Understanding wild dog reporting behaviour of rural landholders: identifying options for behaviour change

Purpose: As effective management of biosecurity risks such as wild dogs, relies on landholder reporting, we investigated how landholders can be encouraged to report wild dog presence or damage.

Design/Methodology/Approach: We identified potential drivers and barriers to wild dog reporting and organised these factors using the Behaviour change Wheel (BCW) framework and associated Capability, Opportunity, Motivation (COM) Behavioural model. We then surveyed 186 landholders to determine the importance of these factors, along with other demographic and situational variables, in predicting current reporting of wild dogs and their impacts.

Findings: Landholders' willingness to report was found to be influenced primarily by their personal experience of wild dog problems and motivational factors. They were particularly dissuaded from reporting by perceived negative consequences and loss of autonomy. Segmentation using latent profile analysis highlighted that landholders were not a homogenous group, with each identified segment exhibiting their own unique COM barrier profile.

Practical Implications: Use of the BCW framework and associated COM behaviour model allowed us to recommend the most appropriate type of interventions to improve the biosecurity reporting behaviour of rural landholders. Theoretical Implications: We contribute to refining the use of psychological theory in the development of agricultural education strategies.

Originality/Value: Our study is the first to demonstrate the usefulness of the COM behaviour model and BCW framework to improve rural landholder reporting of biosecurity risks.