PREDICTING STOCKPERSON BEHAVIOR TOWARDS PIGS FROM ATTITUDINAL AND JOB-RELATED VARIABLES AND EMPATHY

Because of the intense contact between stockpersons and pigs, it is im portant to identify those attributes of human behaviour which affect g rowth and reproduction in pigs and also the origins of those attribute s. It has been proposed that because a stockperson's behaviour towards animals is largely under his/her control, this behaviour is strongly influenced by the attitudes the stockperson holds about the animals. T he aim in this study was to determine the interrelationships between s tockperson attitude, stockperson behaviour and other variables includi ng job-related variables and empathy. A total of 87 stockpersons from a large commercial piggery participated in the study in two cohorts (g roups which were tested at different times) of 44 and 43 stockpersons, respectively. Most stockpersons were male, with four females in the f irst cohort and three in the second. A computerised questionnaire was developed comprising separate scales to measure attitudes, job satisfa ction, empathy and job knowledge. Stockperson behaviour towards pigs w as also measured by direct observation Results showed that attitude va riables were the most consistent predictors of behaviour, and that oth er, job-related variables correlated with attitudes but did not contri bute greatly to predicting behaviour. There was some limited evidence to suggest that empathy might contribute to predicting other job-relat ed variables. It was concluded that these results provide a basis for developing training programmes for stockpersons which target specific attitude-behaviour areas in which the individual stockperson requires improvement. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.