Analysis of Digital Transformation in agrifood cooperatives from a gender perspective

Digital Transformation (DT) implies the emergence of new business models based on the widespread use of digital technologies. DT is necessary to improve productivity and access to markets, however, from a gender perspective, there is a digital divide. In this research, the objective is to study the DT from a gender perspective in a specific sector, the agri-food sector, and in a type of specific social economy entity that is fundamental in rural areas, the agri-food cooperatives. In these companies, there is still a gender gap, especially due to the lower proportion of women in the management teams and, in addition, they lag behind other companies in terms of DT. Specifically, DT is analysed in these cooperatives both globally and through the analysis of each of its dimensions: infrastructures, products, organisation, processes and customers. To this end, the study is based on data from a survey among a sample of agri-food cooperatives in Extremadura, a region with a strong specialisation in the agri-food sector and where cooperatives play an important economic, social and environmental role. The results show that the presence of women in the presidency of these cooperatives has a positive influence on the presence of women in their management teams. Furthermore, there are no significant differences in the overall DT of these co-operatives with respect to the gender factor, although there are differences in the specific dimensions of "customers" and "processes".