Digital commercialization in the Amazon bioeconomy a framework for sociotechnical viability

Resumen

Objective: Digital commercialization can expand market access and reduce asymmetries in Amazon bioeconomy chains, but its viability remains conditioned by structural, institutional, and market constraints. This study analyzes the sociotechnical conditions that influence the viability of digital commercialization of bioeconomy products in the state of Acre, in Southwestern Brazilian Amazon, and proposes an analytical framework for sociotechnical viability. Theoretical approach: The study distinguishes technological adoption from sociotechnical viability and understands digital commercialization as a territorially situated form of commercialization whose operationalization depends on material, market, organizational, and institutional conditions. Method: A qualitative and exploratory study was conducted in the state of Acre, based on semi-structured interviews with eight producers and traders and two experts. The data were subjected to content analysis and integrated with analytical domains from the literature through comparison, abstraction, and synthesis to construct the framework. Results: Digital commercialization does not constitute an autonomous mechanism of transformation. Its viability results from the interaction among material infrastructure, market structure, sociotechnical capabilities, and institutional mediation. High receptiveness to digital solutions contrasts with their low use, while logistics and connectivity constraints, dependence on intermediaries, limited digital capabilities, and weaknesses in institutional mediation condition their operationalization. Conclusions: The study shifts the analysis from the availability or adoption of technology to the sociotechnical conditions that sustain digital commercialization. The proposed framework explains its viability through the interaction among four dimensions shaped by territorial conditions and provides an analytical structure for interpreting the factors that enable or constrain digital commercialization in sociobiodiversity chains.