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This study seeks to identify and highlight the factors that hinder or favor young farmers in the quest to abide in the agricultural profession and to draw policy directions and axes of action to address the problem.

The study used a triangulation research approach with quantitative and qualitative methodologies. In total, 222 structured questionnaires and 9 personal interviews constituted the survey's data collection tools.

The results revealed a distinctive distribution of competencies. On the one hand, personal and entrepreneurial competencies make up the “strengths” of young farmers, and on the other hand, the lack of cooperative organizations and the lack of entrepreneurial education and training combined with a series of situational factors complete the puzzle of “weaknesses” the farmers face in the local daily becoming.

The findings of this study have academic and policy implications. Theoretically, this study contributes to the emerging literature that emphasizes the importance of farmers' competencies, collaboration, information and training in understanding the complex and different conditions that young farmers are called upon to manage.

The novelty of this study lies in the identification of both strengths and weaknesses that affect the abiding of young farmers in the agricultural profession.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the perceptions of young agricultural entrepreneurs (agripreneurs, as a neologism, from now on), to understand what they consider as determinants in achieving entrepreneurial success in accordance with their type of farming.

This study uses primary data collected through a questionnaire, among 222 young agripreneurs who are active in lowland, semi-mountainous and mountainous regions of western Greece.

The approach used provided a clear evidence that perceived characteristics, such as internal funding and level of education/training, have a significant relationship with the perception of young agripreneurs’ success (YAS). Also, the perception of young agripreneurs for success varies by the type of farming. Crop production agripreneurs have a significantly higher need for participation in Producer Groups than in livestock production ones. Alternatively, gender, presents a significant relationship only with livestock production agripreneurs’ success.

The results of this study could help to design appropriate policy instruments and at the same time, promote and foster entrepreneurship on the one hand and provide suggestions for young agripreneurs to create sustainable new ventures on the other hand.

This study is original and valuable in the sense that provides the practical implications for understanding the entrepreneurial success and sustainability in a very critical segment of the agricultural sector.

The purpose of this paper is to explain the impact of locus of control (LOC) and motivations on entrepreneurial intentions (EIs) among agri-entrepreneurs in the region of Western Greece.

The study was conducted in 2019 in the Western Greece region. Primary data were collected through a survey. A researcher-administered questionnaire was the data collection instrument while the individual farmer was the unit of analysis. Many data analysis methods were applied: a validity and reliability test, exploratory factor analysis, regression analysis, Kruskal–Wallis test and correlations.

The results show that the proposed model explains almost 33% of the variance for the EI. Internal LOC and pull motivations have a positive relationship with the intention of entrepreneurship. EI in the agricultural sector is more dependent on LOC, motivations, age and level of education than gender and type of holding.

The findings of this study provide several theoretical and practical contributions, which can be useful for other researchers.

This research study adds to the existing literature of the EI by using a different type of sample compared to previous contributions. Mostly EI studies used student sample to measure intentions. The present study extends the antecedents of intention by using a sample of existing agri-entrepreneurs. Farmers are one of the best potential segments, and as a result, this research will help predicting how the intention process of existing entrepreneurs works, especially in the primary sector.

Literature contributions to agricultural cooperative (AC) entrepreneurship model are fragmented and show some significant limitations. The purpose of this paper is to identify the existing important barriers to this entrepreneurship model as well as to group them into respective themes.

A systematic literature review (SLR) of peer reviewed journal articles was carried out by the authors in well-known databases, such as Scopus, Emerald, ScienceDirect, Google Scholar, IDEAS/RePEc search and Web of Science. In total, 78 articles from 26 different countries during 2010–2019 were collected.

A large number of important barriers are identified in the literature and meaningful dimensions of these barriers are also revealed.

The study has important implications regarding the ways to improve the effectiveness of AC model. Researchers and practitioners can use the results presented in this study for further development of this model.

This study presents the important barriers in AC model in global scope analytically and groups them into meaningful themes, which significantly differentiate the present SLR study from those published so far.

The purposes of this study are: first, to conceptualize entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship education in agriculture; second, to highlight the role and necessity of entrepreneurship education in enhancing entrepreneurship; and third, to formulate relevant research proposals.

The quantitative data were collected through a survey (structured questionnaire) distributed to 412 agricultural enterprises in the region of Aitoloakarnania in Greece. The responses were analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistical methods.

The findings of the study indicate that farmers/landowners have low levels of entrepreneurship education (only 30.6% have received relevant education) and thus have higher needs. The 50.2% of respondents declare that they are willing to pay in order to attend an entrepreneurship education program.

Existing entrepreneurship education research is useful in delineating the body of knowledge of what, when and how farmers need it, giving policymakers and researchers the opportunity to evaluate and build on research findings.

Given the shortage of identified research data, particularly at national level, on the role of education in agricultural entrepreneurship, this study contributes significantly to this research field, as the recognition of educational needs that affect the effectiveness of “agri-business” appears to be a crucial event for the future of agricultural entrepreneurship.

The purpose of this paper is to examine different quality schemes and to determine how these could be combined by Agricultural Cooperatives into a brand development strategy designed not only to differentiate their products but also to enhance them with higher value added in the competitive landscape of the food industry.

This paper will first address how brands have enclosed quality signs and even more, how consumers respond to it. Then, it will examine to what extent Greek Agricultural Cooperatives have developed brands for their products and whether they have used quality systems in their activities. Thus, the starting point in the paper's argument is that Agricultural Cooperatives have been slow to develop brands while consumers have been displaying a positive attitude towards these products.

This work suggests a solution to overcome the difficulties and drawbacks associated with the notion “cooperative product” and to compare its similarities with a collective brand, which has been previously proposed as a brand development strategy for the Agricultural Cooperatives.

The development of a Quality System especially designed for agricultural cooperatives’ products and, in combination with product certification, can be used as a part of their brand strategy.

Agricultural cooperatives could build a brand development strategy based on quality systems, Total Quality Management elements and hence attain the benefits associated with their implementation.

The purpose of this paper is mainly to investigate how Greek Farmers perceive service quality provided by the Greek Ministry of Agriculture and secondly, to confirm the five quality dimensions proposed by the SERVQUAL instrument for the Ministry’s service.

A questionnaire based on the SERVQUAL scale, was used to determine farmers’ perceptions of service quality in the area of central Macedonia in Greece. A total of 245 completed questionnaires were collected.

The analysis has shed some light on the quality gaps for the services provided by the Greek Public sector, suggesting that there is scope for improvement strategies. The results revealed a three-dimensional structure instead of the five dimensions of the SERVQUAL instrument. “Social skills” of the human factor were revealed as being the most critical dimension of quality.

This paper provides guidelines for policymakers to develop strategies to identify service quality gaps, while the decrease of such gaps could result in the public services’ improvement.

The current study is the first attempt to measure farmers’ perceptions of the service provided by the Greece ministry of Rural Development and Food. Secondly, this study provides additional evidence that the modification of the SERVQUAL scale could be used in different service sectors and cultures.

This paper seeks to report the perceptions of costs and benefits of the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP) implementation, according to the level of HACCP implementation and operation, for the Greek food industry.

A questionnaire was developed to identify the costs and benefits of HACCP implementation. Data were collected among 91 companies located in northern Greece. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS – Release 12.0.0, September 2003, for Windows) was used for the data analysis.

The results indicate that the major difficulties encountered during HACCP implementation and operation were associated with two factors: staff training and motivation and production flexibility. The reported benefits derived from HACCP implementation operation were ascribed to three factors: clientele benefits, product improvements, and improvements in production procedures. In addition, the survey revealed that there was a significant variation in the cost of implementing and operating HACCP between individual companies. Moreover, in most cases, both HACCP implementation and operation cost were inaccurately estimated by previous budgeting.

It is certain that a good understanding of the costs and benefits associated with the HACCP implementation and operation can be helpful to food businesses. The motivation of food businesses to implement and operate an HACCP system will reflect upon prior expectations of the costs and benefits involved.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the effect of quality assurance systems on business performance and subsequently, how a quality assurance system can be utilized as a determinant factor of a firm's marketing strategy, especially for the organic food sector.

Based on literature and the quality theory, the following subjects are examined: the types of goods according to their quality attributes, the benefits of participating in a quality award procedure, how a quality assurance system affect on firms' performance, and finally, the factors that determine consumers' willingness to pay a price premium for organic products.

The findings showed that, better quality conformance is associated with sales growth and better sales margins. Moreover, the most important benefit of a quality certification is its ability to increase market share and provide access to new market. In addition, the key to define quality is consumers and a company's internal definition of quality must reflect consumers' requirements. Finally, factors such as socio‐demographic characteristics, the perceived quality and risks have been found to be important determinants of consumers' willingness to pay a price premium to buy organic food products.

This study presents an outline of how a quality assurance system can be used to provide not only consistent product quality but also different elements that can be used to determine a firm's marketing strategy. The findings can help all the involved bodies to avoid the impediments and develop an appropriate marketing strategy for the effective promotion of certified organic food products.

Due to the rising number of product, service, and shopping possibilities available to consumers, food shopping has become increasingly more complex. As a result, consumers can become confused, and this state of confusion may influence their purchase behaviour (e.g. may cause them to not buy a product) and the personal needs they have in a shopping environment (e.g. certification to signal product quality, salesperson consultation for assistance in decision making, or governmental regulation). However, trust can reduce complexity, and may thereby moderate the influence of consumer confusion for negative outcomes. The purpose of this paper is to identify outcomes of consumer confusion and to investigate the moderating role of broader-scope trust on the negative outcomes of this confusion.

A conceptual model was developed to study potential negative outcomes of consumer confusion. In order to assess consumer confusion and the degree of negative outcomes, a telephone survey method for the questionnaire was applied, querying 516 participants who regularly bought food products.

The results clearly suggest that consumer confusion evokes various negative outcomes that are of relevance for food retailing. The intensity of the influence of consumer confusion on several of those negative outcomes could be decreased by broader-scope trust. Further, an interaction effect linked to gender was observed.

To the best of the knowledge, this is the first international journal publication on the moderating role of trust on the outcomes of consumer confusion.