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The demand for irrigation is causing freshwater stress in rice production, which raises concerns about the sustainable development of food and water. To mitigate water scarcity, it is essential to promote water-saving technology (WST). In today’s digital economy, information asymmetry in knowledge and cognition has emerged as a primary constraint on the adoption of WST. However, limited research has explored the relationship between information acquisition and value perception. This study employs a double machine learning technique to empirically investigate the key factors influencing information acquisition, value perception, and WST adoption behavior using survey data from rice farmers in Liaoning Province of China. The results indicate that information acquisition promotes the adoption of WST, with the extent of this encouragement differing at each stage in the following descending order: land preparation, seedling cultivation, irrigation, and field management. Mediation analysis showed that by improving perceived ease of use, information acquisition facilitates the adoption of WST. According to a heterogeneity analysis, information acquisition has a greater influence on WST adoption behavior for full-time farmers and small-scale farmers. Therefore, to promote their adoption, it is essential to construct an information dissemination mechanism to enhance the coverage and effectiveness of information acquisition. The perceived usefulness can enhance farmers’ intrinsic motivation for technology adoption. Additionally, differentiated support strategies can be developed to leverage the precision-enhancing effect of information acquisition.
Hou et al. (Thu,) studied this question.