117 EXPLORING THE USE OF DIGITAL DATA IN THE AGRI-FOOD CONTEXT Moreno Frau 1 Francesca Cabiddu 2 DOI: https://doi.org/10.31410/ITEMA.S.P.2019.117 Abstract: This paper explores digital data exploitation behaviors and shows how these com- portments change according to the data sources employed by the frms when trying to develop their products. This article aims to provide a theoretical framework concerning how digital data are employed for product development. Since the relationship between data exploitation and product development represents an empirically under-explored research area, the authors adopt an exploratory multiple case study design to develop new theoretical and empirical in- sights pertaining to this topic. This paper provides guidelines that help agri-food frms recog- nize the features of how food processing might take advantage of digital transformation and digital data gaining competitiveness by improving production efciency and supporting the development of their products. Keywords: Digitization, Digital Transformation, Food Processing, Product Development, Behavior. 1. INTRODUCTION D igital transformation is dramatically changing the face of the economy (Matzler et al. 2018). Digital transformation is the application of new technologies […] [which] requires skills that involve the extraction and exchange of data as well as the analysis and conversion of that data into actionable information. (Schallmo, Williams, and Boardman 2017, 4). Previous studies on technological innovation and food production (e.g. Beckeman, Bourlakis, and Olsson 2013; Grunert et al. 2008), on one hand, have signifcantly explained how agri- food frms made use of technologies and what new food products have been developed due to the new technolo- gies (e.g. Leek, Szmigin, and Carrigan 2001; Marette et al. 2009; Steenis and Fischer 2016). On the other hand, they missed the opportunity to investigate the increasing availability of digital data in a poor-technology-adopter sector, and how the information gathered by the elaboration of digital data can foster product development (Schweitzer, Handrich, and Heidenreich 2019). This gap inspires our research question: how do low-tech frms exploit digital data to develop their products? This article contributes by empirically demonstrating that digital data exploitation behaviors change according to the data sources employed by the frms when trying to develop their prod- ucts. Our paper is structured as follows: frstly, we argue for the efects of digital transformation and the use of digital technologies in the agri-food industry; secondly, we display the meth- odology that was adopted to conduct the study; then, we thoroughly discuss the key fndings; fnally, we conclude with the discussions, research limitations, and some implications for future research. 1 Università degli studi di Cagliari, Via Sant’Ignazio da Laconi, 74, 09123, Cagliari, Italy 2 Università degli studi di Cagliari, Via Sant’Ignazio da Laconi, 74, 09123, Cagliari, Italy