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1 – 10 of 12John Thøgersen, Susanne Pedersen, Maria Paternoga, Eva Schwendel and Jessica Aschemann-Witzel
The purpose of this paper is to review the literature on the country-of-origin (COO) effect in the context of organic food and develop suggestions for further research in this…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to review the literature on the country-of-origin (COO) effect in the context of organic food and develop suggestions for further research in this area. Research has investigated COO effects and consumer responses to organic food, but there is little research on the combination of the two.
Design/methodology/approach
A narrative review of two research streams and their intersection, forming the basis for the development of a research agenda.
Findings
There are few studies analysing the possible interaction between the effects of organic and COO on consumers’ food preferences and choices. In general, COO seems to lose impact when other quality cues are salient. This suggests a lower impact of COO for organic than for conventional food products. However, there is still no research on the possible impact of organic labelling in categories where products from a foreign country are able to demand a premium, and little is known about consumer preferences for different import countries regarding organic food. Six potential future research directions are suggested.
Research limitations/implications
There is a need for research that more systematically investigates the possible interactions between COO and organic labelling on consumers’ food product preferences and choices. A research agenda is suggested as a starting point.
Originality/value
This literature review highlights the lack of research on the interaction between COO effects and consumer responses to organic food. The literature review creates a basis for future research and a possible research agenda is suggested.
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John Thøgersen, Jessica Aschemann-Witzel and Susanne Pedersen
This paper aims to test the general validity of a hierarchical model of country image conceptualizations across countries that differ in socio-economic development and distance to…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to test the general validity of a hierarchical model of country image conceptualizations across countries that differ in socio-economic development and distance to the exporting country.
Design/methodology/approach
Representative consumer samples in Germany, France, China and Thailand (N ∼ 1,000 per country) completed an online survey on three levels of country image regarding Denmark and attitudes towards buying an organic food product from Denmark. Data were analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling.
Findings
The hierarchical country image model fitted the data well in the two European countries, but not in the two Asian countries. It appears that the hierarchical relationships proposed by the model require a high level of familiarity with and knowledge of the origin country and the product type.
Research limitations/implications
The application scope of the model is considerably narrower than implied by earlier research. Further research should combine data from a number of sources to investigate the model’s application further.
Practical implications
Exporters must pay attention to both the general image of their country and the image of their country with regard to their specific product category, as this impacts consumer product evaluations.
Originality/value
International trade and the success of export strategies ultimately depend on consumer acceptance in importing countries. This study demonstrates how consumer perception of imported products is affected by the exporting country’s image, which may be more or less elaborate and differentiated. It gives exporters new insight into how they can make their marketing effective when entering markets.
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Jessica Aschemann-Witzel, Tino Bech-Larsen and Alice Grønhøj
The aim of this paper is to study the extent of change in parents' fruit and vegetable consumption during a period when their children participate in a school-based healthy eating…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this paper is to study the extent of change in parents' fruit and vegetable consumption during a period when their children participate in a school-based healthy eating intervention.
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 256 12-year-old Danish schoolchildren took part in a text-message feedback intervention promoting fruit and vegetable consumption. One parent of each child filled out self-administered questionnaires at three points during the 40-week study period. In the questionnaire, stated consumption, perceived influence factors on their consumption and self-efficacy and self-regulation were measured.
Findings
Only half of the parents stated that they met the “five a day” target. These parents reported good availability of fruit and vegetables in their household, high consumption among their friends and frequent exercise and they were characterised by high self-efficacy levels. Stated consumption increased during the period of the intervention targeted at their children. Parents that reported an increase had, at the start of the intervention, reported low levels of consumption, lack of encouragement to eat healthy at their workplace and lower autonomous self-regulation.
Research limitations/implications
The consumption data is limited to self-report.
Practical implications
The results indicate that parents can be influenced indirectly by school-based interventions targeted at their children. Future interventions should include the family with the intent to support positive interaction that might further promote and sustain healthy eating habits.
Originality/value
The study considers the possible effects school interventions targeting children may have on the immediate family, an aspect generally overlooked in school-based health initiatives.
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Wei-Zhi Ang, Suresh Narayanan and Meenchee Hong
Food wastage is a major contributor to pervasive world hunger. Cutting global food waste in half by 2030 is one of the United Nation's top priorities. Hence, this paper aims to…
Abstract
Purpose
Food wastage is a major contributor to pervasive world hunger. Cutting global food waste in half by 2030 is one of the United Nation's top priorities. Hence, this paper aims to provide useful insights on how individual behavior might be influenced to help reduce food wastage and hunger by identifying individual food waste determinants.
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 297 useable responses were obtained from a survey using a food diary method. A logit model was employed to estimate the relationship between leftovers and its determinants (preparedness to take own action, price conscious, food review, religiosity, health conscious, cost, marital status and gender).
Findings
Results show that preparedness to be responsible for one's actions, depending on food reviews and being waste conscious had a significant positive relationship with food waste reducing behavior, along with being male and being married.
Research limitations/implications
The study suggests that there is scope for policy initiatives to reduce the individual utility from discarding food and increase the individual utility from food saving activities. Penalizing individual or household food wastage through a tax will directly raise the cost of wastage and reduce the net utility from discarding food. Reducing food waste could help reduce global hunger.
Originality/value
Rationally, no one will have any intention to waste when buying food. Instead, in the context of deciding whether or not to leave leftover food, an individual is posited to weigh the potential utility from saving food or throwing it away. Thus, this study examines food waste behavior by utilizing economic tools, which is rare in the food waste literature.
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Yukti Sharma and Prakrit Silal
With multiple theoretical traditions, diverse topical landscape and rapid regulatory advancements galvanising the ongoing discourse, the emergent marketing scholarship on healthy…
Abstract
Purpose
With multiple theoretical traditions, diverse topical landscape and rapid regulatory advancements galvanising the ongoing discourse, the emergent marketing scholarship on healthy and unhealthy food and beverages (F&B) has become exhaustive, fragmented and almost non-navigable. Accordingly, this study aims to synthesise and trace two decades of research focused on healthy and unhealthy F&B marketing.
Design/methodology/approach
This study conducts a bibliometric analysis of papers published between 2000 and 2020. The data was retrieved from Web of Science (WoS) and Scopus, yielding 338 papers for final analysis. Using VOSviewer software and the Biblioshiny package, the authors performed a detailed bibliometric analysis comprising performance analysis and science mapping.
Findings
The study delineated the contribution, theoretical and thematic structure of healthy and unhealthy F&B marketing scholarship. The authors also mapped the evolution trajectory of the thematic structure, which helped us contemplate the research gaps.
Research limitations/implications
By delving deeper into the “who”, “where”, “how”, “what” and “when” of healthy and unhealthy F&B marketing, the study enhances the current understandings and future developments for both theorists and practitioners. However, the selection of literature is confined to peer-reviewed papers available in WoS and Scopus.
Practical implications
The findings delineate the existing scholarship which could guide F&B marketers and policymakers towards designing consumer-centric marketing/policy interventions.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to perform a bibliometric analysis of healthy and unhealthy F&B marketing, likely to provide valuable guidelines for future scholars, policymakers and practitioners.
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Nadine Kafa and Anicia Jaegler
The purpose of this paper is to systematically review and critically examine food losses and waste quantification in supply chain, especially in studies that tackle all the supply…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to systematically review and critically examine food losses and waste quantification in supply chain, especially in studies that tackle all the supply chain activities in a real context.
Design/methodology/approach
This work employed a systematic literature review methodology on the extant literature focusing on peer-reviewed journal articles published from 2000 to 2019.
Findings
A systematic analysis of 117 articles reveals that downstream supply chains are studied to a greater extent than upstream supply chains, with an emphasis on consumer waste. The findings also highlight more than half of the articles focus on only one supply chain activity. In terms of the methodologies, surveys and modelling methods are the most used to measure food losses and wastes, adopt monetary, carbon emission and calorific metrics. This study highlights that while food losses and waste research remains a relevant field of study, it has yet to been fully explored.
Research limitations/implications
The main limit is the adoption of a systematic review method for food losses and waste quantification in supply chain.
Practical implications
The results suggest that supply chain managers should invest in acquiring more knowledge about food losses in the global network. Upstream supply chains should be more studied and integrated with the downstream supply chains. Using combined direct and indirect methods has the potential to deal with the contradictions of quantification, the lack of data and reduce losses over time and space.
Originality/value
Based on this review as the first one focusing exclusively on quantification of food losses and waste in supply chain context, the authors develop an aspiring research agenda that proposes opportunities for future research.
Headings
We analyse 117 studies addressing food losses and waste quantification.
Downstream food supply chains are more studied than upstream food supply chains.
Case studies of food supply chains in developed countries are more prolific.
The main metric to quantify food losses and waste is weight.
We analyse 117 studies addressing food losses and waste quantification.
Downstream food supply chains are more studied than upstream food supply chains.
Case studies of food supply chains in developed countries are more prolific.
The main metric to quantify food losses and waste is weight.
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John Thøgersen and Susanne Pedersen
Filling a gap in extant research regarding the measurement of an export country's environmental image and investigating its importance for consumers' evaluation of an…
Abstract
Purpose
Filling a gap in extant research regarding the measurement of an export country's environmental image and investigating its importance for consumers' evaluation of an environmentally differentiated imported product.
Design/methodology/approach
Online surveys carried out in Denmark (Study 1), Germany and France (Study 2; N˜500 from each country). In Study 1, we develop an environmental country image instrument and investigate its nomological validity vis-à-vis other country image constructs and Danish consumers' evaluation of organic milk from Germany. In Study 2, we validate the instrument with consumers from Germany and France, evaluating organic milk from Denmark.
Findings
Consumers differentiate between a country's environmental image and its general and production-related images. The country's environmental image is important to consumers' evaluation of an environmentally differentiated product from the country. Specifically, we find that a country's environmental image strongly influences its product-specific images and, through these, the consumer's evaluation of an organic food product from the country.
Practical implications
Consumers' use of a country's environmental image as a cue to the credibility of environmental claims gives competitive advantages to exporters from countries with a favorable environmental image, while exporters from countries with an unfavorable environmental image need measures to compensate. Companies and countries should monitor how the environmental image of their country evolves in important markets and be ready to act when facing damages to their country's environmental image.
Originality/value
This article is the first to propose a measure of environmental country image and to document that consumers use the environmental image of an exporting country to assess environmental claims on imported products.
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Tino Bech-Larsen, Jessica Ascheman-Witzel and Viktorija Kulikovskaja
The increased acknowledgement of the problems associated with food waste has triggered a number of social and commercial initiatives for the re-distribution of suboptimal foods…
Abstract
Purpose
The increased acknowledgement of the problems associated with food waste has triggered a number of social and commercial initiatives for the re-distribution of suboptimal foods (SOFs). This paper aims to explore a variety of such initiatives and discuss their prospects, considering the commercial contingencies of the food supply system.
Design/methodology/approach
The exploration is based on a multi-country study of cases representing three initiatives related to the reduction of waste from SOFs, i.e. social supermarkets (SSMs), food banks and expiration date-based pricing practices. The collected data comprise expert interviews, store-check observations and secondary material; the data are analyzed from a marketing practice perspective.
Findings
The analyses indicate that the distribution and re-distribution of SOFs are moving toward normalization, that the diffusion of expiration date-based pricing through all food retailing formats is likely to continue, that food banks – despite reports of dwindling supplies of SOFs – are likely to increase their expansion and that SSMs face a variety of challenges, e.g. as regards their supply of SOFs and their customers’ preferences for stable assortments.
Originality/value
By synthesizing data from various European implementations of re-distribution practices, this article contributes to the understanding of the viability of such practices. Developing this understanding should benefit social and commercial entrepreneurs, as well as policymakers, when designing and implementing initiatives for the reduction of waste from SOFs.
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Jingxue Jessica Yuan, Sungpo Yi, Helena A. Williams and Oak-Hee Park
Despite the perfect nutritional value of imperfect “ugly” produce, they are either never harvested or discarded, resulting in escalating farm-to-fork food waste problems in the…
Abstract
Purpose
Despite the perfect nutritional value of imperfect “ugly” produce, they are either never harvested or discarded, resulting in escalating farm-to-fork food waste problems in the USA. The purpose of this paper is to investigate US consumers’ perceptions of imperfect “ugly” produce and their willingness to purchase and consume these foods in their households.
Design/methodology/approach
Four focus group sessions with at least five voluntary participants per session were conducted. Each session used structured interview questions and the discussions were led by the same moderator. All sessions were recorded, transcribed and analyzed based on published focus group guidelines and recommendations.
Findings
The research study has revealed two categories of potential consumers, Influencers and Learners, when it comes to an initial understanding of “ugly” produce consumption. The study also identified nine themes (i.e. food safety, price sensitivity, location of sale, product display, name/label, purpose of use, fun, targeted education and food waste) that consumers hold regarding imperfect “ugly” produce.
Research limitations/implications
Insights from this study provide strategies for sustainable food management that could help stakeholders along all points of the food chain save money, reduce hunger and diminish food waste in our communities.
Originality/value
This study serves to provide preliminary insights in approaching the issue of consumers’ perception of imperfect “ugly” fruits and vegetables from a research perspective. Although a limited number of real consumers from the local community participated, their rich and in-depth qualitative responses defined the scope and the defining questions that need further exploration.
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