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This work aims to investigate the current financial structure of Italian agri-food micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to understand how MSMEs face innovation challenges, which are also required to support sustainable development.

To reach the goal, an empirical longitudinal analysis is performed on a sample of Italian agri-food firms. In detail, to highlight the changes in the use of financial sources between 2013 and 2019, a descriptive ratio analysis is carried out on the data extracted by the AIDA database. In addition, statistical analyses were performed, including t-tests and U Mann–Whitney. Finally, a fixed-effects model is created to analyse the panel data. To ensure homogeneity, the sub-sectors of production and transformation are separately considered.

The financial structure analysis shows an increase in the equity percentage in the funding sources, attributable to an attempt to compensate for the reduction of banks' funding. However, even though this change has not compromised firms' profitability, the undercapitalisation of companies is still present. Therefore, more equity investments are required to support the innovation process.

The value of the present research is to highlight the choice of using new alternative financing sources instead of traditional banks' credit to implement sustainable and innovative development Italian agri-food sector (AFS). This choice is forced by reducing finance from banks and other financial institutions because of the credit crunch. This issue is even more relevant, considering that MSMEs have structural financial problems but have to fulfil the mission of pursuing innovation in the same way as large companies. Therefore, this paper expands the literature on agri-food, delving into an issue typical of MSMEs and combining agri-food with the need for innovation.

The study investigates how consumers' food purchasing habits changed during the Covid-19 pandemic in Italy. The research aims to understand if traditional aspects, health consciousness and environmental concerns have influenced and changed the purchases of food products post-pandemic.

The authors developed a theoretical model to understand whether health consciousness, traditional aspects and environmental concerns affect consumers' purchasing intention. The study collects secondary data to analyse state of the art and investigate consumer behaviour in the agri-food system after the pandemic. Thereafter, a survey was conducted via a convenience random sampling procedure. The data (n = 622) were analysed using the formulated research framework and tested through the structural equation modelling procedure.

The findings reveal that health consciousness and traditional aspects (culinary traditions, ingredients usage from one's territory of origin, products' origin attention) are among the main reasons for purchasing agri-food goods after the pandemic. Instead, environmental concerns negatively affect consumers' purchase intentions.

The study identifies which aspects influenced consumers' purchasing intentions after the Covid-19 pandemic. It also provides insights for food companies and policymakers on the factors to be improved to optimize the agri-food sector following a sustainable perspective and in order to develop effective business strategies.

Food and beverage (F&B) small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) must diversify their markets and obtain predictable sources of revenues to withstand difficult and volatile periods such as the post-pandemic geopolitical scenario, recently burdened by the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. On the other hand, another strand of the literature suggests that public procurement could be considered a great source of income, enabling solid contracts, revenues and cash-flow stability. Therefore, this paper aims to explore the role of public procurement, the adoption of e-commerce platforms and their interactions in affecting the exporting performances of SMEs operating in the F&B sector.

The study retrieves data from 2,186 Italian F&B manufacturing SMEs relying on Margò by Cribis database. Therefore, it conducts a structured equational model (SEM) to test the developed hypotheses empirically.

The findings reveal that digital selling platforms positively affect exports, whereas public procurement negatively affects F&B SMEs exports. Nonetheless, findings underline that the interaction between public procurement and the adoption of digital selling platforms dampens public procurement's negative effects on exports.

This study brings an original contribution to the F&B literature by conducting empirical research on an extensive sample of firms from one of the most influential countries in the F&B vertical, Italy, with officially registered data. More importantly, to the best of the authors' knowledge, this study pioneers the investigation of the relationship between public procurement and e-commerce platforms in affecting F&B SMEs' export performances.

Palm oil is widely used in the food industry; however, there are two main controversies connected to its use, namely, its nutritional value and the environmental consequences deriving from its crop. In Italy, the use of palm oil has recently been criticized, insomuch that some important bakery companies decided to substitute it, creating a real food marketing case. Through a focus on biscuits, this study is aimed at profiling consumers with regard to palm oil issue to better comprehend if the presence of this ingredient truly influences their food purchases and if they care about the nutritional and environmental aspects, highlighting the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on consumers' consumption.

A questionnaire was administered to 243 subjects in Italy, in order to apply a cluster analysis.

The findings show the presence of three main kinds of consumers: (1) compromise finders (sensitive to cost savings but trying to privilege palm-oil free food), (2) brand-loyal consumers (palm oil does not influence their preferences) and (3) healthsensitives (the presence of palm oil profoundly affects their choices), who represent the majority of our sample. The results and implications are discussed.

Research on palm oil is essentially focused on chemistry, natural sciences or on its industrial uses: this study analyzes the consumer point of view by applying a different methodology compared to existing studies.

The hotel industry is one of the leading producers of waste worldwide, and more than one-third of that waste is food. The purpose of this study is to investigate hotel managers' awareness of sustainable and circular practices, with a focus on their attitude toward and perception of food waste in Apulia, Southern Italy. The region has a tourist vocation, accounts for 3.3 million tourists per year and plays a key role in the Italian tourism.

The study was conducted using a questionnaire administered to ten hotel managers located in Apulia. In light of the Checkup Tool Speditivo, a sustainability score indicates managers' awareness of and attitude toward sustainability and circularity, distinguishing between “beginner” (0–25 points), “concerned” (26–50 points), “proactivist” (51–75 points) and “sustainable” (76–100 points). The results have been analyzed using descriptive statistic tools.

The average sustainability score indicating the level of awareness of sustainable and circular practices among hotel managers in Apulia was 84, whereas the average score associated with their attitude toward food waste management strategies was 65. The greater the number of stars, the higher the sustainability scores. However, the greater the number of rooms, the lower the attitude toward food waste management strategies.

The study sheds light on the main opportunities, barriers and trends in the field of food waste management, highlighting the food commodities which are wasted the most and proposing further strategies to improve circularity and sustainability in hotels. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this study is the first on such topics in Southern Italy and could represent the basis for future research on the topic.

This study aims to explore the phenomenon of visceral food pleasure, described as a unitary experience that, after an initial sense of pleasure and relief generated by the satisfaction of eating impulses, is followed by negative feelings – such as guilt and worry – linked to the consumption of hedonic or unhealthy foods.

An exploratory approach has been adopted. In particular, the critical incident technique among 87 individuals has been used to extract insights about visceral food pleasure.

Contrary to previous research results, this study shows that viscearl food pleasure is not a unitary phenomenon, identifying four types of different facets, two of which have a negative valence in terms of felt emotions post-consumption and psychological well-being (i.e. the “greedy” and the “maladaptive” experiences). More importantly, the other two facets are associated with positive consequences in terms of emotions felt post-consumption and perceived psychological well-being (i.e. the “social” and the “fair sin” experiences).

Companies that provide food experiences can prime meanings that influence consumers’ perceptions of the episode to elicit positive emotions post-consumption and psychological well-being.

Promoting a more holistic view of food consumption and psychological well-being can free consumers from negative emotions during food consumption episodes. Priming a particular meaning can be a way to do that. However, as visceral experience can still lead to health issues, this must be combined with an education process that makes consumers aware of their food habits.

This research challenges the idea that visceral food experiences are always negative. Indeed, when associated with particular meanings (i.e. social and reward), they have a positive valence post-consumption.

This research aims to investigate the role of digitalization in facilitating the integration of circular economy (CE) principles within a firm operating in the Italian agrifood sector. The study seeks to explore the evidence and effects emerging from the adoption of digital technologies in a small and medium enterprise (SME) operational setting.

An interpretative case study was conducted on an SME operating in the Italian agrifood sector. The selected firm is known to adopt a business model oriented towards circularity by using entirely digitized closed-loop hydroponic cultivation.

The findings reveal that the digitalization of the production process, supported by an integrated information system, enables optimizing the use and consumption of natural resources and minimizes waste during the production stage. Additionally, the authors observed that digitalization triggers a complex mechanism of interaction between various firm factors, market dynamics and forms of institutionalization, which are intrinsically intertwined with the concepts of sustainability and resilience in the agrifood sector.

From a theoretical point of view, the interpretive reading key – historically appropriate to embrace the complexity of the phenomena under study – can foster a deeper understanding of the dynamics underlying digitalization as an enabling factor to facilitating the adoption of CE principles in the agrifood sector. Regarding managerial implications, the study contributes to the debate on the importance of digital transition in the agrifood industry, which in the Italian context shows considerable resistance due, especially, to the size of the firms (mainly SMEs and micro) and managerial conservatism tradition.

Women-led enterprises can count on intellectual capital (IC) to implement a knowledge exchange process, improve managerial skills and provide themselves with more certain and reasonable financial resources. Recently, the literature has recognized a new paradigm of innovation, known as open innovation (OI) that emphasizes the strategic importance of relationships for knowledge development. The paper, first, aims to investigate if IC can support female agri-start-ups’ innovation process. Second, the aim is to analyse the ways in which IC supports female agri-start-ups.

The work uses a qualitative methodology and a multiple case study supports the paper. Data were acquired using direct semi-structured interviews. To read and interpret them, the authors resorted to the C.A.O.S. model that permits examining the direct relationships in terms of relational capital (RC) and also, observing the effect produced by the relational circuit in terms of human capital (HC) and structural capital (SC) in small and medium enterprises.

Findings reveal that RC plays a fundamental role in innovative start-up's development. The S-C and S-O links support business management and help fill the gender financial gap. This leads to improving entrepreneurial skills (HC) and promoting internal innovative solutions (SC). The S-A links can help the entrepreneur acquire more awareness of the market and compete better.

The research contributes to IC and gender studies, with a specific focus on RC and the innovation process. Although the literature has already investigated the role of RC in female entrepreneurship, only few previous research have conducted a qualitative analysis about the relationships established in the peculiar context of innovative agri-start-ups.

This study aims to evaluate the issue of household food waste in Greece, with an emphasis on assessing the level of awareness and key behaviours among consumers. Moreover, the study focuses on examining consumer behaviours related to food waste and identifying distinct consumer profiles that can provide valuable insights into the issue in order to uncover unique behavioural factors and offer targeted interventions to curb food waste in the country.

A nationwide survey was conducted in Greece using a structured online questionnaire, which was sent to 1,270 participants, through the snowball technique. However, due to some incomplete responses, only 1,238 of the responses were considered suitable for analysis. Common descriptive statistics were used to sketch the respondents' profiles, and a non-hierarchical K-means cluster analysis was performed to identify distinct subgroups in the sample.

The study revealed a significant level of food waste awareness among Greek consumers. The cluster analysis identified four distinct consumer groups and substantial differences among them. Notably, sociodemographic analysis underscored a pronounced inclination towards food wastage among younger individuals. Additionally, each cluster's attributes, including their environmental awareness, shopping behaviours meal-planning tendencies and propensity for excess purchases, were examined. Consequently, this study underscored the imperative for targeted informational campaigns tailored for consumer segmentation, offering a pathway to identify prospective interventions conducive to the promotion of sustainable food-consumption practices.

The originality and value of this work lie in its unique focus on addressing the significant issue of household food waste within the context of Greece. What sets this study apart is the application of non-hierarchical K-means cluster analysis (which allowed the authors to identify distinct consumer profiles), a method not widely utilised in the Greek context. By filling this knowledge gap, this study offers crucial insights that can inform targeted interventions aimed at reducing food waste, in alignment with global sustainability initiatives such as the United Nations Agenda 2030 and the European Union's “Farm to Fork” strategy. Additionally, this study contributes to the efforts to provide innovative solutions to prevent household food waste and foster a sustainable future in an ever-changing international environment marked by various crises

This study aimed to the attributes, consequences and personal values that motivate the behavior of consumers of fruits and vegetables (FV) at local markets and how these elements are associated with food safety.

This is a qualitative research that used the laddering in-depth interview technique for data collection. Fifty interviews were conducted with consumers from Minas Gerais, Brazil. From the codification of the interview content, a hierarchical value map was constructed, showing the relationships between the attributes, consequences and values involved in the consumers’ purchasing decision.

Consumers value characteristics related to the origin of the product and the way it is produced and marketed. They seek particular benefits – such as satisfaction with the purchase, care for their health/well-being and safety when consuming food – and social benefits, such as the possibility of contributing to the local economy. Issues related to hygiene, organization, exposure and handling of products were some of the concerns reported by respondents with regard to food safety.

It is worth highlighting the application of the laddering technique itself. Analyzing the predictive validity of the method, there is a propensity for biases linked to possible interference by the researcher, especially in the coding stage of the elements.

This study can be used by producers, marketing professionals and public policymakers to promote FV sold at local markets and to encourage the improvement of food safety practices.

The research points to five consumer segments according to the different motivations that guide their purchase behavior for local FV. In addition, a focus is given to food safety, revealing its importance in the investigated context.