Multi-stakeholder technology acceptance: a preliminary systematic literature review on data-driven technologies for sustainability in the agri-food supply chain

In the last decades, companies have seen a transition toward a network structure, adapting their internal focus to the external environment, thus moving from material flow improvement and cost reduction to the satisfaction of product customization. Such phenomena are even amplified when considering extended supply chains. Furthermore, the increasing relevance of external pressure belonging from sustainability challenges has led the supply chain to resort to better management of resources, among which data, through the adoption of new and emerging technologies. Despite the several benefits these technologies imply their diffusion within the supply chain has not followed the expectation. Existing literature already tried to cope with technology acceptance, defining which are the main constructs, especially from an individual perspective. What is not yet clearly defined is what happens when enlarging the boundaries to the supply chain perspective, namely considering multiple stakeholders together. Just, a few contributions tried to build a comprehensive framework. The agri-food supply chain represents one of the major supply chains when considering this scenario. Accordingly, in the last decades, this sector has seen an increase in the adoption of technologies based on data within the supply chain, giving birth to the Agriculture 4.0 paradigm. This study aims to define by means of systematic literature review whether frameworks or models exist to measure multi-stakeholder technology acceptance, and which are the drivers considered in the agri-food supply. Moreover, this paper stresses the importance of keeping updated on the set barriers that must be considered when boundaries of analysis change or evolve over time. The introduction of further actors can modify previous rules of the game and decision-making could not always be a choice for some players when dealing with multiple stakeholder’s technology acceptance.