Assessing the digital transformation in agri-food cooperatives and its determinants
构建了评估农业食品合作社数字化转型水平的理论框架和方法，通过对西班牙安达卢西亚地区合作社的调查，分析了影响数字化转型的关键因素，为合作社和政策制定者提供参考。
The digital transformation (DT) of companies implies the emergence of new business models based on the widespread use of digital technologies. Digital transformation is necessary to improve efficiency, productivity, and market access in a context of increasing competition. In the case of the agri-food sector, DT is also required to address the challenges of food safety, food waste, and sustainability. This research aims to build a theoretical framework and a methodology to assess the global level of DT and its dimensions and factors that influence it in a specific type of agri-food company, namely agri-food cooperatives. These prominent social economy entities follow cooperative principles and play a significant role in rural development, especially in the most backward regions. An empirical analysis has been conducted to validate the methodology and meet the objectives. To this end, a Global Index of DT was built, and data was obtained from a survey of agri-food cooperatives in Andalusia, a southern Spanish region with a long-standing tradition of agri-food cooperatives, which also presents a low per-capita income in the European context. Empirical results effectively reveal that the proposed theoretical framework and methodology expediate the assessment of the global level of DT of agri-food cooperatives and the relevance of certain influential critical factors. In this way, relevant information for cooperatives and policy-makers can be collected to facilitate the implementation of DT.