INFORMATION SEEKING BEHAVIOR OF SUB-ASSISTANT AGRICULTURE OFFICERS (SAAOs) OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE EXTENSION (DAE)

Abstract

The main objective of this study was to assess the extent of information seeking behavior of SAAOs and to explore the relationship between the selected characteristics of the SAAOs and their information seeking behavior. Chawgacha, Jhikargacha and Jessore Sadar upazila under Jessore district were the study area. There were 70 Sub Assistant Agriculture Officers (SAAOs) in these three upazilas, all of them were selected as the sample of the study. Data were collected through interview schedule during 15 April to 30 April 2015. The study revealed that 64.30% of the respondents were frequent information seeker compared to 18.60% were rare and 17.10% were regular information seeker. Coefficient of correlation (r) was computed to explore the relationships between the selected characteristics of the SAAOs and their information seeking behavior. Findings revealed that among eight characteristics, job satisfaction and aspiration for training had positive significant relationship with information seeking behavior while age, experience of extension work, annual expenditure, motivation for seeking job related information, organizational problem confrontation and technical knowledge had no significant relationship with information seeking behavior.