Interest in food products with eco-friendly characteristics and certifications has grown in recent decades. Consumers are also increasingly demanding ready-to-eat products, especially in urban environs, where modern lifestyles tend to limit their available time. Understanding the proenvironmental behaviour of convenience food consumers is particularly challenging because there is often a contradiction between eco-friendly behavioural intent and time constraints imposed by modern lifestyles in large cities. It is not clear to what extent information labels on such products are trusted by consumers and considered when making food choices. This study aims at contributing to the debate investigating the determinants influencing consumer purchase intention, focusing on minimally processed vegetables labelled with integrated-pest-management standards. More specifically, the analysis investigates the role consumer trust plays in consumer intention to buy such products. The conceptual framework builds on and extends the theory of planned behaviour. The analyses are based on face-to-face interviews in a large European city (Milan, Italy). Data were analysed by means of structural equation modelling. Results confirm the important role of consumer trust, which positively affects attitudes towards the purchase of convenience food with eco-friendly attributes, and negatively affects consumer concerns around agricultural practices in relation to environmental and health impacts.

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Purpose The aim of the paper is to investigate the determinants leading firms to choose among different voluntary standards within food supply chains. In specific, the authors explored the role of transaction risks, i.e. internal and exogenous risks, in the adoption of different traceability standards. Design/methodology/approach A survey was conducted within the Italian population of 216 food-processing firms that adopt voluntary traceability schemes. The identification of different transaction risks was based on the literature on supply chain management and transaction cost economics. An ordinal regression model was used in the analysis. Findings Empirical results highlight that the transaction risks perceived by food firms play a significant role on the kind of traceability schemes to adopt. There is a positive link between internal risks and the decision to implement complex schemes. Moreover, a negative relationship between the perceived exogenous risks and the complexity of the standard adopted is also observed. Exogenous transaction risk lead to the implementation of standards which do not imply strong co-ordination. On the contrary, internal risks imply complex schemes that lead to closer supply chain relationships. Research limitations/implications The analysis is limited to cross-sectional data for a single country, and further investigation would help assess the generalisation of the findings. Practical implications The analysis can be considered a useful framework to orient firms strategic decisions towards the most appropriate voluntary standard to adopt for an efficient management of vertical relationships within food supply chains. Originality/value The present analysis is the first attempt to explain the determinants leading firms to choose among different kinds of voluntary standards within food supply chains. The approach used reveals that transaction risks can be considered a useful framework to explain firms’ strategic decisions related to the kind of schemes to adopt.

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Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the market orientation and the marketing management capabilities of SMEs that produce traditional food products, by identifying their critical points in marketing activities. Design/methodology/approach - The theoretical framework of this analysis relates to market orientation approach. Marketing management capability was evaluated through a questionnaire using proxies to study the different stages of marketing management. The survey involved 150 firms of which 118 are SMEs producing traditional food products, located in Hungary, Belgium, and Italy. The data were collected by a self-administered internet survey and were analysed using multivariate analyses. Findings - Cluster analysis resulted in four clusters with different marketing management capabilities. Most of the SMEs in the sample lack marketing management capabilities, even if a considerable proportion of the firms considered report good marketing capabilities that lead to a market orientation. The weakest step of market orientation is the dissemination of generated intelligence. Indeed, SMEs lack marketing organisational activities, namely in planning and implementation of marketing strategy. Moreover, SMEs with better performance check that their objectives are reached but do not compare their strategy with that of competitors. Hence, they could miss opportunities to keep up to date with market development. Originality/value - This paper provides interesting insights. about the marketing capabilities of food SMEs, which usually find it difficult to stay in the market beside large firms. Moreover, there are not many contributions in the literature about the application of market orientation approach on traditional food producers