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This paper aims to study five vegetables extracts as possible additives to control bacterial growth on indoor waterborne paints. The extracts were obtained from the weeds Raphanus sativus, Rapistrum rugosum, Sinapis arvensis, Nicotiana longiflora and Dipsacus fullonum, used in traditional medicine as antimicrobial compounds.

Weeds extracts were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and UV–Vis spectrophotometry. Their antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus was also determined. Afterward, selected extracts were incorporated in waterborne paint formulations. The paints’ antimicrobial activity was assessed against S. aureus, monitoring biofilm formation by environmental scanning electron microscopy.

As a general rule, results showed that tested paints were efficient in inhibiting biofilm formation, especially that formulated with Nicotiana longiflora.

The tested paints can be used to protect walls from microbial colonization, which shortened coatings’ useful life by discoloration and/or degradation. Concomitantly, indoor microbial colonization by aerosols could be also diminished. This is especially important in places that should have high standards of environmental hygiene, as in the food industry, health-care and sanitary centers.

The main value of this research was to study the antimicrobial activity of weeds extracts and to incorporate them in waterborne paints to diminish bacterial biofilm formation. This biofilm discolors and degrades the paint, and causes health problems. The use of natural compounds in coatings is increasing because of the convenience of using renewable sources, such as natural antimicrobials, in paint formulations.

Total quality management is a valuable approach to continuously improve the quality of organizations; however, scholars debate its applicability to services, which require specific best practices that are different from those related to manufacturing. Moreover, digitization is pervading all kinds of services, but little has been written about total quality service practices in digital-based companies. For this purpose, the authors provide a holistic model of total quality service that reflects the peculiarities of such companies, guided by the question: how do total quality service practices change in digital-based service organizations?

The authors conduct an illustrative case study on Healthware Group, a global integrated digital health organization, to evaluate theoretical assumptions about total quality service practices in the digital environment.

The findings allow to validate the model provided. In addition, the study enables them to observe the changes the authors are witnessing in service provision in the digital era and the consequent transformation of best practices. To be accurate, the authors cannot refer to a full transformation in digital-based companies but rather to the enrichment and extension of TQS practices. The best illustration of these conclusions has been summarized in a set of propositions corresponding to seven of the key levers of a TQS model.

The paper represents the first attempt to discuss the relationship between total quality service and digitalization, offering a set of propositions for academics and insights for practitioners. The model can be used as a tool to visualize the different levers that successful implementation of TQS in digital-based services companies can rely on.

The paper investigates the role of social networks in the millennials’ decision-making process of illegal and unnotified food supplements purchase. The connections and interactions that (co) produce information are studied with a holistic perspective of social sustainability as a development driver of business model innovation.

An exploratory qualitative multiple analysis study was conducted in two consecutive phases. Data from 23 semi-structured individual interviews were collected, followed by a netnographic analysis of the Facebook virtual community.

The results show that the decision-making process does not develop following the traditional sequence, as social networks modify the wellness meaning creation process and reduce risk perception. Moreover, social networks introduce the use of similar experiences of others and online information and emotional support on unethical and unhealthy behavior.

Due to the application to a social network, the results should be understood within this context. Future studies would benefit by expanding the target and the range of social networks explored.

The official information quality control, as a prerogative of public and professional health stakeholders, and the medialization of medicalization, contribute to the conscious development of their wellness meanings and values.

This work represents one of the first attempts to investigate resources integration through social networks in the pre-purchase decision-making process of unnotified and illegal food supplements. Unethical and unhealthy behavior develops through the interaction of actors, firms, influencers and individuals over social networks.