Usefulness of Network Analysis to Characterize Technology Leaders in Small Dual-Purpose Cattle Farms in Mexico

Oriana Villarroel-Molina, Carmen De-Pablos-Heredero, Jaime Rangel, María Prosperina Vitale and Antón García
Additional contact information
Oriana Villarroel-Molina: Animal Science Department, Rabanales University Campus, University of Cordoba, 14071 Cordoba, Spain
Carmen De-Pablos-Heredero: Department of Business Economics (Administration, Management and Organization), Applied Economics II and Fundamentals of Economic Analysis, ESIC Business & Marketing School, Rey Juan Carlos University, Paseo de los Artilleros s/n, 28032 Madrid, Spain
Jaime Rangel: Mexico’s National Institute for Forestry, Agriculture and Livestock Research (INIFAP), Medellín de Bravo 94277, Mexico
María Prosperina Vitale: Department of Political and Social Studies, University of Salerno, Via Giovanni Paolo II 132, IT 84084 Fiscano, Italy
Antón García: Animal Science Department, Rabanales University Campus, University of Cordoba, 14071 Cordoba, Spain

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 4, 1-13

Abstract: The low technology adoption rate is one of the major problems in very small dual-purpose cattle farms in Mexico. Using the social network analysis approach, we characterized the farmer leaders in the innovation network and deepened the knowledge on the low technological adoption causes. The sample consisted of 383 very small farms of dual-purpose cattle characterized by using nine reproductive management technologies. Our findings suggested that the network position of farmers had a significant impact on the technological level. Hence, the farmers farthest from the technology leaders showed the lowest levels of betweenness centrality index and high rates of constraint. Apart from this, advice, productive orientation, and intensification were also differentiating elements at the technological level. The findings provided relevant insights and useful tools to policy makers to better support, coordinate and enhance the adoption of innovation among smallholders.

Keywords: social network analysis; innovations; dual-purpose cattle; technology adoption; centrality network indices (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/4/2291/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/4/2291/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:4:p:2291-:d:502606

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().