Study of 321 Spanish wineries ties staff training to managers' support for digitalization

A study published Wednesday, October 28 in the journal Wine Economics and Policy found that Spanish wineries with stronger internal training and more active external communication were more likely to have managers who support digital transformation, and that this support partly helped explain greater technology adoption.

The research, by Wenbo Hu and Marta Fernández-Olmos, examined 321 wineries in Spain and focused on small and medium-size businesses, which often face tighter financial and organizational limits than larger companies when they try to modernize. The authors used survey data and a statistical method known as partial least squares structural equation modeling, or PLS-SEM, to test how organizational learning practices relate to digital change.

The central finding was that two broad learning behaviors mattered in particular: communication with outside actors and training inside the company. According to the paper, wineries that were better at gathering information from outside the firm and more systematic in training their staff showed higher levels of managerial support for digitalization. That support, in turn, was linked to stronger digital adoption.

The study argues that management backing should not be seen only as a starting condition for digital transformation. Instead, the authors say it also develops from what companies do before a technology decision is made. In this case, learning routines across the organization appeared to help build that support among decision-makers.

That point is important because research on digital transformation often treats top management support as a fixed independent factor. Hu and Fernández-Olmos instead describe it as playing a mediating role. Their results suggest that leadership support is both an outcome of organizational learning and a driver of digital change once it is in place.

The paper draws on two well-known management frameworks: Upper Echelons Theory, which links organizational outcomes to the views and choices of senior leaders, and Absorptive Capacity Theory, which focuses on how companies recognize, absorb and use knowledge. Using those ideas together, the authors examined what they call “technology-agnostic” organizational learning behavior, meaning learning routines that are not designed only for digital tools but can still prepare a company to adopt them.

In practical terms, the study found that external communication and internal training served different but complementary roles. External communication was tied to knowledge acquisition, or the ability to identify information and opportunities beyond the firm. Internal training was tied to knowledge assimilation, or the ability to turn scattered information into skills and shared organizational capability.

The authors say that combination helps explain why some traditional small businesses move faster than others on digital transformation. A winery may recognize new digital opportunities through contact with suppliers, customers, industry networks or other outside sources, but that alone may not be enough. Without internal processes that spread and organize what the business has learned, the information may remain fragmented and fail to produce action.

The study’s findings also point to a reason some wineries may hesitate to digitize even when technologies are available. The paper suggests that the bottleneck is not only access to digital tools, but also the absence of learning routines that can convert outside signals into internal confidence and managerial commitment.

That has clear implications for the wine business and potentially for other beverage producers facing similar pressures to modernize operations, marketing and customer relations. For companies deciding how to spend limited technology budgets, the research suggests that investments in staff training and stronger channels for gathering outside market knowledge may help reduce barriers to digital adoption by increasing support from leadership.

The article does not present digital transformation as a single tool or platform. Instead, it frames the process more broadly, as organizational change that depends on how companies learn and how managers interpret what they learn. That distinction matters for smaller producers, especially in traditional sectors where family ownership, established routines and limited resources can slow changes in strategy.

The authors say their results extend earlier work by offering a theoretical explanation for persistent gaps in transformation intent among traditional SMEs. In their interpretation, the issue is not only whether managers favor digitalization, but how that favorable view is formed inside the business.

The paper was released as a “Just Accepted” manuscript, meaning it has been accepted for publication but may still undergo final editing before appearing in its finished journal format. It was published with the DOI 10.36253/wep-19937.

Although the study focuses on Spanish wineries, its conclusions speak to a wider debate over why many small businesses adopt digital tools unevenly. The findings suggest that organizational habits such as training workers and maintaining active contact with the outside environment may shape whether digital projects gain traction at the top of the company, where final decisions on change are often made.