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This study examines the relationships between the sizes of Coop Alleanza 3.0 retail outlets and indicators (in value) of surplus food (SF), real food donation (FD) and potential food waste (FW) from 2013 to 2019.

Retail outlets were grouped by size class and geographic macro-area. The authors adopt a procedure composed of Kendall's tau-b coefficient with ties (ttest) and the coefficient of determination (R²). The authors studied bread, pastries, fruits and vegetables as representative food categories.

Among the hypermarket group (Emilia-Romagna Region and those in group with Apulia Region), the study found the t-test with many high negative relationship and related R² high. Results showed that size significantly influenced the trends of the indicators for the food categories analyzed. This allowed the authors to hypothesize the presence of inefficiencies in these groups.

From a practical point of view, the procedure can provide Coop Alleanza 3.0, with a dashboard to analyze surplus food management (SFM) progress within its retail groups. This can provide a warning signal (WS) to trigger a management control system. If necessary, it can lead to corrective measures, such as internal optimization, by adopting appropriate work procedures. In this sense, the procedure is scalable and transferable at the international middle and micro-scales. This approach facilitates the transition to a retail circular economy transition.

The food sector is currently undergoing a process of transition as a result of the increased level of consumers' awareness towards issues related to sustainability. This work aims at analyzing the existence of links between technological innovation and sustainability and its consequences on variables of paramount importance in the retail sector such as store image and loyalty towards the establishment. Moreover, we examine if the strength of these relations differs across store formats.

To achieve the objective of this work, a theoretical model based on the literature is proposed, contrasted through an empirical study carried out in a sample of 510 customers from three food retail formats: hypermarkets, supermarkets and discount stores.

The results indicate that technological innovation strengthens sustainability. In addition, sustainability is postulated as a dynamic element of the store's image and loyalty. The intensity of these relationships may vary depending on the commercial format.

The implementation of innovative and sustainable practices such as reducing energy consumption, the use of recycled materials to manufacture products, and the participation of retail companies in collective social actions is considered to be of primary importance.

The study sheds light on the knowledge of the relations between customers' perceptions of technological innovation and sustainability in retailing, confirming their influence on store image and customer loyalty. Moreover, the findings reveal the importance of sustainability and innovation for the main types of retail food store format, although with some peculiarities that allow to draw relevant managerial implications for practitioners.

This study aims to ascertain the significance of retail service quality dimensions on shopping frequency at supermarkets in Durban. This study also adopts the Retail Service Quality Scale (RSQS) to South African supermarket consumers.

Primary data were collected from 399 consumers through mall intercepts using an adapted RSQS. Non-probability convenience sampling was utilised in selecting participants from different malls in Durban. To analyse data the SPSS software was utilised with multiple regression analysis to confirm relationships between variables of the study.

Results indicate a significant linear relationship between retail service quality and shopping frequency. Two of the three dimensions of retail service quality (atmospherics and reliability) have a positive and significant influence on the shopping frequency of consumers whereas one dimension (policy) showed no significant influence on the dependent variable.

Further studies are recommended in ascertaining the reasons behind an insignificant relationship between policy items of service quality and the shopping frequency of consumers.

This study highlights the managerial implications of retail service quality on improved shopping frequency of consumers.

This study suggests a lesser emphasis on policy items specifically personal interaction amongst Durban consumers on their shopping frequency. This might be due to cultural differences as well as the importance of self-service and privacy in supermarkets. Furthermore, this study demonstrates the role of context in providing deviations in retail service quality measurement and conceptualisation.

This study investigates consumer purchase behavior during the steady devaluation of currency, which led to increase in inflation rates in Egypt.

This study collected and analyzed numerical data to test the causal relationships found among the research model variables. Administrated questionnaires were distributed March 2023 in cross-sectional timeframe in several visits to hypermarkets, supermarkets and grocery stores in Cairo and Alexandria, applying nonprobability sample. Structure equation model path analysis was used to test the hypotheses.

This study shows compulsive buying, sense of anxiety, value shopping, attitude toward private label, attractiveness of local brands and materialistic behaviors impact consumers' acceptance of alternative brands; compulsive buying, sense of anxiety and materialistic behaviors impact the continuance of purchasing accustomed brands.

Retailers, government and policymakers can use this study as a guide to know how consumers react during times of high prices so to provide solutions to their needs. Policymakers should take into account the findings in managing the economy.

This study shows the effect of inflation on consumer spending to contribute to the body of knowledge in literature on the factors that influence consumer behaviors. A model was developed to frame the possible manners that might surface among consumers during times of high inflation; it reflected whether compulsive buying, sense of anxiety, value shopping, attitude toward private label, attractiveness of local brands and materialistic behaviors impact consumers acceptance of alternative brands and/or the continuance of purchasing accustomed brand.

Drawing upon the elaboration likelihood model, this study aims to illuminate contradictory findings from previous research regarding the impact of positive and negative emotions, as well as promotions, on impulse buying (IB). Specifically, this study takes a two-faceted approach to IB, considering both affective IB and cognitive IB.

A proposed model of IB is tested using a mall intercept survey.

The findings provide evidence for the two-dimensional nature of IB. Cognitive and affective IB are affected differently by promotions and emotions, and in turn, have different impacts on cognitive dissonance (CD). Specifically, promotions have a positive effect only on cognitive IB, while positive emotions have a positive effect only on affective IB. Additionally, cognitive IB positively affects CD, while affective IB does not.

Future research could explore different types of IB and unplanned purchases, consider the valence and arousal dimensions of emotions and examine how technological changes impact IB. Additionally, studying satisfaction as a mediator between IB and cognitive dissonance can contribute to the understanding of IB post-purchase outcomes.

By tailoring promotional techniques to cognitive IB and using positive emotions to stimulate affective IB, retailers can enhance the effectiveness of strategies. Furthermore, post-purchase strategies can be developed to reduce the negative effects of CD.

By exploring the different dimensions of IB and their relationships with CD, this study enhances our understanding of the underlying processes and mechanisms that drive consumer IB behavior during and after shopping trips.

This case is based on primary and secondary sources of information. These sources include interviews with senior executives as well as documents provided by Mondragon and Eroski. The interviews were conducted on-site. In addition, the authors researched the literature on both organizations.

Eroski is the largest of Mondragon Corporation’s coops. Since its founding, Eroski has faced numerous challenges. It has responded to each challenge with out-of-the-box thinking. In response to the pandemic, Eroski become an e-commerce supermarket as well as selectively continuing bricks and mortar stores. As the pandemic is winding down, Eroski is considering how to respond to the “new normal,” which is largely undefined. The question posited at the end of the case is, “Will Eroski be able to hold to its social principles, maintain its unusual governance model and other unusual practices, and survive this latest challenge?”

Eroski of Mondragon is a complex and unusual organization. To appreciate the challenges and how they were overcome by its unique business model, a student must have a minimum background in management, corporate finance and marketing. Thus, this case would fit well into a senior or graduate class on strategic human resource management. It is also recommended for the strategy capstone course usually offered during the last year of a business bachelor’s degree (senior level) to ensure that students are introduced to what Paul Adler refers to as an alternative business model. It can also be targeted for an advanced management course or a strategy course at the MBA and executive levels.

The study aims to drive conceptual clarity around resistance to information technology projects, integrating multiple facets of the phenomenon from earlier studies.

The study conducts a meta-synthesis of qualitative studies on resistance to technology projects; it analyzes those studies at a case-specific level, compares and contrasts emergent concepts against each other, and “translates” those to the rest of the studies. The study uses the seven-step meta-ethnography method by Noblit and Hare to reciprocally translate emergent concepts to construct the conceptual model.

Through meta-synthesis, the study derives a new conceptual model for resistance to information technology projects, exemplifying how the identified antecedents create user resistance and how the phenomenon progresses within organizations.

This study enriches the observations and conclusions of past individual studies while explicating various facets of the mechanisms that generate and progress technology resistance within organizations. It offers fresh insights into the equivocal nature of the phenomenon and the distinctive ways it progresses from individual to group level.

Many ambitious and costly digital transformation efforts do not succeed due to user resistance. Understanding the mechanisms that create user resistance can help organizations manage technology projects better, thereby reducing the technology assimilation gap and protecting returns on related investments.

There have been extensive studies on technology acceptance (enablers) within organizations, while those relating to technology inhibitors are somewhat limited. However, the symmetry of understanding between enablers and inhibitors is vital for organizations to assimilate promising technologies and transform their business models. This model uses a new lens of sensemaking theory to explain how the antecedents trigger perceived threats and resistance behavior; it highlights the nuances around the development of resistance within individuals and its progression to groups. The resultant model offers better generalizability in organizational contexts.

Through activism, brands participate in the sociopolitical controversies that shape society today. Based on social identity theory, this study aims to examine the moderating effects of consumer–brand identification (CBI) and political ideology in explaining consumer responses to brand activism. Furthermore, the role of perceived marginalization that can arise in the case of consumer–brand disagreement is explored.

The hypothesized effects were tested in three experiments. Study 1 (n = 262) and Study 2 (n = 322) used a moderation analysis, which was supplemented by a mixed design analysis with repeated measures in Study 1. In Study 3 (n = 383), the mediating effect of perceived marginalization by the brand was tested using a moderated mediation model.

The results show that strong CBI as well as a conservative ideology buffer the negative effects of consumer–brand disagreement on brand attitude and word-of-mouth intentions. In the case of agreement with a brand’s stance, no direct or interactive effects of brand activism on consumer responses occur. Perceived marginalization by a brand mediates the effects of brand activism.

This study extends the “love is blind” versus “love becomes hate” debate to the realm of brand activism and finds evidence for the former effect. It also contributes to the research on political consumption by highlighting the role of political ideology as an important boundary condition for brand activism. Perceived marginalization is identified as a relevant risk for activist brands.

The case study is based on a social entrepreneurial journey where the authors have used an interview method to get the insights from the protagonists and the employees. Rigorous interviews were conducted online and in person for deep analysis of the protagonist’s strategies and decisive dilemma.

Secondary data was collected from company’s website for facts and figures.

This case study is a story of indigenous tribes of Odisha from the eyes of a woman who, with her co-founder, empathized with their vulnerable life and took on the challenge of creating sustainable livelihoods by establishing Millet Magic Foundation. The Millet Magic Foundation was established in 2021 by Shyama and her cofounder to uplift the indigenous tribe of Mayurbhanj by providing them livelihood through millet-based products. The foundation launched their millet-based snack products with the brand name WOWMOM. Millet Magic Foundation created social impact for the tribals by providing them with employment, fair wages, health care and social well-being. The specialty of the Millet Magic was reverse positioning and focusing on the bottom of the pyramid. The success of the Millet Magic Foundation relied on its mission to uplift the life of these indigenous tribal, especially the women, by overcoming the challenges with the strategies to establish Millet Magic as a social enterprise.

The case study is primarily suitable for postgraduate programme to teach the concept of social entrepreneurship in the entrepreneurship module. The case study can also be used for highlighting the role of social enterprise in sustainable economic development of emerging economies.

This study aims to investigate specific green-brand affect in terms of commitment and connection through the morality–mortality determinants of consumer social responsibility and the assumptions of terror management theory in the proposed three-layered framework. Religiosity serves as a moderator within the framework.

Data are collected in Taipei, Taiwan, while quota sampling is applied, and 420 valid questionnaires are collected. The partial least squares technique is applied for data analysis.

With the contingent role of religiosity, consumer social responsibility influences socially conscious consumption, which in turn drives the commitment and connection of green-brand affect. The death anxiety and self-esteem outlined in terror management theory influence materialism, which then drives green-brand commitment; however, contrary to expectations, they do not drive green-brand connection.

By considering green brands beyond their cognitive aspects and into their affective counterparts, morality–mortality drivers of green-brand commitment and green-grand connection are explored to provide unique contributions so as to better understand socially responsible consumption.