Agri-food firms’ attitude toward digital data exploitation in the product development

THE AIMS OF THE PAPER This paper explores digital data exploitation behaviours and shows how these conducts change according to the data sources used by agri-food firms when developing their products. METHODOLOGY We adopt an exploratory multiple-case study to provide a theoretical framework for agri-food firms utilising digital data for product development. MOST IMPORTANT RESULTS The article shows two prominent firms’ behaviours that we labelled data explorers and data receivers and a third behaviour which is a combination of the main ones. RECOMMENDATIONS This article offers guidelines to support agri-food firms to distinguish how such firms may benefit from the digital transformation by gaining competitiveness improving production efficiency and supporting the development of their products.  Acknowledgments: This paper has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 101030185. This article is an outcome of the project FooDization.