Table 2 Summary of variable description and expected sign.
Variables | Type | Descriptions and measures | Expected sign (hypothesis) | Theoretical suggestions and empirical literatures to support hypothesis |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Dependent variable | ||||
 Market participation decision | Dummy | It is a binary dependent variable that represents the probability of market participation of the producers in the maize market. The variable takes the value of 1 for the household who participate in the market, where as it takes the value of 0 for the household who does not participate in the maize market |  |  |
 Quantity of maize sold (Log) | Continuous | A continuous variable that indicating the amount of maize actually sold and measured in kilogram |  |  |
Independent variables | ||||
 Farming experience | Continuous | A continuous variable measured in years of farming |  +  | |
 Sex of household head | Dummy | 1 if the household head is male and 0 otherwise |  ±  | Empirical studies conducted by [5, 22, 25, 28, 40, 41] found indeterminate results |
 Education level of HH | Continuous | Education level of household heads in number of years completed |  ±  | Empirical studies conducted by [22, 42,43,44] found indeterminate results |
 Family size | Continuous | Total number family size in the household |  +  | |
 Number of oxen owned | Continuous | Total number of oxen owned by the household head interms of number |  ±  | This is supported by empirical study by [49, 49,50,51] found indeterminate results |
 Land allotted for maize | Continuous | Total land size allotted for maize crop measured in hectare |  +  | |
 Participation in training | Continuous | It takes 1, if the household head participated training and 0 otherwise during survey period |  +  | Findings of [53] found positive effect |
 Livestock holding | Continuous | Total livestock holding in terms of Tropical Livestock Unit (TLU), excluding oxen |  ±  | This is supported by findings of [54, 55] found indeterminate results |
 Amount of credit | Continuous | Amount of credit received by household in terms of Ethiopian Birr during survey period |  +  | This is supported by empirical study conducted by [14, 56, 57] |
 Quantity of maize produced | Continuous | Total quantity of maize produced by household in kilogram |  +  | It is supported by empirical study conducted by [21, 58] found positive effect |
 Cooperative membership | Dummy | 1 if household is member and 0 otherwise |  ±  | Empirical studies conducted by [59, 60] found indeterminate results |
 Distance to nearest market | Continuous | Distance to nearest market in walking minutes | − | Empirical findings of [14] found negative effect |
 Perception about lagged market price | Dummy | 1 if the household head has high perception about market price and 0 otherwise |  +  | A study conducted by [44] found positive result |
 Non/off-farm income | Continuous | Amount of income obtained from non/off-farm activities (in Ethiopian Birr) annually |  ±  | Empirical studies conducted by [39, 42, 61, 62] found indeterminate results |
 Distance to nearest road | Continuous | Distance to nearest all round road in terms of walking minutes | − | Empirical studies conducted by [19, 63] found negative effect |