Analysis of factors affecting cross-boundary knowledge mobilization in agri-food supply chains: An integrated approach

Accepted/In Press date: 25 April 2023

e-pub ahead of print date: 10 May 2023

Published date: 1 September 2023

Additional Information: Funding Information: Finally, we suggest that regional and national governments should establish sufficient budgets for agricultural and rural development. This would enable SMEs to apply for funding to support their development, and reskill and upskill their employees. Knowledge extension agencies should also be set up at national, state and district levels to ensure knowledge and technology generation, extension and diffusion. Funding Information: The analysis of KMob factors crossing boundaries resulted in a TISM model with eight levels. Power (F1) and National culture (F10) comprise level VIII, Commitment (F3) and Supply network structure (F7) constitute level I, whereas the remaining seven factors dispersed from levels II to VII. KMob factors located in the lower levels of the TISM model (towards the bottom of Fig. 3 ) can elicit more KMob factors in the system, whereas those at higher levels of the TISM model (towards the top of Fig. 3 ) can elicit fewer KMob factors. The TISM model of KMob factors demonstrates that Power (F1) and National culture (F10) are critical in enabling SMEs in AFSCs to overcome knowledge boundaries. For example, some SME participants in this research were from Argentina, where has a cultural value orientation pertains to embeddedness ( Schwartz. 2006 ). This makes it more difficult to mobilize knowledge crossing boundaries because cultural embeddedness discourages unnecessary involvement with people outside the broad ingroup. For SMEs from Europe, France’s intellectual autonomy orientation and Italy’s egalitarianism orientation encourage individuals to pursue their own ideas and join voluntary organizations, which facilitates KMob. Support from the top management team is also necessary to foster employees’ knowledge manipulation abilities and inter-organizational networks. For example, a sustainable economic AFSC was established in southern France by linking organizations providing a range of specialist functions (laboratory research, field research and maritime transport), as well as an advocacy and lobbying organization. This enabled AFSC practitioners to acquire Government support (F11) through lobbying, and regional and national governments increased their budgets for agricultural and rural development. Financial resources (F5) acquired by SMEs could be used for Training and education (F4), short mobilizations between different organizations, and formulation of knowledge transfer partnerships. These collective activities increased Trust (F2) and Collaboration (F8) among AFSC practitioners, facilitated advanced Technology deployment (F9) and applications for funding to support Continuous development (F6). For example, SMEs can apply to the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the Horizon 2020 Programme for funding to extend relationships and trial the latest technology at their farms and laboratories. All these activities enhance Commitment (F3) and the Supply network structure (F7). Publisher Copyright: © 2023 The Author(s)

Keywords: Agri-food supply chains, Boundary-crossing mechanisms, Fuzzy MICMAC analysis, Knowledge boundaries, Knowledge mobilization, Total interpretive structural modeling

Local EPrints ID: 477632

URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/477632

DOI: doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2023.114006

ISSN: 0148-2963

PURE UUID: 55bbba7f-1fed-4d47-985a-db92bf709623

ORCID for Carmen Lopez: orcid.org/0000-0002-5510-1920

Date deposited: 09 Jun 2023 17:01

Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 03:58