The Meaning of Professional Branding Among Millennial Farmers: A Phenomenological Study in Tegal Regency, Indonesia
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.61100/tacit.v4i2.368Keywords:
Millennial Farmers, Professional Branding, Phenomenology, Alfred Schutz, Farmer RegenerationAbstract
This study examines how millennial farmers construct the meaning of professional agricultural branding through their everyday communication experiences. Grounded in Alfred Schutz’s phenomenological perspective, the study involved nine purposively selected millennial farmers aged 30–38 in Tegal Regency, Central Java. Interview, observation, and documentary data collected in May 2026 were analysed through epoché, phenomenological reduction, and imaginative variation. The findings indicate that decisions to pursue farming are shaped by the interplay between because-motives and in-order-to motives. Farming is understood through economic, ideational, affective, and self-actualising dimensions, while occupational stigma is addressed through five communicative branding strategies. Unlike previous studies focusing on digital self-presentation or outsiders’ perceptions, this study reconstructs occupational branding from farmers’ lived experiences. The findings demonstrate that individual branding can serve as an instrument for repositioning farming as a valuable collective profession. The resulting stigma-to-strategy model offers implications for farmer regeneration policies, agricultural extension, and the strengthening of both digital and face-to-face communication.
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