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Digital transformation is increasingly viewed as a pathway to more sustainable and inclusive agri-food systems in Sub-Saharan Africa. However, conventional technology adoption models cannot sufficiently explain how digital platforms operate in rural areas with limited connectivity and infrastructure. This study develops a grounded theoretical framework to examine hybrid e-commerce adoption in the cassava supply chain in Kongo-Central, Democratic Republic of Congo. Using 29 semi-structured interviews with upstream, midstream, downstream, and support actors, we construct the Electronic Cooperative-Farmer Coordination (ECFC) model through open, axial, and selective coding. Findings indicate that adoption is shaped by the interaction of four interdependent dimensions: psychosocial (community trust and relational governance), economic (market integration, transaction cost management, and collective bargaining), technological (hybrid accessibility using Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD), mobile money, and mobile applications), and environmental-infrastructural (post-harvest losses, last-mile logistics, and policy gaps). Economic benefits from digital market access are mostly achieved through cooperative aggregation rather than individual participation, transforming digital tools into instruments for collective value creation. Environmental restrictions, especially perishability, inefficient transportation, limit the effectiveness of digital coordination and highlight the importance of territorially integrated logistics solutions. The ECFC model advances understanding of hybrid e-commerce in low-connectivity African contexts by conceptualizing adoption as a digitally mediated governance process instead of an individual technological decision.
Y et al. (2026) studied this question.