ANALYSIS OF THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN COMPETENCE AND PERFORMANCE-FOCUSING ON FARMERS AND EXTENSION WORKERS

The purpose of this study is to investigate the association between the competence of farmers and extension workers and the performance of the agricultural organizations in which they are involved. To this end, 20 competences of farmers and agricultural extension workers (10 of each), based on preceding studies, were selected as the independent variables. The dependent variable was defined as the process performance of the agricultural organization. Control variables were also selected for each study model. A standardized questionnaire was administered to 83 farmers and to 88 extension workers. Based on the questionnaire results, a hierarchical multiple regression analysis was performed to relate the competence of farmers and extension workers to the performance of agricultural organizations. Of the competence attributes, "Customer Satisfaction" and four kinds of variables exhibited statistically significant positive results in the performance of the farmers group. A positive correlation was found in "Interpersonal" and four kinds of variables in the extension workers group. As the study identified attributes of competence that are positively correlated with organizational performance, the results can provide useful information to policy-makers in terms of performance development of agricultural organizations and the agricultural industry as a whole.