The importance of microAKIS members in the strategic decisions of Flemish horticulture farmers.

Purpose: This paper aims to understand whether different types of strategic decisions warrant the influence of different types of knowledge providers. Design/Methodology/Approach: A survey of 28 horticulture farmers was conducted in Belgium to explore their knowledge providers and recent strategic decisions. Farmers reported their microAKIS configuration, up to three strategic decisions and detailed the interaction with each of their knowledge providers. Findings: Horticulture farmers configure their microAKIS in unique ways partly depending on their subsector, while purposefully mobilizing only part of this configuration for each strategic decision. The findings suggest that the role of knowledge provider can be context- or decision-specific. Practical Implications: Advisors and policy makers should consider the specificity of advisory services when developing support tools aimed at specific innovations, as farmers do not necessarily rely on topic specialists alone. Theoretical Implications: The results highlight the complexity of the influence of knowledge providers on innovation and the need for research on general strategic decisions and multiple decisions per farmer. Originality/Value: The paper applies a broad methodology to study the mobilization of agricultural knowledge providers by utilizing strategic decisions rather than specific innovations and capturing multiple decisions per farmer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]