Search results

The purpose of this work is to study the relationships of trust in a local agri-food supply chain in Southern Brazil. In an unsustainable context, where the number of mariculturists is decreasing, the authors seek to identify what the factors are and how they contribute to this problem, as well as find solutions aimed at the sustainability of that chain.

The authors carried out qualitative research with 15 semi-structured interviews that took place in the year 2021. The thematic analysis of the results applied the IRAMUTEQ software and the assessment of the narratives was guided by prior thematic analysis.

The supply chain under investigation requires better organisation. Communication and interpersonal trust proved important in the relationship between producers and control bodies. The university, as a seed supplier, needs predictability and efficiency to convey inter-organisational trust. Informal relationships are interpersonal and extremely trust-based and inter-organisational trust increases the performance of establishments and promotes the development of innovative structures. Furthermore, in crisis periods interpersonal trust increases.

The results allow policymakers to plan better their actions and build more effective tactics in order to reach sustainable development. This work is also important for stakeholders and managers, as it guides improvements in management, governance and sustainability of agri-food supply chains.

An unprecedented research was done on the studied supply chain, knowing the relationships of trust among them, identifying peculiar partnerships and recognising some constructs and outcomes of trust.

This research paper aims to understand how givers characterise and manage their gift giving networks by drawing on attachment theory (AT). This responds to the need to illuminate the givers–receivers’ networks beyond traditional role-based taxonomies and explore their changing dynamics.

A multi-method, qualitative approach was used involving 158 gift experiences captured in online diaries and 27 follow-up interviews.

Results show that givers organise receivers into gifting networks that are grounded in a contextual understanding of their relationships. The identification of direct, surrogate and mediated bonds reflects three different dimensions that inform gift-giving networks of support, care or belongingness rooted in AT. The relative position of gift receivers in this network influences the nature of support, the type of social influences and relationship stability in the network.

This study illustrates the complexity of relationships based on the data collected over two specific periods of time; thus, there might be further types of receivers within a giver’s network that the data did not capture. This limitation was minimised by asking about other possible receivers in interviews.

The findings set a foundation for gift retailers to assist gift givers in finding gifts that match their perceived relations to the receivers by adapting communication messages and offering advice aligned with specific relationship contexts.

This study illuminates gift-giving networks by proposing a taxonomy of gifting networks underpinned by AT that can be applied to study different relationship contexts from the perspective of the giver. This conceptualisation captures different levels of emotional support, social influences and relationship stability, which have an impact on the receivers’ roles within the giver’s network. Importantly, results reveal that the gift receiver is not always the target of gift-giving. The target can be someone whom the giver wants to please or an acquaintance they share with the receiver with whom they wish to reinforce bonds.