Can Dissatisfaction Relative to Perceived Importance Affect Extension Clients’ Landscape Management Practices?

Water quality and availability are critical issues currently addressed by agricultural education professionals. Extension professionals need to employ innovative approaches to help residents adopt practices and technologies to reduce the impact of urban landscapes on water resources. This study explored how individuals’ dissatisfaction relative to their perceived importance of either clean water for large and local water bodies or plentiful water for local water bodies related to their intent to engage in landscape best management practices following a tailored message. Individuals were randomly assigned to receive a message appealing to improving water quality through good fertilization practices or a message appealing to improving water availability through good irrigation practices. Those who assigned higher importance but perceived lower satisfaction with clean water had greater likelihood of engaging in most fertilizer best practices after receiving a tailored message compared to those who assigned lower importance and perceived higher satisfaction with clean water. Those who assigned higher importance but perceived lower satisfaction with plentiful water were more likely to engage in one of the five irrigation best practices compared to those who assigned lower importance and perceived higher satisfaction with plentiful water after receiving the message. Agricultural education programs should tailor messages to dimensions clientele perceive as important but with which they are unsatisfied, especially when intent is lower.