Enhancing youth involvement in agribusiness : The role of attitudes, ict, innovation and training in Malaysia

Youth involvement in agribusiness is among the major challenges in many countries, including Malaysia. The government and agencies have developed strategic initiatives to increase youth involvement in agribusiness because it is one of the largest contributors to Malaysia's GDP and provides business opportunities, particularly for youth. However, youth participation in agribusiness activities is still low. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between attitude, information and communication technology (ICT), innovation, and knowledge in enhancing youth involvement in agribusiness in Malaysia. Additionally, it explores the moderating role of training in the relationship between attitudes, ICT, innovation, knowledge, and youth involvement in agribusiness. The research is grounded in the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB), and the Resource-Based View (RBV) theory to provide a theoretical foundation for examining these variables. A quantitative study surveyed 400 randomly selected Malaysian youths, and assessed their attitudes toward agriculture, ICT, knowledge, and innovation. The analysis was carried out using SPSS Version 22 and SmartPLS 3.0. The findings indicated that attitudes, ICT, and training have a positive and significant impact on youth involvement in agribusiness, while innovation and knowledge did not show significant influence. Moreover, the moderating effect of training on the relationships between attitude, ICT, and innovation is not significant. Conversely, training had a positive moderating effect on the relationship between knowledge and youth involvement in agribusiness. These findings recommended the need to promote positive perceptions and benefits of venturing into agribusiness and helping youth access ICT, such as smart farming, by introducing training programmes tailored to build the capacity of youth in modern agribusiness technology. Furthermore, through collaboration between private businesses and educational institutions, the government should regularly monitor and improve these initiatives based on feedback to ensure long-term success in engaging youth in agribusiness.