Framing Agri-Digital Governance

Industry Stakeholders, Technological Frames and Smart Farming Implementation

Bibliographic Data

ID4446397
AuthorsVaughan Higgins (0000-0001-9350-1282, Associate Professor of Sociology, School of Social Sciences University of Tasmania Launceston Tasmania 7240 Australia, corresponding author), Melanie Bryant (0000-0003-4026-0379, Professor of Management and Head – School of Management and Marketing, Tasmanian School of Business and Economics University of Tasmania Hobart Tasmania 7001 Australia)
Year2020
Volume60
Issue2
Pages438-457
Publication date2020-04-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSociologia Ruralis (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0038-0199 • E-ISSN: 1467-9523
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/soru.12297
OpenAlexW3007163037
LanguageEN
Citations received31
References cited43

Meso-scale actors - such as farm advisors and other extension agents - are increasingly recognised as playing a critical role in managing farmer uncertainty associated with smart farming implementation. However, there has been limited research to date on how these actors navigate smart farming implementation within specific industries or commodity sectors. This article applies theoretical insights from the technological frames literature to investigate how meso-scale actors in the Australian rice industry frame smart farming technology implementation, and the ways in which relationships between frames variously afford and/or constrain industry sovereignty over implementation of technological change. Through analysis of our data, we reveal a complex relationship between participants' technological frames involving frame incongruence, frame ambivalence and frame switching. We argue that while development of a more integrated approach to enhancing the digital capacities of meso-scale actors advocated in the literature provides a way of addressing frame incongruence, more flexible strategies may be needed to address frame ambivalence and switching. Furthermore, we contend that those frame relationships supporting industry sovereignty - namely frame ambivalence and switching - may not always be conducive to the promotion of digital agency among meso-scale actors, and could in fact impose limits on smart farming implementation

Agriculture · Ambivalence · Business · Content analysis · Corporate governance · Frame (networking) · Frame analysis · Framing (construction) · Industrial organization · Political science · Public relations · Scale (ratio) · Social science · Sociology · Telecommunications · Agricultural Innovations and Practices · Agriculture, Land Use, Rural Development · Computer Science · CRISPR and Genetic Engineering · Engineering · Marketing

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Open DOISci-HubOpen Access