Systems approaches towards understanding the barriers to innovation adoption in the Australian beef industry

Abstract

The slow and low level of innovation adoption in the Australian beef industry was explored by using a systems approach. A causal loop model of innovation adoption system in the Australian beef industry was built based on various sources of literature and fieldwork findings in Queensland Australia. Further analysis of the systems model and fieldwork findings revealed the systemic structures of innovation adoption system in the Australian beef industry which underlie the complexity and dynamics of innovation adoption behaviour. To the utmost importance is this research also externalized key mental models of different actors within in the beef production system.

Key conclusions drawn from the systems analysis were (1) the barriers to innovation adoption are business situation specific, barriers shifting along with the changing of business situation; (2) a lack of fully understanding the systemic structure of innovation adoption system in the Australian beef industry is common; (3) a lack of shared mental model among different key actors in the beef production system was also clearly shown which inhibits effective cooperation among them for various innovation activities; (4) using systems approaches to understand barriers to the innovation adoption in the Australian beef industry can add valuable insights to this complex issue which traditional non-system based methods are not able to achieve.