Ambiguity aversion and the adoption of no-tillage technology: evidence from a field experiment in China

Purpose This article aims to study the influence of ambiguity aversion on the adoption of conservation tillage technology by taking no-tillage technology as an example. Design/methodology/approach This article accurately elicits farmers’ ambiguity aversion in real situations through a field experiment designed with monetary incentives, empirically analyzing the impact of ambiguity aversion on the adoption behavior related to agricultural technology. Findings Ambiguity aversion significantly reduces the probability of farmers’ adoption of NT technology. Empirical results show that when ambiguity aversion of farmers increases by 1 unit, the probability of adopting NT technology decreases by 2.2%, which corresponds to a 15.3% sample mean. Mechanism analysis indicates that ambiguity aversion obviously hinders farmers’ technology adoption intention and social trust, thereby inhibiting the likelihood of adopting NT technology. The heterogeneity analysis demonstrates that farmers with lower education levels and older age groups are more sensitive to the influence of ambiguity aversion. However, ambiguity aversion has a less pronounced impact on large-scale farmers. Originality/value This paper provides two primary contributions. First, different from existing research focusing on agricultural technology adoption under deterministic conditions, this paper presents the research in the context of an uncertain probability distribution, exploring the impact of ambiguity aversion on farmers’ technology adoption. Second, to the best of our knowledge, this paper is the first study to investigate the mechanism through which ambiguity aversion inhibits agricultural technology adoption.