Behavorial Dynamics Affecting Data Use in Cambodia
Conference
10th International Conference on Agricultural Statistics
Format: CPS Paper - ICAS 2026
Keywords: "data, behavioural-change
Abstract
While Cambodia has made substantial strides in making high-quality agricultural data from regular Agricultural Surveys to policymakers and researchers, the use of such data remains limited. This paper reports on the findings from a survey of potential users of agricultural data in Cambodia, which focused on potential behavioral barriers to data use in the Cambodian context. Through an online survey carried out in the summer of 2024, we identify several key features of the context in which decisions about agricultural data use are made, as well as the underlying decision-making dynamics and behavioral/cognitive biases that may affect decision-makers, that may be inhibiting the appropriate use of agricultural data. We find that while respondents have generally positive attitudes to data use, and are well-informed about potential sources of agricultural data, there continue to be gaps in their ability to access and use such data. Beyond these capacity issues, we also document that potential users of data in Cambodia are susceptible to behavioral phenomena like present bias or hyperbolic discounting and loss aversion, while also operating in a context of cognitive scarcity engendered by multiple competing deadlines and tasks. Combined with a relative paucity of public feedback about data use and few explicit guidelines about data use and evidence suggesting that potential users of data may be susceptible to social and environmental cues (including past examples) about work priorities, our results suggest that some simple interventions around public acknowledgement and feedback, among other, might help increase the utilization of agricultural data in Cambodia.