Despite the expected benefits, the slow adoption of innovations in less developed countries
has long been a puzzle. Aside from market constraints, risk-aversion dominates the
discussion on the behavioural determinants of technology adoption. This paper investigates
the role of ambiguity-aversion as another possible explanation, given farmers may have less
information about the outcomes of new technologies compared with traditional technologies.
Using primary data from behavioural experiments used to measure risk and ambiguity
preferences in the field we find that farmers’ aversion to ambiguity and not risk constrains the
adoption of new technologies.