Analytic and heuristic process for prudent antimicrobial use in animals: What are triggers and how do they work?

Abstract The over and misuse of antimicrobials in animal agriculture causes a prevailing crisis for humans, animals, and the environment. From the One Health approach perspective, the formation process of adopting prudent antimicrobial use (AMU), once established, can be used to mitigate this crisis. The study aimed to determine the analytic‐based and heuristic‐based process that evoked prudent AMU among animal farmers by synthesis of stimulus‐organism‐response framework and dual‐system theory and to explore gender differences on risk–benefit trade‐offs. A structural equation model was employed to test the proposed hypotheses with field survey data from 1100 small‐scale farmers. The results reveal that for the analytic‐based process, social influence, antimicrobial‐related threats, and self‐efficacy are all salient stimuli having indirect effects on intention via the two organisms of perceived risks and perceived benefits. For heuristic‐based process, farmers’ altruistic value orientations are positively associated with intention. An interesting fact is that threat awareness has two opposite effects on intention, namely, the suppression effect and the enhancement effect. Moreover, the negative effect of perceived risks on intention is greater among female farmers, compared to male counterparts. These findings provide valuable insights for the forming of theory‐based intervention strategies to perfect China's national action plan.