Characteristics, attitudes, and perceived usefulness of social media use by government agricultural extension workers in Nepal

Purpose Social media continues to be a popular platform for agricultural extension throughout the world. However, limited studies have explored the status of its use in the Nepalese agricultural extension system. This research investigates the characteristics, attitudes, and perceived usefulness of social media use by government agricultural extension workers in Nepal.Methods The researchers collected data through quantitative surveys of 248 government agricultural extension workers in Nepal and analyzed it using descriptive statistics, forced ranking, and a Mann–Whitney U test.Findings The results showed that the majority of the extension workers use social media on a regular basis for disseminating agricultural information. The extension workers had positive overall attitudes toward social media and perceived it as useful for agricultural extension. Both the attitudes and perceived usefulness of social media were significantly higher among social media users than the non-users.Theoretical implications This study offers a contextual contribution to the technology acceptance model by extending its application to the use of social media in agricultural extension among government extension workers in Nepal.Practical implications Findings indicate the potentiality of enhancing the extension services with more coordinated and systematic use of social media.Value This research provides a baseline study of the social media use in Nepalese agricultural extension, filling a gap in literature and offering insights for both theory and practice in the digitalization of extension advisory services.