3-2 suggested by this study are as follows (Tables 6 and 7).
As a result of inputting farming experience as a moderating variable in model 2 for moderating effect analysis, it was found that farming experience as a moderating variable had a significant positive (+) effect on intention to participate in CF (B = .134, p < .01 ), and explanatory power of the regression model was analyzed to be about 48%, which increased by about 0.016%. This increase in explanatory power was found to be statistically significant (F = 7.72, p < .01). The magnitude of relative influence on the intention to participate in CF was in the order of perceptual factor of CF (β = .479, p < .001), self-leadership (β = .208, p < .001), and farming experience (β = .153, p < .01), and both of independent variable and moderating variable had a significant positive (+) effect on the intention to participate in CF.
As a result of the analysis of the interaction effect of self-leadership and farming experience (model 3-1 in Table 6), the adequacy of the regression model was significant (X1: F = 62.58, p < .001), and explanatory power of the regression model due to the input of the interaction effect term was found to be about 50%. The increase in explanatory power was statistically significant as ◿R2 = .014 (F = 7.15, p < .01). The Self-leadership and the farming experience seemed to have a positive (+) effect on intention to participate in CF (X1: B = .356, p < .001; W1: B = .135, p < .01), and the interaction effect term of self-leadership and farming experience (X1*W1) was found to be statistically significant at the p < . 01 level (B = - .197), which verified the moderating effect.
As a result of analyzing the interaction effect of perceptual factor and farming experience (model 3-2 in Table 6), the adequacy of the regression model was significant (X2: F = 63.12, p < .001), and explanatory power of the regression model due to the input of the interaction effect term was about 50.2%. The increase in explanatory power was statistically significant as ◿R2=.016 (F = 8.260, p < .01). Perceptual factor and farming experience were found to have a statistically positive (+) effect on intention to participate in CF, and the interaction effect term of perceptual factor and farming experience (X2*W1) was found to be statistically significant at p < .01 level (B = - .137), which verified the moderating effect.
When the significance of interaction effect term was verified, it was divided into three groups based on ±1 standard deviation (SD) from the average of moderating variable under the condition of the value of moderating variable; upper group with +1 SD or more from the mean, moderating group with the average SD, and lower group with -1 SD or less, and then the moderating effect of farming experience was schematized in a graph and confirmed. The conditional effect of farming experience on the effect of self-leadership on the intention to participate in CF was not statistically significant in the case of the upper-level group (M+1SD) with a higher level of farming experience than the average (B = .133, p > . 05). However, in the case of the lower-level group (M-1SD) whose farming experience was below the average (M), there was positive (+) significance between self-leadership and intention to participate in CF (M: B = .356, p < .001; M-1SD: B = .580, p < .001). On the other hand, the conditional effect of perceptual factor and intention to participate in CF was positively (+) significant in both the upper and lower-level groups (M+1SD, M-1SD) (M+1SD :B = .431, p < .001; M-1SD: B = .742, p < .001). As a result of verifying the simple slope, in the case of the lower-level group (M-1SD) compared to the upper level group (M+1SD) of farming experience, the higher the self-leadership and perceptual factor, the higher the intention to participate in CF, confirming the moderating effect (Fig. 2). Therefore, hypotheses H3-1 and H3-2 regarding the moderating effect of farming experience were adopted.
Verification of moderating effect of mentoring
A hierarchical regression analysis was conducted to identify whether there was the moderating effect of mentoring between independent variables of self-leadership and perceptual factor, and the intention to participate in CF. The analysis results are as follows (Tables 8 and 9).
As a result of inputting the moderating variable, mentoring, in the model 2 for analyzing the moderating effect, it was found that the moderating variable, mentoring, had a significant positive (+) effect on the intention to participate in CF (B = .132, p < .05 ), and explanatory power of the regression model was analyzed to be about 48%, which increased by about 0.014%, and was found to be statistically significant (F = 6.70, p < .01). The magnitude of the relative influence on the intention to participate in CF was in the order of perceptual factor of CF (β = .487, p < .001), self-leadership (β = .203, p < .001), and mentoring (β = .143, p < .05), and both the independent and moderating variables had a significant positive (+) effect on the intention to participate in CF.
As a result of analyzing the self-leadership interaction effect (model 3-1 in Table 8), the adequacy of the regression model was significant (X1: F = 61.09, p < .001), and explanatory power of the regression model due to the input of the interaction effect term (X1*W2) was found to be about 49%. The increase in explanatory power was statistically significant as ◿R2 = .010 (F = 5.097, p < .05). Self-leadership and mentoring were found to have a positive (+) effect on the intention to participate in CF (X1: B = .378, p < .001; W2: B = .156, p < .01), and the interaction effect term of leadership and mentoring (X1*W2) was found to be statistically significant at the p < .05 level (B = −.180), which meant the moderating effect was verified.
As a result of analyzing the interaction effect of perceptual factor (model 3-2 in Table 8), the adequacy of the regression model was significant (X2: F = 59.95, p < .001), but the interaction effect term of perceptual factor*mentoring (X2*W2) was not statistically significant so that the moderating effect of mentoring did not appear (B = −.081, p > . 05).
The significance of the interaction effect term between self-leadership and mentoring was verified, and the conditional effect was not statistically significant in the case of the upper-level group (M+1SD) with a higher level of mentoring than the average (B = .185, p > .05). However, in the case of the group with a lower level of mentoring below average (M, M-1SD), there was a positive (+) and significant difference between self-leadership and intention to participate in CF (M: B = .378, p < .001; M-1SD: B = .571, p < .001). As a result of verifying the simple slope, in the case of the lower-level group (M-1SD) compared to the upper-level group (M+1SD) of mentoring, the higher the self-leadership, the higher the intention to participate in CF, confirming the moderating effect (Fig. 3). Therefore, Hypothesis H3-3 regarding the moderating effect of mentoring was accepted, but Hypothesis H3-4 was rejected.
Discussion
This study aims to interpret the study results based on the purpose of the study and discuss it by comparing them with previous studies.
First, it was found that self-leadership and perceptual factor had a significant and positive (+) effect on the intention to participate in CF. This is in line with the results of studies such as Jung and Ha (2015), Cho (2007), and Park (2015) that self-leadership affected participation intention and the results of the studies by An and Lee (2016), Yoo (2021), Schmitt (1999), and Kim and Min (1994) who insisted perceptual factor has an impact on participation intention. These results showed that the positive emotions and self-directed tendencies of self-leadership had a positive effect on participation intention, and the higher perception increases through understanding of the value of CF, provision of information, and field experience, which were perceptual factor, the higher the intention to continue participation.
Second, the moderating effect of farming experience was found to be significant between self-leadership, perceptual factor, and intention to participate in CF. In other words, as the farming experience increased, the degree of influence of self-leadership and perceptual factor on the intention to participate in CF increased positively. This supported the results of the previous studies on farming experience, such as the studies by Kim (2022), Kim and Ha (2018), and Kim and Ma (2006). In addition, the moderating effect of farming experience between perceptual factor and participation intention showed a difference according to the level of farming experience, but as perceptual factor increased, the intention to participate in CF rose positively (+) in all groups (M+1SD, M, M-1SD). This supported the results from the studies by Kang (2021) and Yoo (2021) who argued that the importance of perception and experience, which is farming experience, and they have influence on intention. By examining the results of this study in detail, the influence of farming experience, a moderating variable on the intention to participate in CF of self-leadership and perceptual factor, showed a difference according to the level of farming experience as the synergistic effect decreased as the group with more farming experience. This suggested that the influence of self-leadership and perceptual factor on the participation intention is greater in the lower group (M-1SD) compared to the greater farming experience group (M+1SD). In other words, as the value of CF was recognized and self-leadership is strengthened in the group with less farming experience rather than the group with more farming experience, the intention to participate in CF becomes higher.
Third, the moderating effect of the mentoring was found to be significant between the self-leadership and the intention to participate in CF, but not between the perceptual factor and the participation intention. This was considered to reflect the results of previous studies such as the studies by Park (2012) and Kim (2022), which derived positive (+) and negative (−) effects on mentoring. Based on further in-depth study results, as the mentoring experience accumulated, the degree of influence of self-leadership on the intention to participate in CF showed a mitigating effect in a positive (+) way, and the influence of mentoring regarding the effect of self-leadership on intention to participate in CF showed a difference by level between the group with high mentoring experience and the group with low mentoring experience. On the other hand, the moderating effect of the mentoring in the relationship between perceptual factor and the intention to participate in CF was not significant, which implies that for those who are in the process of learning the value of CF for the first time, the farming experience, in which they can directly participate rather than professional and long-term mentoring is more effective in promoting their intention to participate in CF.
Conclusion
This study verified the self-leadership and the perceptual factor affecting the intention to participate in CF targeting for city residents, and the conclusion of the empirical study on the moderating effect of farming experience and mentoring are summarized as follows.
First, it was found that self-leadership and perception of CF had a positive effect on the intention to participate in CF. This showed that the intention to participate in CF increased as self-leadership and perceptual factor of CF increased, and it was effective to enhance the perception and self-leadership on CF to revitalize the intention to participate in CF. In other words, the positivity of self-leadership, self-management, and initiative behavior contributes to enhancing participation intention, and the intention to participate in CF will increase by recognizing the value of CF and raising awareness through information provision and experience.
Second, farming experience was verified to have a moderating effect when self-leadership and perceptual factor affected participation intention, and mentoring was verified to have a moderating effect only between self-leadership and participation intention. As a result of this study, to promote the intention to participate in CF, it was effective to boost self-leadership and perceptual factor, and self-leadership and perceptual factor had a great influence in the group with low farming experience and mentoring. In addition, it was meaningful to gain more farming experience than mentoring in order to enhance the perception. It was found that people who are new to CF and are in the process of learning its value were more influenced by their early farming experience than mentoring experience.
In conclusion, it was required to strengthen the self-leadership and the perceptual factor to promote the intention to participate in CF, and the influence of self-leadership and perceptual factor was greater for the group with lower farming experience and mentoring.
The implications and limitations that can be derived from this study are as follows.
The implications of this study are as follows. First, in terms of academic aspects, CF is in the early stage of domestic studies with a lack of research, and at this point in time when existing studies are centered on overseas case studies or CF programs, this study is differentiated from previous studies in that the causal relationship between the self-leadership and the perceptual factor of CF was derived to revitalize CF in Korea and an empirical study was conducted on the moderating effect of farming experience and mentoring as pulling factors.
Second, this study laid the foundation that can be a starting point for a practical approach in a way to utilize self-leadership strategies and perception activities for the intention to participate in CF from a practical point of view. In addition, the grounds for practical application were given by the results that providing hands-on farming experience rather than mentoring was more effective for participants who are new to CF and in the process of learning its value in order to promote participation intention.
Third, as for policy, it is required that a step-by-step approach by group is necessary rather than a one-size-fits-all and universal program that does not consider circumstances of participants when supporting government projects or programs, so that city residents can easily access programs at each level. In this study, the fact that the effect of intention to participate in CF was found differently depending on the level of farming experience and mentoring indicated the needs to take the differentiated approach of self-leadership and perceptual factor by subject person.
The limitations of this study are as follows. First, the sample subject is limited only to residents in Seoul and the metropolitan area so that there is a limit to generalize the study results to the whole of Korea. Considering this, more meaningful implications can be derived in a follow-up study if the targeted region is expanded, and comparative analysis is performed by region and city type.
Second, the general population of city residents was selected as the subjects for the sampling regardless of whether they had experience in CF or not. Therefore, it is considered that various comparative studies are required in the follow-up study by gaining samples by class, such as those who experienced CF.
Third, this study limited the factors affecting the intention to participate in CF to self-leadership, perceptual factor, and pulling factor. Therefore, if a detailed study using diverse variables affecting participation intention and sub-factors for each factor is conducted in a follow-up study, it will be available to contribute to the establishment of more practical alternatives and policy and academic models.
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