Social Interaction and Technology Adoption: Experimental Evidence from Improved Cookstoves in Mali

Jacopo Bonan, Pietro Battiston, Jaimie Bleck, Philippe LeMay-Boucher, Stefano Pareglio, Bassirou Sarr and Massimo Tavoni ()
Additional contact information
Jaimie Bleck: University of Notre Dame
Philippe LeMay-Boucher: Heriot Watt University
Bassirou Sarr: Paris School of Economics

No 2017.47, Working Papers from Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei

Abstract: We investigate the role of social interaction in technology adoption by conducting a field experiment in neighborhoods of Bamako. We invited women to attend a training/marketing session, where information on a more efficient cooking stove was provided and the chance to purchase the product at market price was offered. We randomly provided an information nudge on a peer’s willingness to buy an improved cookstove. We find that women purchase and use the product more when they receive information on a peer who purchased (or previously owned) the product, particularly if she is viewed as respected. In general, we find positive direct and spillover effects of attending the session. We also investigate whether social interaction plays a role in technology diffusion. We find that women who participated in the session, but did not buy during the intervention, are more likely to adopt the product when more women living around them own it. We investigate the mechanisms and provide evidence supporting imitation effects, rather than social learning or constraint interaction.

Keywords: Technology Adoption; Social Interaction; Cookstoves; Mali (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D03 M31 O13 O33 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr, nep-exp, nep-pay and nep-soc
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://feem-media.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/w ... oads/NDL2017-047.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Social interaction and technology adoption: Experimental evidence from improved cookstoves in Mali (2021)
Working Paper: Social Interaction and Technology Adoption: Experimental Evidence from Improved Cookstoves in Mali (2020)
Working Paper: Social Interaction and Technology Adoption: Experimental Evidence from Improved Cookstoves in Mali (2018)
Working Paper: Social Interaction and Technology Adoption: Experimental Evidence from Improved Cookstoves in Mali (2017)
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:fem:femwpa:2017.47

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Working Papers from Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Alberto Prina Cerai ().