Extending Diffusion of Innovations Theory for Continued Adoption of AgriculturalICTs Among Small and Middle-Level Farmers in Uganda

The sustained use of agricultural Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) remains uneven among small-and middle-level farmers despite the potential of digital tools to improve access to information, market participationand farm decision-making. This study develops and tests an extended Diffusion of Innovations (DOI)-informedframework that treats Continued User Adoption as a distinct behavioural outcome and examines two additionalrelationships: Knowledge to Confirmation and Confirmation to Implementation. A sequential explanatory mixed-methods design was used. Survey data from 380 farmers in Luweero, Isingiro and Mbarara districts of Uganda wereanalysed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM), and qualitative interviews withfarmers, ICT developers and agricultural extension officers were analysed thematically. All six structural paths werepositive and significant: Knowledge to Persuasion (β = .653, p < .001), Knowledge to Confirmation (β = .598, p <.001), Persuasion to Decision (β = .709, p < .001), Decision to Implementation (β = .490, p < .001), Confirmation toImplementation (β = .407, p < .001), and Implementation to Continued User Adoption (β = .759, p < .001). Decisionand Confirmation jointly explained 73.2% of the variance in Implementation, while Implementation explained 57.6%of Continued User Adoption. The qualitative findings converged with the structural results and identified stage-specificdeterminants across the adoption process. The study contributes by distinguishing continued adoption fromconfirmation and by conceptualising confirmation of anticipated value as a reinforcing mechanism that can facilitatefuller implementation. The findings offer a stage-based basis for designing agricultural digitalisation interventions inUganda.