Marketing and Technology Adoption and Diffusion

Abstract

Applied economists have investigated individual adoption choices as well as diffusion (aggregate adoption). The emphasis, however, has been on adopters' behavior and risk associated with production and markets. Marketing also considers broader aspects and marketers develop tools to address risk related to the fit of a product, its performance, and its reliability. This paper expands the economic literature on adoption by analyzing and assessing the implications of the choice of marketing tools, like money‐back guarantees, demonstrations, and others, by marketers. The analysis is based on the threshold model of diffusion, which recognizes heterogeneity and dynamics. We provide evidence and examples from agriculture.

Exploring the marketing environment for maize seed in Kenya: how competition and consumer preferences shape seed sector development

“…PDC will need to invest in reliable access to seed, i.e., having a steady supply in their target areas, with backing from retail networks. Being in competition with IC, with larger budgets, on one hand, and a parastatal with undercutting prices, on the other hand, forces them to optimally invest their resources in high-value products supported by smart and targeted marketing investments (Heiman, Ferguson, and Zilberman 2020). Only the companies able to do this will be able to compete in the long run.…”

Understanding Adoption of Innovations and Behavior Change to Improve Agricultural Policy

“…Information provision and other activities by technology suppliers have received much less attention. Heiman, Ferguson, and Zilberman () show that there are opportunities for adoption researchers to learn from the marketing activities of the suppliers of technology. Suppliers provide potential adopters with information about the technology and utilize tools like demonstrations and money‐back guarantees that aim to address concerns about the technology's long‐term reliability and its fit with the adopter's operation.…”

“…Research on adoption spans multiple spatial and temporal contexts, from individual adoption choices at a point in time, to diffusion of a technology through a population of farmers across a region and over time. Heiman, Ferguson, and Zilberman () emphasize that the heterogeneity among farmers, noted earlier, contributes to diffusion of technologies being a gradual process. Diffusion is likely to be more rapid, for example, where a technology is more beneficial or less costly, where it is easy for farmers to evaluate its performance, and where farmer networks are stronger.…”

“…Behavioral economics originated in cognitive psychology and provides new insights about adoption behavior (Streletskaya et al 2020). Marketing research has relied on and contributed to the adoption literature (Heiman, Ferguson, and Zilberman 2020). Developing effective policy frameworks to enhance adoption of conservation technologies requires an understanding of the science behind the technologies and of their political and environmental impacts (Pannell and Claassen 2020).…”

“…Some of the papers provide syntheses of well-researched topics (e.g., Chavas and Nauges 2020;Huffman 2020). Others address novel or underresearched issues (e.g., Heiman, Ferguson, and Zilberman 2020;Llewellyn and Brown 2020). Here we provide an overview of the lessons and messages that emerge from the ten papers.…”