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The purpose of this study is to investigate whether the lockdown and the increased spread of food delivery applications (FD Apps) during COVID-19 pandemic have augmented the consumption of fast foods.

A cross-sectional study was conducted on 673 adults from different regions of Saudi Arabia using an online questionnaire.

Data showed that 61% (N = 410) of participants used FD Apps during the pandemic. Among those users, 54.9% (225) were females and 70.5% were in the 18–44 years old group. Most FD Apps’ users were university graduates (74.4%). The increased use of FD Apps during the pandemic significantly affected the eating behavior and the nutritional pattern. It has further significantly augmented the consumption of fast foods (p-value < 0.05).

This study reports on the use of FD Apps during COVID-19 pandemic in Saudi Arabia and its impact on consumer eating pattern. This study shows the need for prudent use of these applications to limit ordering fast foods and consider healthier choices. It further calls for education programs, awareness campaigns, legislative measures and formal policies to rationalize the use of such applications for better nutrition, health and well-being.

This study aims to investigate the impact of service quality (SQ), perceived value (PV) and consumer satisfaction on Thai street food, with customer satisfaction (CS) as a mediator for customer loyalty and repurchase intention (RI). It also explores how consumer trust (CT) in Thai street food safety moderates these relationships.

Structural equation modelling (SEM) was utilised to analyse the complex interrelationships between various constructs. Multi-group analyses were conducted to investigate the moderating effects of CT on the structural model, considering two distinct groups based on trust levels: low and high.

The findings revealed that SQ and PV significantly influenced CS and behavioural intention, while the perceived quality of Thai street food had no significant impact on post-COVID-19 consumer satisfaction. The study highlighted the critical role of CT in moderating the relationships between SQ, PV and CS, with distinct effects observed in groups with varying trust levels.

The research emphasises the importance of enhancing SQ and delivering value to customers in the context of Thai street food, which can contribute to increased CS, RI and positive word-of-mouth. Furthermore, the study underscores the critical role of building CT in fostering enduring customer relationships and promoting consumer satisfaction and loyalty.

This research offers valuable insights into consumer behaviour and decision-making processes, particularly within the realm of Thai street food. It underscores the significance of understanding and nurturing CT, especially in the post-COVID-19 landscape, emphasising the need for effective business strategies and consumer engagement.

This study aims to examine attitude, perceived behavioral and religiosity that influence Muslim consumers’ intention in patronizing at food premises with halal logo.

The data were collected from 450 respondents on random sampling basis. Quantitative analysis was conducted using SEM SMARTPLS version 3.3.

Based on the findings gathered using PLS analysis with n = 450, it was indicated that attitude, perceived behavioral control and religiosity significantly influence Muslim consumers’ intention on patronizing at food premise with halal logo.

The data collection for the present study was limited to the respondents in Kuala Lumpur among Muslim consumers, and limited to 450 sample sizes.

The presence of halal logo should be crucial in attracting consumers due to the comprehensive meaning it brings.

In the context of food premises, the results of the research suggest that the halal logo shown by the food premise seems to operate significantly in attracting Muslim consumers toward the food premises. Muslim consumers need to be nourished by proper Islamic teachings and have a good understanding of halal principle.

The halal logo of food premise concerns the Muslims. Muslim consumers are relying on surrogates in selecting the alternatives for packaged goods in Islamic marketing literature. However, it is little known how Muslims use indicators to select food premises when there is no halal logo.

This study aims to investigate the integration of blockchain technology into the food supply chain within the restaurant industry. It focuses on how blockchain can be applied to enhance transparency and trust in tracking food sources, ultimately impacting customer satisfaction.

A service design workshop (Study 1) and three between-subjects experiments (Studies 2–4) were conducted.

Results indicate that blockchain adoption significantly improves traceability and trust in the food supply chain. This improvement in turn enhances customer satisfaction through perceived improvements in food safety, quality and naturalness. This study also notes that the effects of blockchain technology vary depending on the type of restaurant (casual or fine dining) and its location (tourist destinations or residential areas).

The findings offer practical insights for restaurant owners, technology developers and policymakers. Emphasizing the benefits of blockchain adoption, this study guides decision-making regarding technology investments for enhancing customer service and satisfaction in the hospitality sector.

This research contributes novel insights to the field of technology innovation in the hospitality industry. It extends the understanding of signaling theory by exploring how blockchain technology can serve as a tool for signal transmission in restaurant food supply chains.

This paper has a dual purpose. The first is to provide a thorough analysis of developments in international marketing in relation to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic; the second is to capitalize on these developments to set an agenda for future research in the field of international marketing.

This paper zooms in on and reviews the 18 papers published in International Marketing Review’s (IMR) Special Issue on “Covid 19: advancing international marketing theory and guiding practice” (2023, volume 40, issue 5). It also integrates recent research at the intersection of international marketing and the COVID-19 pandemic.

The paper highlights five areas that embody significant contemporaneous changes brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic and affect international marketing practice. These include (1) shifts in consumer behavior, (2) digitalization and artificial intelligence, (3) disruptions in supply chains, (4) communication and corporate social responsibility (CSR), and (5) international dynamic marketing capabilities. In order to advance international marketing theory in relation to pandemics and other external crises, the paper establishes research directions for each of these areas.

The paper provides a novel and comprehensive categorization of fundamental shifts caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and lays out a research roadmap to advance research in the field of International Marketing (IM). Important implications for practice are also discussed.

The process of performance measurement provides support to company management to achieve the objectives established in strategic planning. Through the definition of critical success factors and related key performance indicators, performance measurement verifies the gap between planned objectives and the results achieved, informing the responsible bodies to enable them to evaluate performance and, if necessary, implement improvement actions. Although many types of companies adopt performance measurement, this process is challenging when applied to national health services. This paper aims to identify the evolution of performance measurement and the critical success factors of national health services.

The authors conducted an explorative case study of a leading national health service to delineate the evolutionary path of performance measurement and the main critical success factors.

The results indicate a significant increase in the maturity of performance measurement of a national health service that has been motivated by international reforms and national regulations. This research highlights performance measurement features such as a balanced set of metrics, targets, and incentives linked to strategic objectives and regular and frequent performance reviews. Furthermore, it identifies the performance measurement model of a leading national health service.

The evolution of performance measurement and numerous critical success factors of national health services are described; the critical success factors cover a wide range of financial to operational aspects such as patient safety, organizational appropriateness, and clinical appropriateness.

This study emphasizes the growing significance of destination attributes in shaping the experiences and behaviours of gastronomy and culinary tourists. Understanding both core and complementary attributes of a gastronomy tourism destination is crucial for its sustainable development. However, there is a lack of a reliable measurement for tourists’ perceived attributes of gastronomy tourism destinations (PAGTD). Therefore, the purpose of this study is to develop a scale to measure tourists’ PAGTD.

The study systematically followed the scale development and validation process, using three samples (Sample 1, n = 200; Sample 2, n = 204; and Sample 3, n = 204) to establish the psychometric properties of the proposed PAGTD scale.

The validated scale comprises five dimensions, namely, food culture, food sensations, food cooking, service environment, and food price & quality, encompassing a total of 22 measurement items.

This research significantly contributes to the gastronomy tourism literature by elucidating the dimensionality of PAGTD and validating the PAGTD scale.

目的地属性对美食游客的体验和行为的影响日渐凸显。理解美食旅游目的地的核心属性和补充属性对目的地可持续发展至关重要。然而, 目前还缺乏一份测量游客感知的美食旅游目的地属性（PAGTD）的量表。因此, 本文旨在开发并验证游客感知的美食旅游目的地属性量表（PAGTD量表）。

本文严格遵循量表开发与验证的程序, 利用三份样本（样本1, n=200; 样本2, n=204; 样本3, n=204）建立了PAGTD量表的信度和效度。

经过验证, PAGTD量表包括5个维度：美食文化、美食感官因素、美食烹饪、服务环境、美食价格与质量, 共计22个测项。

本文不仅阐明了游客感知的美食旅游目的地属性的多维结构, 还开发并验证了一份具有良好信效度的PAGTD量表。

Este estudio hace hincapié en la creciente importancia de los atributos de los destinos a la hora de configurar las experiencias y los comportamientos de los turistas gastronómicos y culinarios. Comprender tanto los atributos principales como los complementarios de un destino turístico gastronómico es crucial para su desarrollo sostenible. Sin embargo, se carece de una medición fiable de los atributos percibidos por los turistas de los destinos de turismo gastronómico (PAGTD). Por lo tanto, el objetivo de este estudio es desarrollar una escala para medir los PAGTD de los turistas.

El estudio siguió sistemáticamente el proceso de desarrollo y validación de la escala, utilizando tres muestras (Muestra 1, n=200; Muestra 2, n=204; y Muestra 3, n=204) para establecer las propiedades psicométricas de la escala PAGTD propuesta.

La escala validada comprende cinco dimensiones: saber, cultura alimentaria, sensaciones alimentarias, cocina de los alimentos, entorno del servicio y precio y calidad de los alimentos, que abarcan un total de 22 ítems de medición.

Esta investigación contribuye significativamente a la literatura sobre turismo gastronómico al dilucidar la dimensionalidad del PAGTD y validar la escala PAGTD.

Limiting the use of antibiotics in food animals is a cornerstone of contemporary EU policy. Despite that marketing of antibiotics for growth promotion and nutrition has been banned since 2006, the use is still high and varied. This paper aims to investigate the forces behind the different usage patterns in Italy, with one of the EU’s most extensive use of antibiotics in animals, versus Sweden, with the union’s most restricted use, including how these usage patterns are related to EU and national policies.

The industrial network approach/the 4R resources interaction model is adopted to investigate the major forces behind the different antibiotic usage patterns. Furthermore, the study relies on the notion of three main characteristics related to the use of a resource activated in several user settings (Håkansson and Waluszewski, 2008, pp. 20–22). The paper investigates the Swedish and the Italian using settings, with a minimised, respectively, extensive usage of antibiotics. The study is exploratory in nature and based on qualitative data collected through a combination of primary and secondary sources.

The paper underlines the importance of integrating forces for policy to succeed in attempts to reduce the use of a particular resource. It reveals that Sweden’s radically reduced use was based on great awareness, close interactions between animal-based food producers and policy – and that integrating forces were supported by an era of state-protected food production, with promising ability to distribute the cost of change. The Italian characteristics hindering the integration of forces mounting for reduced use were restricted awareness, top-down business and policy interactions – and a great awareness about the difficulties of distributing the cost of change.

The study deals with the analysis of forces affecting the different usage of antibiotics within two EU settings. The investigation, based on the industrial network approach’s notion of connectivity of economic resources, that is, of exchange having a content and substance beyond discrete transactions, reveals how indirect related contextual forces, neglected by policy, have an important influence on the ability to achieve change, in this case of antibiotics usage patterns.

This paper investigates strategies for addressing the global challenge of food loss and waste (FLW) within the food industry. It examines the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives and state regulatory interventions for reducing FLW.

This mixed method study utilizes a unique panel dataset which includes the 150 largest food industry companies in Italy, Norway and the UK. It combines quantitative data analysis with qualitative insights derived from corporate strategies and corporate communications.

The analysis reveals that food companies with an established CSR strategy and in particular companies whose CSR reports highlight their environmental and social achievements are more likely to achieve in effective FLW reduction. Additionally, national-level regulatory interventions guided by European Union waste strategies act as pivotal benchmarks and encourage stricter corporate food waste management policies.

This research underscores the significance of CSR strategies and effective state regulation in the fight against FLW and offers policymakers and businesses valuable insights enabling development of robust strategies.

By emphasizing the interplay between CSR and regulatory intervention, this research contributes to the achievement of a more sustainable and efficient global food system that addresses both economic and ethical concerns and could have far-reaching societal and environmental implications.

The paper sheds light on the interplay between CSR initiatives and regulatory interventions for tackling FLW and emphasizes their synergistic impact on sustainable practices within the food industry.

Recently emerged Packaging-as-a-Service (PaaS) systems adopt aspects of access-based services and triadic frameworks, which have typically been treated as conceptually separate. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the implications of blending the two in what we call “access-based triadic systems,” by empirically evaluating intentions to adopt PaaS systems for takeaway food among restaurants and consumers.

We derived relevant attributes of PaaS systems from a qualitative pre-study with restaurants and consumers. Next, we conducted two factorial survey experiments with restaurants (N = 176) and consumers (N = 245) in Germany to quantitatively test the effects of those system attributes on their adoption intentions.

This paper highlights that the role of access-based triadic system providers as both the owners of shared assets and the operators of a triadic system is associated with a novel set of challenges and opportunities: System providers need to attract a critical mass of business and end customers while balancing asset protection and system complexity. At the same time, asset ownership introduces opportunities for improved quality control and differentiation from competition.

Conceptually, this paper extends research on access-based services and triadic frameworks by describing an unexplored hybrid form of non-ownership consumption we call “access-based triadic systems.” Empirically, this paper addresses the need to account for the demands of two distinct target groups in triadic systems and demonstrates how factorial survey experiments can be leveraged in this field.