Rural Exchange

Motivators & Behaviours in Land

Investment into Land: Key Motivators and Behaviours of Scottish Landowners

This report forms part of our work concerning decision-making around investment into land. It follows on from Rural Land Values, Sales and Investment Trends, A Rapid Evidence Assessment of Investment Decision-making for Land and Assessing Land Use Change: International Evidence.

We are interested in the decision-making processes, behaviours and motivations of landowners or land managers, particularly around their future land use decisions and investment strategies into their land.

What did we do?

We interviewed landowners and land managers in four case study areas across Scotland - River catchment of Spey and Tweed, Shetland Islands and Galloway and South Ayrshire Biosphere Reserve. We asked them about the land they manage and explored decision-making and motivations at various stages of their ownership or management. We also looked to the future and asked what they were planning, and if funds were required to reach their future land use goals.

What did we learn?

The results in this report are our first analysis of the data, with further reports due in later years of the project. From this initial analysis we sought to identify key decision-making structures (primarily individual or group decision-making processes). We then created a set of personas, identifying key motivations or behaviours of each group.

In order to develop this set of personas, we first categorised decision-making processes as either individual (sometimes as a family unit) or as a group. Within group decision-making multiple different ownership groups were identified including companies, institutions, private trusts, the public sector, third sector organisations and charitable trusts, community owned land and elements of crofting (common grazing). The role of contracted land managers were included into the typology and included two groups: Land managers managing multiple sites and experts/ specialists.

The typology of personas consists of 5 groups according to their main motivations and behaviours:

Group 1: Financial gain through development/ land use change. This group were primarily motivated by maximising the income their land could generate and included the following subgroups: Natural capital buyers, commercially focused estates, developers, energy producers/storers, commercial foresters and investors.

Group 2: Self-serving motivations. This group were less motivated with maximising income streams and instead had diverse reasons for owning land, but primarily to serve a purpose personal to their interests, for example philanthropic environmentalists, family run estates (custodians), private amenity/ leisure ownership, crofting as an identity/ culture.

Group 3: Food producers. This group of farmers are motivated to maintain the main activity of their business, which is producing food (and sometimes other goods). This is a broad group with many different behaviours.

Group 4: Public (environment) goals. This is land that is managed primarily to produce public goods (not for profit), whether this be nature conservation, clean air, flood defenses etc. The two sub-groups identified were: managed for conservation or scientific purposes and public amenity.

Group 5: Locally defined goals. There was also a set of owners/ managers who were mainly motivated by local level factors and included a lot of community owned land. Two sub-groups are: land for social gains and maintaining community.

What do we recommend and what happens next?

We aimed to interview the widest range of different landowners as possible to reflect the diverse nature of landownership in Scotland, including individual private owners, tenants, crofters, public organisations, community-owned land, businesses, institutions and natural capital investors. However, drawing generalisations amongst and between these groups was still difficult.

The personas are a useful tool for policy-makers to understand the different dynamics within the landowners of Scotland. However, it is important to acknowledge that these generalisations should not entirely overshadow the nuance and diversity of behaviours and motivations at a granular or individual level, largely determined by the land itself or the personal beliefs/ values/ opinions of an individual.

Read the report in full through the link below.

Further Reading

More within the Motivators & Behaviours in Land project

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Assessing Land Use Change

This report provides a review of behavioural models used to understand what motivates landowners and how they make decisions about land use change. It looks at the financial mechanisms used...[more]

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Rural Land Values & Diversification

Rural Land Values and Land Diversification: This research briefing covers two key areas: how land is valued and what land ownership diversification means to different stakeholders involved in land. ...[more]

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Land Valuation Formation Influences

This report forms part of our research on land markets and land use change. The project aims to understand whether recent land transactions are leading to (and fueled by) land...[more]

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Investment Decision Making for Land

A Rapid Evidence Assessment of Investment Decision-Making for Land This report forms part of our research on land markets and land use change. It aims to understand whether recent land...[more]

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Rural Land Values Investment Trends

This research briefing is part of our Scottish Land Insights project. It follows on from our Rapid Evidence Assessment of Investment Decision-Making for Land, Assessing Land Use Change: International evidence...[more]

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Motivators & Behaviours in Land

Investment into Land: Key Motivators and Behaviours of Scottish LandownersThis report forms part of our work concerning decision-making around investment into land. It follows on from Rural Land Values, Sales...[more]

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Mapping Scottish Landownership

This research is part of a wider project "Impacts of land-based financial support mechanisms on land values, land ownership diversification and land use outcomes" (SRUC-E3/C3-1). This report demonstrates our work...[more]


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