Abstract:
Purpose – Factors influencing the use of mobile phone technologies for agricultural market information
access remain a mixed debate, and there are contradictive views among studies. This study examined factors
influencing the use of mobile phone technologies for agricultural marketing information access. The study is
anchored on the technological acceptance model (TAM).
Design/methodology/approach – A descriptive cross-sectional research design was adopted with a sample
size of 400 grape smallholder farmers. A structured questionnaire and focus group discussions (FGDs) were used
to gather data. Descriptive, ordinal logistic regression and thematic approaches were used in data analysis.
Findings – The study confirmed grape smallholder farmers generally considered mobile phone technologies
as an appropriate communication channel to stay informed about agricultural marketing information. It was
found that reliable electricity supply, relevance, timeliness, perceived ease of use (PEOU) and perceived
usefulness (PU) of mobile phone technologies influenced the level of agricultural marketing information access.
Research limitations/implications – This research is limited to a selected number of grape smallholder
farmers in Dodoma, Tanzania, and leaves out those without mobile phones. Also, the study was cross-sectional
in nature, so it may not be necessarily capable of consistently providing critical and consistent information
about the same population over a series of times.
Originality/value – This study contributes to the body of knowledge by integrating the use of mobile phone
technologies to access marketing information in informing policy and decision-making processes to promote grape
marketing.
