Drivers and barriers to digital transformation in agri-food supply chains

The digital technologies are reshaping the way various industries perform, albeit their adoption is still at infancy in agri-food supply chains. Increasing technology adoption necessitates an understanding of factors that drive and hinder its implementation process. Correspondingly, this study explores the key drivers and barriers intertwined in the digital transformation through 30 semi-structured interviews with managers in Australian Citrus Industry as an emblematic to agri-food supply chains. The findings unveil that intent to information sharing, e-value chain creation, cost optimisation and supply-demand alignment are currently drivers, while financial hardship, organisational inertia and lack of resource sharing are barriers to digital transformation in agri-food supply chains. Numerous theoretical and practical contributions and future research avenues have been discussed.