Attitudes of agribusiness toward microcomputers

Attitudes of agribusiness personnel toward software uses, or intended uses and microcomputer hardware in agribusiness were assessed using survey analysis. Subjective ordinal-attitudinal questions determined the structure of opinions toward microcomputing and how attitudes affect the qualitative demand for hardware and software. Spearman's Statistic tested the correlation between respondent rankings of attitudes. Results imply that future education should emphasize computer technology as a complement to decision making, not as the decision maker itself. Educating users to evaluate software by applying marginal benefit analysis, providing instruction to users in error checking and understanding algorithms, plus educating software developers and vendors on agricultural applications would assist agribusiness.