Comparison of High and Low Performance Wheat Growers with Respect to Their Locus of Control

The locus of control is a construct reflecting beliefs about the control of behavior and life events. According to this perception, people are grouped into two main categories: an internal and external locus of control. The main purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between wheat yield performance, locus of control and wheat growers’ (WG) characteristics. Survey research methodology and two stages of stratified random sampling were used as research and sampling method, respectively. A questionnaire was used as the research instrument and 217 sampled wheat growers (106 and 111 high and low performance, respectively) were interviewed from the eight districts of Shiraz Province. The validity and reliability of the questionnaire were evaluated and confirmed. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used for analyzing data, using statistical package for social sciences (SPSS). Based on the findings, yield performance and internal locus of control had a significant and positive relationship. On the other hand, variables such as educational level, accessing information sources, cosmopoliteness achievement motivation and interest in agriculture showed positive and significant relationships with yield performance. Regression has revealed that three variables are strong predictors for yield performance in wheat: achievement motivation (%47.3), cosmopoliteness (%2.6) and accessing information sources (%2.1). Educational level and accessing information sources showed a positive correlation, whereas age had a negative and significant relationship with internal locus of control. As a result, it can be said that psychological and behavioral parameters affect farm management and production as well as physical and natural factors