Impact of Social Networks on Farmers' Adoption of Smartphones: Evidence From India

Empirical research on agricultural technology adoption has largely focused on farmer and farm level attributes, giving limited attention to the social context in which adoption decisions are embedded. This study addresses this gap by examining how village‐level social networks shape smartphone adoption among farmers in Andhra Pradesh, India. Using primary survey data and network measures constructed from farmers' reported connections, we characterize each farmer's position via average network effect (ANE) and degree centrality (DC). We estimate adoption using an instrumental variable (IV) probit model to address the endogeneity of peer adoption. Contrary to findings from studies of other agricultural technologies, higher smartphone adoption among a farmer's network connections reduces farmer's own likelihood of adoption, consistent with information spillovers that reduce the private need to adopt when peers already have. Farmers who are more central within their network, however, are significantly more likely to adopt, reflecting the greater communication demands placed on well‐connected individuals. Age, social status (caste group), household size, and land ownership are also significant correlates of adoption. The findings suggest that agricultural extension programs can improve cost‐effectiveness by targeting centrally positioned farmers as information‐diffusion nodes. At the same time, network spillovers may slow adoption of technologies that primarily serve as information‐access tools, rather than speed it up.