Social Capital and Diffusion of Integrated Pest Management Technology: A Case Study in Central Luzon, Philippines

Social capital is a concept that can be utilized in any delivery approaches for the efficient transfer of agricultural technologies. Over the decades, technology adoption and diffusion in agriculture have always been a problem with no leap forward solutions in sight. Adoption is defined as a decision to continue full use of an innovation while diffusion is defined as the process by which an innovation spreads (Rogers 1995). Most studies conducted on this subject had always focused on individual attributes as factors contributing to successful adoption and diffusion of agricultural technologies. Human behavior, however, is the result of interactions and interrelations between people. Thus, using this concept enhances any approach to understanding technology adoption and diffusion in that it makes it more unified, holistic, and comprehensive by looking beyond the individual—at the individual in relation with another individual. It looks at the norms and values operating in social relations and it looks at the ethos of social relations.