Going Short and Going Digital: How Do Consumers View the Impacts of Digitalizing Short Food Supply Chains?

Abstract

Agricultural digitalization and short food supply chains (SFSCs) are considered to be different avenues for transitioning to more sustainable agrifood systems. Can these avenues be put together, or are they parallel and, hence, not compatible? The answer to that question largely depends on the potential effects of digitalization on SFSCs. Going digital is a transformative process, accompanied by desirable and undesirable economic, social, environmental, and cultural impacts on short supply schemes. In this cross-sectional quantitative study, based on data from 211 individuals who frequently buy from SFSCs, we examined how consumers evaluate these impacts. We also investigated how participants’ perceptions of these impacts influence their acceptance of agricultural digitalization and their willingness to buy food products from digitalized SFSCs. Our results revealed that consumers view digitalization as a source of positive environmental but adverse social, cultural, and economic impacts on short supply schemes. In addition, we found that acceptance of digitalization and willingness to buy from digitalized SFSCs received moderate-to-low scores. Two regressions showed that buyers’ perceptions of the social impacts that follow digitalization shape both acceptance and willingness. These findings uncovered consumers’ skepticism toward digitalization, suggesting that their commitment to short supply chains and the values that these schemes represent cultivate the belief that digitalization can negatively transform SFSCs, leading to an unwelcome industrialization.