Societal value creation through digital technologies: Insights from stakeholder collaborations of Ukrainian agroholdings

Abstract This paper examines the rapid adoption of digital technologies by Ukrainian agroholdings, highlighting the transformative potential of agrifood digitainability, where digital innovation and sustainability intersect within agricultural practices through diverse stakeholder collaborations. We introduce a conceptual framework that categorizes firm-stakeholder interactions across two dimensions — primary versus secondary stakeholders and value creation versus legitimacy — capturing the complexity of these engagements. This framework redefines the concept of societal value creation, particularly emphasizing stakeholders traditionally classified as “secondary” within stakeholder theory. Our empirical analysis reveals that collaborations with both primary and secondary stakeholders generate significant social and environmental benefits, repositioning secondary stakeholders as active contributors to firm value creation. We argue that by treating secondary stakeholders as co-creators of societal value, agrifood firms can harness digital technologies to achieve both competitive advantage and enhanced legitimacy within their stakeholder environment.