ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Commun.
Sec. Science and Environmental Communication
Communication as the Primary Driver of IoT-Based Smart Farming Adoption: The Mediating Role of Innovation Perception and the Supporting Function of Institutional Mechanism
Provisionally accepted
Sumardjo Sumardjo1
Adi Firmansyah1*
Leonard Dharmawan1
Cecep Darmawan2
Nana Kariada Tri Martuti3
Heni Nuraeni Zaenudin2
Inaya Sari Melati3- 1IPB University, Bogor, Indonesia
- 2Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia, Bandung, Indonesia
- 3Universitas Negeri Semarang, Semarang, Indonesia
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Communication and innovation perception play interconnected roles in shaping farmers' adoption of IoT-based smart farming technologies. This study examines how communication strategies and institutional support influence innovation perception and adoption behavior among smallholder farmers. By positioning communication as a central explanatory mechanism, the analysis explores how information is interpreted, trusted, and translated into sustained technology use. A quantitative approach using PLS-SEM was applied to survey data collected from 200 farmers in West Java, Indonesia. The results indicate that communication exerts a strong direct influence on both innovation perception and adoption, while institutional support affects adoption primarily through its influence on perception. These findings contribute to communication-based innovation theory by highlighting perception as a key mechanism in the smart farming adoption process. From a practical perspective, the study underscores the importance of farmer-centric, peer-amplified, and value-oriented communication strategies supported by coherent institutional frameworks. Adoption policies should integrate communication, capacity building, and financial facilitation to support digital transformation in agriculture.
Keywords: Agricultural digital transformation, Communication strategies, Innovation perception, Institutional support, IoT-based smart farming, Technology Adoption
Received: 23 Nov 2025; Accepted: 16 Feb 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Sumardjo, Firmansyah, Dharmawan, Darmawan, Martuti, Zaenudin and Melati. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Adi Firmansyah
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