Determinants of Innovation Adoption in SMEs : an explorative study on dairy farmers in Four European Countries

Technological innovation boosts productivity and sustainability goals, yet innovation diffusion among small- to medium-sized European dairy farms is uneven. This study examines which configurational set of determinants explains the decision to adopt Robotic Milking Systems (RMS) in the Netherlands, Germany, France and Poland. Eighteen farmers selected for maximum variation in herd size, land use, and current technology level were interviewed; transcripts were scored and analyzed with fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis. One dominant adoption pathway was revealed: the self-driven pioneer—a larger-than-average farm run by an entrepreneur with a strong personal pro-innovation attitude who decides independently of peers or suppliers. Two contrasting pathways explain non-adoption. The risk-averse family farm couples below-average size with distrust of unfamiliar technologies and satisfaction with its current scale. The welfare traditionalist prioritises animal health, trusts personal husbandry skills over technology and expands while staying true to tradition. These configurational insights extend technology-acceptance models (TAM/UTAUT) by exposing the sector’s causal complexity. Implications: allow pioneers to explore autonomously, motivate risk-averse family farms with targeted subsidies, and win welfare traditionalists by embedding animal-welfare gains into new systems, giving developers clear pathways for design.