Social embeddedness and agricultural technology diffusion from the perspective of scale differentiation – a case study from China

Abstract

Social embeddedness always plays important role in facilitating agricultural technology diffusion. However, in China, dramatic changes have occurred in the social embeddedness of rural households in the transition from ‘acquaintance society’ to ‘semi-acquaintance society’. Could this be the reason for the debate over the role of social embeddedness? What are the differences in the role of social embeddedness between farmers with different land scales? Based on survey data from 583 rural households from Zhejiang Province, China, we used an endogenous switching regression model to answer these questions. The results indicated there are significant differences in social embeddedness between large- and small-scale households. Although the influence of social embeddedness on technology adoption remains significant, its function is significantly different between small- and large-scale farmers. To avoid technological lock-in for small-scale farmers, the government should strengthen the information push and expand the coverage of environmental-friendly agricultural subsidies for them.

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“…The Chinese culture is deeply rooted in the Confucian ethical and philosophical system, which is characterised by a highly collectivistic culture (social relations and embeddedness; Li and Li, 2022;Chen, 2011), a strong hierarchy (Meyer, 2021), and e.g., the concept of 'learning from the master' (Hoste et al, 2012), resulting in a typical copying behaviour, as copying a demonstrated success is a safe way to adapt. Face (loss) (e.g., Hu, 1944;Ho, 1976), a sociological concept of reputation, plays a significant role in Chinese culture.…”