The current study investigates the willingness of Millennial consumers towards several corporate social responsibility initiatives carried out by food companies. More specifically, it explores four cause related marketing campaigns implemented by food companies to spread corporate social responsibility. The analysis was carried out in Italy by administering a structured questionnaire to 308 consumers. The willingness of participants to switch a chocolate snack of their favourite brand to another with similar characteristics but produced by a company supporting different social and environmental causes was assessed in four different scenarios. The study uncovered the effects of both loyalty towards the brand and trust in cause related marketing on consumers’ willingness to support different corporate social responsibility initiatives. The findings unveiled the willingness of Millennials to support companies’ social and environmental initiatives. Both trust and loyalty played a key role in affecting consumers’ willingness to support corporate social responsibility initiatives of food companies. Social and environmental concerns as well as socio-demographics aspects are also significant in supporting cause related marketing campaigns. The study has shed light on the preference of consumers towards corporate social responsibility and cause related marketing. Specifically, it provides marketing insights on the initiatives most preferred by consumers to which companies should address their efforts.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate consumer’s acceptance toward product innovation in the agri-food sector, uncovering consumers’ characteristics able to encourage food innovation acceptance. Design/methodology/approach The analysis was carried out by administering a web-based structured questionnaire to a convenient sample of 443 Italian consumers. The study relies on consumers’ willingness to pay (WTP) to assess consumers’ acceptance toward the innovative product, while the Food-Related Lifestyle scale was applied to perform a cluster analysis aiming at detecting the attitude of consumers toward innovations in a traditional food. Findings The study findings showed a clear openness of consumers toward product innovation. Indeed, consumers’ WTP for the innovative product was far higher than the traditional one. Further, two out of three consumers’ groups detected (i.e. pro-innovation and rational adopters) exhibit a broad correlation between the innovative product attributes and consumers’ psychographics characteristics, revealing the existence of a large number of potential consumers. Originality/value The contribution of the paper to the current literature is twofold. First, it focused on an emerging topic for the agri-food sector (i.e. product innovation) whereby research works are still scarce. Second, product innovation was addressed toward a traditional food that is mostly reluctant to innovation due to consumers’ resistance and skepticism.

It can be concluded that sensory and non-sensory attributes of sparkling wines affect consumers' preferences. Specifically, the study suggests that production process information strongly impacts liking expectations, while not affecting informed liking. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry.

This paper contributes to the theoretical debate in agri-food economics focusing on corporate social responsibility. Specifically, it aims to define an interpretative model of the processes of social responsibility and value creation in the food industry. An empirical investigation was conducted using an analysis of case studies—representative of sustainable innovation and social responsibility models—as well as in-depth interviews and focus groups with managers of food industries and the sector’s experts. The paper focuses on a topic that has yet to be analysed in agri-food economics literature: corporate social responsibility as a value-creating strategy. Further, it proposes a life cycle model of social responsibility in business processes. The study findings reveal that corporate social responsibility actions may affect the agri-food process and/or the product. Specifically, the investigated case studies reveal that the production sector in which a company operates strongly influences its orientation towards one or more corporate social responsibility dimensions. This study’s results contribute to the debate on the topic and provide useful insights for practitioners and policy-makers.

The current paper aims to explore consumers’ preferences for wine attributes related to tradition, sustainability, and innovation. A total of 419 regular wine consumers participated in an online survey that took place in Italy. Consumers’ preferences were assessed through a Best-Worst experiment with 11 wine attributes drawn from the literature. The result shows that the wine attributes, more important for consumers, are mainly related to tradition and sustainability. More specifically, the most important attributes for consumers when purchasing wine are “geographical indications”, “grape variety”, “sustainable certification”, “vintage”, and “price”. By contrast, the innovative wine attributes investigated were ranked among the least important ones, namely “canned wine”, “alcohol-free wine”, and “vegan wine”. The study findings offer several implications for wineries and marketers involved in the wine sector. They specifically provide suggestions on the wine attribute wineries should focus on to meet the current consumers’ preferences.

The current paper investigates consumers' consumption behavior and preferences for craft beer. More specifically, it uncovers consumers' consumption habits and perception about craft beer, as well as their preferences for 13 beer attributes drawn from the literature. The analysis was carried out in Italy by administering a structured questionnaire to 323 consumers. Best-Worst Scaling was used to detect consumers' preferences towards the 13 craft beer attributes. The latter were then ranked on the basis of their best-worst scores to identify the level of importance Italian consumers assign to the different attributes. The study findings reveal that Italian craft beer consumers are young, well-educated, and employed. They drink craft beer more than once per month, mainly in pub and with friends and colleagues. Craft beer is perceived with higher quality and different flavors, while compared with a commercial beer, it results tastier, more genuine, and natural. As for the beer attributes, Italians prefer taste, fermentation process, and color, while store promotion, brand, and price rank as the least important. The study findings offer several implications for brewers and marketers involved in the beer sector. Based on the preferences detected, breweries should adapt their product offer to meet craft beer consumers' expectations.

The reform of Common Agricultural Policy for 2014-2020 aims at promoting greater competitiveness, efficient use of public goods, food security, preservation of the environment and specific action against climate change, social and territorial equilibrium, and a more inclusive rural development. The economic crisis of the last years, the globalization, the increasing pressure on natural resources, the increasing diversity of agriculture and rural areas in the new enlarged Europe, and citizens' expectations regarding the environment, safety and food quality, health and welfare, preservation of the countryside, biodiversity and climate change, and the unequal distribution of resources are some of the major issues that this policy has faced, in a production context directed by principles of fairness and efficiency. The policy instruments to address these challenges and achieve specific objectives appear greatly transformed and made up of two complementary pillars (direct payments and market measures, the first, and rural development, the second). The perspectives that the new Common Agricultural Policy provides in order to reach a competitive repositioning of the European agricultural and rural systems have been the theme of the 51st SIDEA Conference aimed at promoting a scientific debate on implementation of this policy in Italy. The papers selected for this special issue focus on the new perspectives for European farms, agri-food supply chains, and rural territories of the new Common Agricultural Policy.

This paper focuses on the aspects able to encourage healthier and more responsible food habits. In particular, it explores the effects of different parental characteristics on children's food habits and lifestyle. The study findings reveal a positive effect of parental sociodemographics characteristics (i.e., education and occupation), diet awareness, and lifestyle on children's food habits and lifestyle, offering practical insights for regulators on how to promote healthier and more sustainable food habits among children.