title: Factors Affecting the Adoption of Digital Tools and Systems in Australian Horticulture Industries
Creators: name: Gomez Quintanilla, Edith E
Publisher: name: Griffith University
Year: 2023
Subjects: subject: horticulture
subject: technology acceptance model (TAM)
subject: mango industry
subject: cold chain practices

description: Globally, up to one-third of food is lost or wasted in part due to poor cold chain management practices. Just as the “green revolution” innovations of the 1960s changed agriculture, the current “digital revolution” could help agriculture overcome this food waste challenge. Horticulture, with its intensive production systems, higher level of loss and wastage, and high value, is well placed to gain from this digital revolution and the adoption of digital technologies. Ensuring optimal temperature management is the single most important factor in maintaining fresh produce quality and reducing waste. Careful management of temperature is important because temperatures above or below the biologically safe temperature range damage fresh products. Anecdotally, in places such as Australia, it is claimed that cold chain management practices are inadequate, and the use of temperature monitoring tools is limited. Limited research has been conducted to understand and explain why the horticulture industry at large is failing to adopt technologies to support better cold chain practices. Using a sequential multi-methods qualitative research approach, this dissertation provides insights into the challenges of the adoption of temperature monitoring technologies in Australian horticulture supply chains. The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) by Davis (1989b) is the theoretical foundation guiding this qualitative study. My original contributions to knowledge are twofold. First, this study explored the lived experiences of horticulture supply chain members in Australia when adopting temperature monitoring technologies to support cold chain practices. Second, the study sought to understand the applicability of TAM to general horticulture supply chain settings. During the first stage of the research, 30 in-depth interviews with businesses operating in the mango industry provided a detailed description of factors deterring, as well as supporting, adoption. These findings were then verified in the second stage of the research using a multiple case study approach examining three horticulture supply chains. Analysis of the data indicates serious cold chain breakdowns in Australian horticulture supply chains, largely because of poor temperature monitoring due to the prevalent belief that minor temperature variations have no major effect on product quality and shelf life. The research also indicates that adoption is affected by seven TAM constructs, namely perceived ease of use, usefulness, attitudes, behavioural intentions, trust, social influence, and costs. The study contributes to the Information System literature by presenting an integrated TAM model that can be utilised to understand adoption in horticulture supply chains. It supports and strengthens the TAM by providing evidence of its applicability to real-life horticulture industry supply chains around a fundamental and pivotally important adoption problem in the industry. The practical implications for ICT developers, industry peak bodies, and governments are that inter-firm interactions must be considered when designing and implementing cold chain improvement programs. This dissertation provides government, industry, and businesses with detailed insights into supply chain participant’s interactions can be applied to improve cold chain practices across the whole chain.