Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/318202 
Year of Publication: 
2025
Citation: 
[Journal:] Technological Forecasting and Social Change [ISSN:] 1873-5509 [Volume:] 213 [Article No.:] 123985 [Publisher:] Elsevier [Place:] Amsterdam [Year:] 2025 [Pages:] 1-18
Publisher: 
Elsevier, Amsterdam
Abstract: 
Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) can reduce information asymmetries and thereby promote rural development for smallholder farmers in developing countries. Despite rising adoption rates of ICTs, many smallholders remain information constraint. Using panel data from 12,456 smallholder households across 12 developing countries, we analyze the role of social ties in determining ICT adoption and access to agricultural extension services. We find that weak social ties significantly reduce ICT adoption and access to agricultural advice, increasing information inequality. Moreover, ICT adoption, strong social ties and extension services positively correlate with agricultural productivity. Our findings highlight that ICTs, while transformative, may reinforce existing inequalities by marginalizing already disadvantaged smallholders.
Subjects: 
ICT4D
Digital divide
Social ties
Extension services
Agricultural rural development
JEL: 
O1
O3
Q19
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Creative Commons License: 
cc-by Logo
Document Type: 
Article
Document Version: 
Published Version

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