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This study aims to investigate the supplier selection criteria, relationship quality and level of collaboration in Asian food businesses, while also examining the link between these practices and business performance. The research focusses on food manufacturing and exporting companies in two emerging economies, China and Vietnam.

Food manufacturing and exporting companies in two emerging economies – China and Vietnam were surveyed and analysed to extract factors that reflect supplier management and business performance along with their relationship by factor analysis and hierarchical regression. Then, a two-step cluster analysis was applied to identify clusters based on supplier management and explore how different business performance groups manage their suppliers.

Four clusters that are distinct sets of food firms with detailed references about their typical characteristics revealing their business performance and supplier management practices. Also, the study confirms that certificates, reliability and inspection results constitute the factor of quality-related criteria for food firms. It is an interesting insight into what firms prioritise in selecting and maintaining collaboration and relationships with suppliers that reflect actual demanding specifications for supplier conformity.

The study reveals the business status of the studied companies and each group's specific references, such as the criteria they prefer to select suppliers, the relationship quality and the level of collaboration.

The study is a useful reference for both researchers and practitioners to have a comprehensive view of supplier management in the food industry based on the viewpoint of Asian food manufacturers.

With the empirical evidence on the purchase behaviour of tinned tomatoes, food labelling and the safety consciousness of consumers in Ghana were examined.

Primary data were obtained from 130 consumers. Descriptive statistics, factor analysis and multinomial probit analysis were applied.

Consumers use tinned tomatoes for cooking because of its easy accessibility in nearby shops, guaranteed constant supply, attractive package, it being affordable/cheaper, its better colour, advertisement/promotion, and longer shelf life. There is a low level of food safety consciousness among consumers since only one-fifth read labels on tinned tomatoes very often, and one-fifth do not read labels at all. Consumers frequently check on tinned tomatoes' most essential information: brand/type, manufacturing and expiry dates, and weight/volume. Age, residential status, contact information, nutritional benefits and affordability influence the choice of retail brand of tinned tomatoes. The health label consumer segment and conventional label consumer segment were identified, with the majority being the former.

The sample size used for the study could be improved in terms of number and geographical coverage. This is because the study was limited to only one main urbanised area in Ghana. Therefore, it will be worthwhile for a further study to be conducted by comparing urban and rural consumers in Ghana and other countries within Africa, to either validate or reveal a different trajectory of consumer behaviour relevant to marketing, policy and practice.

Tomato paste (tinned tomatoes) is consumed in almost all homes in Africa, but there are food scare concerns about tinned tomatoes due to reported cases of adulteration with unhealthy materials such as starch and food colour, leading to negative health implications on consumers. This makes the reading of tinned tomato labels very crucial. Thus, it is of policy relevance to investigate consumers' reading behaviour of label information on tinned tomatoes in Ghana. However, previous studies on food labelling focussed on food and nutrition labelling and implications of food labelling on consumers' purchase behaviour, with most of them outside Africa.

This study aims to investigate consumers’ construction of food localness through the politics of belonging in a regional context.

Following a socio-spatial lens and considering the “realm of meaning” of place, this research focusses on local consumers’ lived meanings of “local” food choice, and hence adopts a phenomenological approach to the data collection and analysis of 20 in-depth interviews with residents of the Italian region of Marche.

Drawing on Trudeau’s (2006) politics of belonging, this study reveals three interconnected themes which show how local consumers articulate a local food “orthodoxy” and how their discourses and practices draw and maintain a boundary between local and non-local food, whereby local food is considered “autochthonous” of rural space. Thus, this study’s participants construct a local food landscape, conveying rural (vs urban) meanings through which food acquires “localness” (vs non-“localness”) status.

There exists further theoretical opportunity to consider local consumers’ construction of food localness through the politics of belonging in terms of non-representational theory (Thrift, 2008), to help reveal added nuances to the construction of food localness as well as to the complex process of formulating place meaning.

The findings provide considerable scope for food producers, manufacturers and/or marketers to differentiate local food products by enhancing consumers’ direct experience of it in relation to rural space. Thus, enabling local food producers to convey rural (vs urban) meanings to consumers, who would develop an orthodoxy guiding future choice.

The findings enable regional promoters and food policymakers to leverage the symbolic distinctiveness of food autochthony to promote place and encourage consumers to participate in their local food system.

By using the politics of belonging as an analytical framework, this study shows that the urban–rural dichotomy – rather than being an obsolete epistemological category – fuels politics of belonging dynamics, and that local food consumers socially construct food localness not merely as a romanticisation of rurality but as a territorial expression of the contemporary local/non-local cultural conflict implied in the politics of belonging. Thus, this study advances our theoretical understanding by demonstrating that food “becomes” local and therefore, builds on extant food localness conceptualisations.

This study explores the influence of the following factors on consumer adoption of blockchain food traceability (BFT): innovation-adoption characteristics, segmentation, expertise in food traceability, expertise in blockchain technology, food categorical preferences and perceived important features of BFT.

The data was collected via an online questionnaire with 1,401 participants in New Zealand. Exploratory factor analysis, structural equation modelling and segmentation analysis were undertaken.

Consumer adoption of blockchain food traceability was significantly influenced by two innovation-adoption characteristics – perceived incentives and perceived complexity, as well as their expertise in food traceability. Two consumer segments were identified: Conservatives (48%) and Pioneers (52%). Significant differences were found between these two segments in terms of gender, age, education, occupation, residential area and ethnicity. Consumers are more willing to use BFT for purchasing fresh, imported, staple and normal foods than for processed, domestic and upscale foods. Their perceived important specific features of BFT are product origin, food safety information, quality control, food safety information, hygienic condition and scarcity management.

This study contributes knowledge to address the current knowledge gap regarding consumer adoption of blockchain food traceability by using a large sample set. It is also the first study to recognise consumer segments for BFT; to provide information about consumers' important socio-demographic characteristics, food categorical preferences and perceived important features towards BFT; and to explore the influences of consumers' innovation-adoption characteristics, expertise in food traceability and expertise in blockchain technology on their adoption of blockchain food traceability.

The aim is to advance the conceptualisation of island entrepreneurship by investigating how the island context, for example, industry characteristics, social context and formal and informal institutions, influences the development of artisan food businesses in that context.

An applied, qualitative and participatory research approach was implemented. Data were collected during a business development process focusing on food artisans in the Åland Islands. In total, 19 business owners participated in the process. Key informants and public officers were interviewed, and the literature was reviewed. Interviews were analysed using phenomenography to identify representative categories, and the literature was analysed using content analysis.

Island characteristics and context, local institutions, the quality of social capital and gendered institutions influence business activities positively and negatively. Island entrepreneurship entails mobilising agencies to find innovative solutions that enable businesses to overcome obstacles. Most previous research treats business activities as entrepreneurship; however, as self-employment is essential in the island context, it should be highlighted in future studies.

This study illustrates how the island context influences the business development of small firms. Results indicate that local policies (1) benefitting female entrepreneurs, (2) supporting local businesses and (3) promoting locally produced artisan food could generate benefits for the entire artisan food businesses.

Local policies that (1) benefit female entrepreneurs, (2) support local businesses and (3) promote locally produced artisan food have the potential to generate benefits for the entire trade. Policies can benefit from an understanding of the role played by different ecosystem actors. Promoting self-employment can generate benefits for the local entrepreneurial ecosystem by providing agglomeration and helping to solve some challenges caused by the characteristics of islands.

Empirically, this research enhances the knowledge of post-productive responses in the island context. Theoretically, the study advances the conceptualisation of research on the island entrepreneurship context and the local food debate.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted global food systems and consumer eating habits. The current study explores how country of origin and ethical status information impacts attitudes toward food.

Methods: A within-subjects survey design explored how perceptions of food safety/risk, animal welfare, deliciousness, purchase intention, energy density, carbon footprint of three foods (chicken, pasta, apples) are influenced by country of origin and ethical status information (UK, EU, China, USA, Fairtrade, Organic). Data were collected from 701 UK-based participants using an online survey from the 25-30th March, following the UK lockdown (23 March 2020).

Results: Perceptions of food safety, animal welfare, purchase intention, deliciousness and carbon footprint are influenced by origin and ethical status information. Chicken from the USA and China is perceived to be higher risk and have lower animal welfare standards. Apples from the USA and China are perceived to be higher risk. Pasta from China is perceived to be higher risk. Energy density estimations are not influenced by origin and ethical status information.

Conclusions: Consumer perceptions are influenced by country of origin and ethical information; foods from China are perceived least favourably, followed by foods from the USA; foods from the UK, EU, Organic or Fairtrade are perceived more favourably. The impact of origin and ethical information varies by food type with the perception of some foods appearing less susceptible to influence. These findings have implications for post COVID-19 (and post Brexit) food system, trade policy and public trust, and highlight the need for communication of food safety.

In this article, we offer a contribution to the ongoing study of food by advancing a conceptual framework and interdisciplinary research agenda – what we term “food system resilience”. In recent years, the concept of resilience has been extensively used in a variety of fields, but not always consistently or holistically. Here we aim to theorise systematically resilience as an analytical concept as it applies to food systems research. To do this, we engage with and seek to extend current understandings of resilience across different disciplines. Accordingly, we begin by exploring the different ways in which the concept of resilience is understood and used in current academic and practitioner literatures – both as a general concept and as applied specifically to food systems research. We show that the social-ecological perspective, rooted in an appreciation of the complexity of systems, carries significant analytical potential. We first underline what we mean by the food system and relate our understanding of this term to those commonly found in the extant food studies literature. We then apply our conception to the specific case of the UK. Here we distinguish between four subsystems at which our “resilient food systems” can be applied. These are, namely, the agro-food system; the value chain; the retail-consumption nexus; and the governance and regulatory framework. On the basis of this conceptualisation we provide an interdisciplinary research agenda, using the case of the UK to illustrate the sorts of research questions and innovative methodologies that our food systems resilience approach is designed to promote.

The authors review the small but growing literature linking cognitive biases to food safety problems and foodborne illness outbreaks.

The authors conducted a search of peer-reviewed articles utilizing empirical methods published since the year 2000 focusing on food safety or foodborne illnesses/outbreaks and cognitive biases.

The authors find that most research is conducted at the consumer side of the food system, with few studies examining the potential problems that can arise in the production and processing of food. The authors also observe that most research tends to focus on a few cognitive biases.

This is the most comprehensive study to date examining insights from the literature on cognitive biases and the related discipline of behavioral economics to the specific problem of foodborne illness outbreaks and food safety problems.

Traceability is an increasingly important tool for reducing food safety risks and managing supply logistics. Given the costs of implementing and maintaining traceability systems, it is crucial to understand consumer willingness to pay (WTP) for traceable products.

The authors conducted a scoping review to collate the existing literature on consumer WTP for traceability in food products to determine the nature of the evidence base and to identify research gaps.

A total of 77 articles were included in the review. The number of studies published per year generally increased over the review period, and China and the United States were the most common countries in which studies were conducted (43.6 and 14.1% of total studies, respectively). All but one of the studies investigated at least one factor that might influence consumer WTP for traceability, the most common of which was socio-demographic characteristics (72.7%). Three-quarters of studies used hypothetical methods to elicit WTP values (75.3%), whereas one-quarter used non-hypothetical methods (24.7%). Most studies included some measure of preference heterogeneity (83.1%).

There is some potential for systematic bias in the evidence due to the predominance of studies from only a few countries and the possible presence of hypothetical bias. These potential biases could be corrected through future research.

To the authors’ knowledge, no previous study systematically and comprehensively identifies and summarizes the evidence base on consumer WTP for traceable food products.

The purpose of this study is shed light on the underlying forces behind entrepreneurship within a regional innovation system (RIS) in a remote rural region. The authors examine the following questions: Which are the main underlying forces behind the entrepreneurial process in a rural RIS characterized by traditionally low-tech, small-scale businesses? How can the development of a low-tech regional innovation system be conceptualized?

The design of the study is based on entrepreneurship theory. Data analysis followed practices used in phenomenography, a research approach used to analyse and identify commonalities and variations in populations' perceptions of a certain phenomenon. Data are composed using semi-structured interviews and a database composed of company information of all firms in the population.

A proactive mobilization of regional stakeholders and resources can be an important driving force behind the entrepreneurial process and generation of a rural RIS. Innovation can be generated within low-tech industries turning the rural context into an asset. An RIS in a remote rural context can be initiated and orchestrated by regional authorities, but knowledge brokering and orchestration can also be managed by networks of small-scale businesses brought together by mutual benefit and common interests.

Regional innovation systems theory is most often used to study high-tech industries. But by combining regional innovation systems with rural entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship context theory is a fruitful avenue to understand the role of rural entrepreneurship in regional development, even in remote and peripheral regions. Innovation does not need to entail high-tech international environments; it can appear as the result of efforts in low-tech industries in rural and remote environments. The authors’ findings need to be scrutinized; therefore, the authors call for more research on regional innovation systems in rural environments.

It is possible for regional authorities to orchestrate a development process through the actions of a strong regional agent but also by supporting the creation of networks of small businesses that are built on trust and common interests.

This study contributes to the literature with a new perspective to the study of entrepreneurship and of regional innovation systems. Entrepreneurship research with focus on rural contexts most often highlight limits to entrepreneurship and see entrepreneurship as “just running a business”. A perspective that starts from innovation and innovative behaviour, despite the rural context and embedded resources, helps to generate new knowledge that can enrich the understanding of entrepreneurship and also be the foundation for more precise business development policies in rural settings.