Organisational readiness for digital innovation - the case of Australian agriculture

The demand for agricultural goods is growing due to a growing global population and increased individual consumption. At the same time, climate change and the associated extreme weather events will make it challenging to meet this demand. Digital innovation is seen as an important part of ensuring the global food supply; however, the agricultural sector remains one of the least digitalised industries, lacking readiness to innovate with digital technologies. Despite the academic interest in digital innovation and the urgent need to apply it to the agricultural sector, research on readiness for digital innovation, especially in this sector, is rare.

This thesis investigates how Australian farmers become ready for digital innovation. Specifically, it identifies and defines key factors influencing family farms' readiness for digital innovation, and explains the process of gaining such readiness. Building on relevant readiness literature (innovation readiness, e-readiness, readiness for industry 4.0, digital readiness and change readiness) and family farm literature, blended with research on family businesses and Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs), this thesis builds a conceptual framework of organisational readiness for digital innovation in the context of the Australian agricultural sector.

Embracing constructivism, this thesis employed a qualitative approach. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with managing farm owner(s) of 19 representative farms in Australia and 6 subject experts active in the field of digital agriculture. To ensure academic rigor and research trustworthiness, the data collected were coded manually and using NVivo 12, and analysed applying thematic and content analysis. The thesis findings identified that the factors Strategy, Managing Farm Owner(s), Management, Resources, Digital Technology and External Capacity influence the readiness of Australian farms to innovate with digital technologies and further defined each of these factors by specifying their constituent attributes. To date, no academic enquiry has explored factors influencing the readiness of family farms to innovate with digital technologies, therefore this finding is significant to the concept of organisational readiness for digital innovation. This thesis identified and explained changes in focus in regard to the key factors when advancing along the readiness spectrum, which is yet to be addressed by the readiness research.

Investigating the process of Australian farms gaining readiness for digital innovation, for the first time to date, it was discovered that each key factor became relevant in a specific order, starting with Managing Farm Owner(s), followed by External Capacity, Strategy, Resources, Digital Technology and finally Management. Furthermore, this thesis identified both enabling and reciprocal relationships between the key factors, which provided significant insights into the dynamics and complexity of the process, and on which hitherto no readiness research exists.  Consequently, this thesis builds upon and extends the readiness theory, specifically the concept of organisational readiness for digital innovation in four aspects: 1) it captures the complexity of readiness for digital innovation on family farms in a holistic framework, 2) it identifies and specifies the factors influencing family farms¿ readiness for digital innovation, 3) it articulates the process of gaining readiness for digital innovation and explains its underlying mechanisms, and 4) it provides insights into the context-specific boundaries of organisational readiness for digital innovation.

Translating the findings into practice, this thesis provides policymakers, technology providers and family farms with actionable knowledge. Such knowledge can help guide 1) policies that enhance digital innovation, 2) digital technology design for a wider and quicker technology uptake, and 3) farms¿ transition to becoming digital innovators, consequently contributing to meeting the global food demand.