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This study aims to critically review the research on food eco-labels to identify research gaps and recommend future research directions in business and management.

A hybrid integrated review combines bibliometric analysis with an in-depth framework-based study of theory–context–characteristics–methodology (TCCM) and reviews quality research published over 21 years between 2002 and 2022.

We identify key research themes and the knowledge structure of food eco-label research. Future researchers should explore food eco-label dynamics and phenomena in areas related to consumer behaviour, information, consumer knowledge, environmental concerns, trust, packaging and willingness-to-pay as antecedent factors.

This review contributes to the business and management literature by quantifying existing research and consolidating its evolution. The articles were sourced from the established Web of Science (WoS) database. Other databases should be included in future reviews. We also focus on research published in business and management. Further studies could include research beyond such specialised domains.

Consumers need more information on the objectives and meaning of food eco-labels. The dissemination of knowledge on eco-labels, as well as effective communication and information on eco-labels, are relevant to future research issues.

The knowledge derived from this research holds significant potential in shaping policies and devising tools aimed at reducing the carbon footprint linked to food production and consumption. Considering the substantial impact of these activities on our planet’s carbon footprint, addressing food security and sustainability emerges as a crucial concern for humanity. Recognising the importance of eco-label communication and information becomes particularly pertinent for future generations, who stand to bear the most substantial impact of climate change and sustainable development. These generations are also more inclined toward embracing and implementing sustainable practices.

There are no comprehensive, integrated reviews exploring the methods, variables and constructs used in studies on food eco-labels based on all articles published in WoS journals in the business and management domains. This is the first comprehensive literature review using a hybrid approach (bibliometric review with TCCM framework) in the field of food eco-label research.

本研究擬以批判性的態度,審閱過去有關食物生態標籤的研究,以能確認研究缺口,並於商業和管理的範疇裡,建議今後的研究方向。

這是一個混合綜合審閱研究。研究結合了文獻計量分析方法和理論 -背景 - 特徵 - 方法論 (TCCM) 框架; 研究人員審閱於2002年與2022年間二十一年裡出版的高水平學術研究。

我們確認了關於食物生態標籤的研究裡主要的研究主題和知識結構。研究人員和學者今後應致力關於消費行為、資訊、顧客知識、環境關注、信任、包裝和支付意願等議題的研究範疇,以能在這些範疇內,把食物生態標籤的變革動力和現象,作為是先前因素進行探索。

本研究確定了現存有關的研究的數量,並幫助鞏固了這類研究的發展,就此,對商業和管理文獻作出了貢獻。審閱的學術論文均來自被認可的 Web of Science 資料庫。今後的研究應涵蓋其它資料庫; 而且,我們的焦點是放在關於商業和管裡的文獻上; 研究人員和學者今後或許也應致力於其它研究範疇。

消費者需要更多關於食物生態標籤目標和意義的資訊; 因此,今後的研究須關注生態標籤知識的傳播,以及生態標籤的有效溝通和資訊。

根據於 Web of Science 出版、以及在商業和管理領域內的學術論文,似乎沒有全面的或綜合的審閱,去探索有關食物生態標籤研究內採用的研究方法、變數和構築。本研究為在食物生態標籤研究領域裡,首個使用混合方式 (結合文獻計量分析方法和理論 -背景 - 特徵 - 方法論 (TCCM) 框架)的全面文獻審閱。

The objective of this study is to assess if Italian fish consumers are sensible to shark protection and if they would contribute paying more for small pelagic fishes coming from fisheries that are certified as “shark-free”.

Contingent valuation is used to estimate willingness to pay with a double approach, including a dichotomous choice and an open-ended question. Inconsistency between the two answers is allowed. This allows the correction of two sources of bias (i.e. preference uncertainty and anchoring effect) and has permitted that the two estimation methods converged to the same result.

Consumers show interest for the “shark-free” label. Premium price is estimated at +26%. Variables affecting willingness to pay (WTP) in the sample are age, income, environmental attitude, knowledge of organic labels and frequency of small pelagics' consumption. Results need to be confirmed by a replication on a larger (probabilistic) sample and with a different distribution of bids.

Ecosystems provide different benefits to humankind, including non-use services, such as the satisfaction to know that a species is well conserved. Generally, appreciation is higher for what are considered charismatic species. In this paper, the authors investigate if sharks can be considered charismatic species despite their “bad reputation”. The interest in shark survival is measured indirectly using a “shark-free” label on a commercial species like anchovy, allowing to increase the value added of this low-price species.

Environmental concern is getting increasing importance in consumer shopping decisions. Nevertheless, to date, sustainable packaged foods are not always the first option when consumers go shopping. This paper analyses how environmental concern moderates the role played by external factors – preference towards sustainable retailers and trust in sustainable producers – in determining consumer purchase intentions for sustainable packaged foods. Consumer involvement in eco-friendly labels, increasingly present in food packages, is investigated as indirectly impacting pro-environmental purchase intentions.

An online survey administered to a sample of Italian food shoppers is used for the empirical analysis. A total of 278 structured questionnaires were modelled using a structural equation modelling approach.

Findings show that producers and retailers' policies in favour of sustainability are key in determining consumers' sustainable purchase intentions. Further, coherent uses of labels and logos in light of sustainability can support consumer purchase decisions. Relevant is the influence played by the environmental concern in both supporting pro-environmental purchase intentions and in amplifying the trust in sustainable producers-purchase intentions path.

This study contributes to the literature on sustainability showing how producers and retailers may together influence consumers' pro-environmental purchase intentions. Findings extend the retail literature on the impact of producers and retailers' policies on consumers' sustainable purchases. Further, environmental concern is investigated in its moderating role on the impact of external factors on consumers' pro-environmental purchase intentions.

Sustainability labels play a crucial role in providing consumers with quick and easily accessible information to assess the environmental, social and economic impacts of products. This research examines how different sustainability labels influence consumer perceptions and assessments of alternative food networks (AFNs).

The authors conducted three cross-sectional studies to explore consumer perceptions of sustainability labels for AFNs. The authors tested labels representing the three sustainability dimensions, labels of different graphical quality and different awarding bodies.

Consumers did not differentiate between sustainability dimensions but assessed labels in a holistic manner. The overall rating of a label positively influenced perceived sustainability. Self-designed and professionally designed labels had a positive effect on the intention to buy from an AFN. Professionally designed labels also enhanced the perceived authenticity of the networks. Notably, the source of the label, whether self-awarded or awarded by an official body, did not significantly impact consumer perceptions. However, interaction effects revealed professionally designed labels had a stronger positive effect on purchase intention when they were self-awarded.

AFNs can derive benefits from using labels. Self-organized, non-profit AFNs are well advised to have labels professionally designed.

This research contributes to the understanding of the effects of sustainability labels for community-based AFNs, diverging from the traditional focus on individual products.

This study aims to gain a first explorative view on what intrinsic/extrinsic attributes a generic cup for hot beverage should possess to be perceived as eco-friendly, and how some attributes of a hot beverage could influence consumers’ purchase decision and willingness to pay (WTP) for that beverage dispensed by vending machines (VMs).

A questionnaire was developed in 2021 and sent to all students of an Italian university campus. For the first goal, students were asked to assign a score to some eco-friendly intrinsic/extrinsic attributes using a five-point Likert scale. For the second aim, a choice experiment with six scenarios was developed.

Both intrinsic and extrinsic attributes play a key role in shaping students’ opinions and preferences. Results indicate that students are attracted by the idea of a cup that communicates its environmental properties through corresponding labels and information, and it is made by materials that guarantee biodegradability, recyclability or reusability.

The research represents the first academic attempt to provide a first consumers’ viewpoint on the importance of eco-friendly attributes of cups for hot beverages able to influence consumers’ perceptions and consumption choices of hot beverages dispensed by VMs.

This study aims to determine the antecedents that influence attitudes towards the use of environmentally friendly household appliance products and consumers' green purchase intention among consumers in Harare, Zimbabwe.

Data were collected from 329 consumers in Harare, Zimbabwe's commercial capital who were served from five using a structured questionnaire via an online web-based cross-sectional survey. Hypothesised relationships were tested through structural equation modelling with the aid of Smart PLS software.

Green product awareness, social influence, perceived benefit and attitude towards green appliances were found to have a significant positive effect on green purchase intention.

The study's findings may not be generalised to other contexts as sample data was only collected in Zimbabwe. Complementary cross-sectional research studies can be done in other parts of the world to enable cross-cultural comparisons and methodological validations.

The green appliance and energy saving practices are vastly growing, with many multinational appliance companies introducing green products within their product lines and adopting the concept of sustainability through modifications in production, design and consumption of household appliance products that encompass fewer harmful consequences on the environment in response to their concerns about the scarcity of natural resources, environmental well-being and the potential detriment of future generations.

Notwithstanding the limitations of the current study, the results have the potential to contribute to an improved understanding of influence attitudes towards the use of environmentally friendly household appliance products.

The aim of this paper is to contribute to knowledge about the diversity of credibility arrangements in new audit spaces “in the margins” of auditing and the implications of such arrangements.

The paper is based on an in-depth qualitative study of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex (LGBTQI) rights certification run by the Swedish Federation for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Intersex Rights (RFSL) during its first decade of operation. We have interviewed employees and studied documents at the certification units within the RFSL. We have also interviewed certified organizations.

We highlight two features that explain the unusual credibility arrangements in this audit practice: the role of beneficiaries in the organizational arrangements chosen and the role of responsibility as an organizing value with consequences for responsibility allocation in this certification. These features make it possible for the RFSL to act as a credible auditor even though it deviates from common arrangements for credible audits.

The RFSL certification is different in several ways. First, the RFSL acts as both a trainer and an auditor. Second, the trainers/auditors at the RFSL have no accreditation to guarantee their credibility. Third, the RFSL decides for itself what standards should apply for the certification and adapts these standards to the operation being audited. Therefore, this case provides a good opportunity to study alternative credibility arrangements in the margins of auditing as well as their justifications.

Maintaining food safety techniques in the supply chain management require special food safety labelling techniques during distribution in the retail food industry. The food products have to be of good quality and labelling inbound, manufacturing, and outbound in the supply chain contributes to this aim. The purpose of this study is to evaluate how food safety labelling is managed in Vietnam’s retail food industry with a special focus on food in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Photography was used in an observational study conducted among five separate retail market chains all located in this city. In which ways are the applications of the developed food safety labelling techniques among three separate retail food markets similar and dissimilar being accounted for? The results show that the packaging and labelling in Big C, Aeon Citimart, and Giant using the symbols of food safety build trust for their customers. The Big C indicates guidelines for VietGAP and green labelling. Aeon Citimart indicates the name of the good, expiration date and instructions for use as well as guidelines for the government factor (VietGAP) to the food safety practices in the Vietnamese food retail sector.

We conduct a literature review on forms of organizing that address grand challenges, which are operationalized as the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations, as this framework is universal and widely adopted. By analyzing the articles that match our criteria, we identify six differentiable organizational forms: movements, temporary organizations, partnerships, established organizations, multi-stakeholder networks, and supranational organizations. These six forms are differentiated based on the two following categories: organizing segment and communicational technological approach. Our analysis shows that tackling a grand challenge often starts with collectives as a protest culture without any expected goal, besides sending an impulse to others. This impulse is received by criticized institutionalized organizations that have the capacity and resources to address the problem properly. However, new challenges arise as these organizations inadequately resolve these problems, thereby leading to conflict-laden areas of tension, wherein emergent organizations complement institutionalized organizations that have created the first infrastructure. To solve the most complex problems, a trichotomous relationship between different forms of organizations is necessary. Moreover, communicational technological approaches become more sophisticated as grand challenges increase in complexity.

Some wrong methods have emerged in the form of greenwashing while on the way to becoming a green and sustainable brand or business. Recently, it has been questioned whether businesses or brands act by their green image. This study aims to determine whether greenwashing practices represent a slow transition to sustainability or a rapid escape.

This study used secondary data sources and reviewed collected secondary sources. It was a qualitative study due to its methodology. The findings were mostly based on the author’s assumptions through review results.

As a result of the review of the literature and current sources, it was determined that there are two sides of greenwashing: a dark side and a white side. The dark side of greenwashing represented a rapid escape from sustainability and the white side of greenwashing represented a slow transition to sustainability. Positive and negative elements were summarized in the study and the study gave an original model showing two sides of greenwashing.

This study provides a viewpoint on greenwashing. This study is limited with its review results and used secondary data. Different approaches or different studies can explore different results for the related literature.

The purpose of this study is not to justify companies or brands employing greenwashing. However, for a sustainable future, the contribution of manufacturers, businesses and brands as the supply side has a vital value. Therefore, it is recommended to criticize greenwashing by encouraging brands and companies that are trying to take more positive steps in the transition to sustainability.

Policymakers and individuals can improve the dark side of greenwashing. The biggest motive for sustainable production is the demand for green consumers. Accordingly, firms and brands will be sustainable and green in the long term in a good way as consumers and policymakers guide them in a good way.

This study gives an alternative view of greenwashing by comparing the dark side with the white side. The literature mostly expressed that greenwashing had bad implications but this study tried to find the good sides of greenwashing.