Adoption of digital technologies to promote animal welfare data exchange in agri-food value chains

CONTEXT The digital transformation of livestock-related Agri-Food Value Chains (AFVCs) offers substantial potential for improving Animal Health and Welfare (AHW) monitoring, traceability, and coordination. However, despite technological advancements, effective cross-actor AHW data exchange remains limited due to fragmented infrastructures and market and governance-related challenges across the chain. OBJECTIVE This study examines digital technology adoption factors for advanced AHW data exchange in AFVCs and identifies how technological, economic, and actor interaction dimensions interact to shape adoption outcomes. It aims to uncover crucial barriers, promoters, and solution approaches to develop an integrated understanding of how governance structures, incentive mechanisms, and cross-actor collaboration shape digital transformation processes in AFVCs. In particular, the study treats adoption not solely as a single-actor technology decision, but as a multi-actor coordination challenge shaped by governance, incentives, and value distribution across the AFVC. METHODS We apply a qualitative multi-method research design, analysing fourteen expert interviews and five national living labs in Germany between 2021 and 2023. The dataset covers forty-one participants including farmers, veterinarians, technology and platform providers, industry associations, and regulatory institutions. We employ a mixed-method content and network analysis to identify thematic interrelations across adoption dimensions. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS Our findings reveal that limited AHW data exchange is shaped less by technical deficits alone than by the combined effects of fragmented data management, limited interoperability, unclear responsibilities, high costs, uncertain returns, missing incentives, and insufficient collaboration. Actor-interaction factors, especially cooperation, trust, and intrinsic engagement, emerge as key promoters, while technological and economic enablers appear most effective when embedded in credible cooperative settings. Co-created solution approaches emphasise collaborative structures, interoperable data and platform ecosystems, transparent cost-benefit communication, financial incentives, and supportive governance frameworks. Overall, successful AHW data exchange requires technical innovation, participatory cross-actor engagement, and the creation of win-win oriented value networks, alongside integrated governance and financing strategies, and business model innovations that balance sustainability considerations, economic viability, and equity across AFVC actors. SIGNIFICANCE This study demonstrates that well-known adoption barriers and enablers also apply to AHW data exchange, and that adoption outcomes are shaped more by governance, coordination, and power relations than by techno-centric considerations alone. It offers actionable guidance for the coordination of enhanced AHW data management in AFVCs that are actor-driven, resilient, economically transparent, and technically feasible. Thus, it supports a wiser and more systems-oriented perspective on digital transformation in agriculture.