22 Years of Governance Structures and Performance: What Has Been Achieved in Agrifood Chains and Beyond? A Review

Abstract

Although the existing literature has shown that the choice of governance structure plays a key role in inter-organizational performance, the nature of construct measurability still remains equivocal. The diversity of terminologies used means that the full potential of most studies may be lost in the confusion of indistinctive and misapplied terms. To better understand the relationship between governance structures and performance, a descriptive systematic review was conducted on the extant literature; essentially, to provide a comprehensive point of reference for researchers interested in this research area and to identify future research gaps. A simple analytical framework-Search, Appraisal, and Synthesis-was used to extract data. A total of 110 peer-reviewed journal articles were identified and analyzed. The results indicated that different governance structures are positively related to performance except for the spot market. The findings provide strong evidence that under certain circumstances, the contractual governance structure is negatively related to performance. Whereas in other circumstances, there is a positive interaction. Furthermore, the results revealed that numerous proxy indicators have been used to measure governance structures and performance. Overall, this study provides new insights on the relationship between governance structures and performance in the agrifood sector and beyond. The contribution of the study, implications, and suggestions for future research outlook are discussed in relation to governance structures and performance.

The Multiplier Effects of Food Relocalization: A Systematic Review

“…Papers in which negative or partially negative results are published are indicated in bold text (negative results are understood as meaning no multiplier effect was found, or that the multiplier effect found in the local food context was less than that of conventional production). Due to the low number and heterogeneity of the applied methods, qualitative assessments were included, in a similar manner to the syntheses prepared by [45,48,51], although there were fewer papers involved in the analysis in our case.…”

“…In this paper, a process that follows the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines [40,43] is introduced. PRISMA, although originally developed in a healthcare context, is a popular and rigorous guideline that is also used in the field of agricultural economics [2,[44][45][46], among other areas, when analyzing and reporting on search-related results. To establish greater scientific rigor, the protocol for the present systematic review process was discussed at the 174th Seminar of the European Association of Agricultural Economists in Matera, Italy in October 2019.…”

“…The following electronic databases were reviewed for papers: ScienceDirect, Wiley Online Library, Taylor and Francis Online, SpringerLink, AgECON, and Emerald and, following the approach of [2,45], a complementary search in Google Scholar was also carried out. All the studies that are referred to here are original research papers that were published in English, either in print or electronic form, between January 2000 and December 2019.…”

Internationalization Business Models and Patterns of SMEs and MNEs: A Qualitative Multi-Case Study in the Agrifood Sector

“…'The performance measurement has proven to be a difficult task, especially in agrifood chains.' [90] (p. 53). In the field of internationalization and firm performance, prior research underplays the roles of management [43,44].…”

Strategic information sharing in Australian fresh produce chains

“…Growers and producers of fresh produce are required to comply with codes and private standards set by supermarkets (Tallontire et al 2011), which are a dominant form of governance in agri-food chains (Bair 2005). A review of agri-food governance identified the type of governance was influenced by coordination strategies, with a combination of relational and contractual governance needed to optimise performance (Kataike & Gellynck 2018). Relational governance curtails opportunism, complements contracts (Zhou & Xu 2012), decreases uncertainty and transaction costs (Dolci et al 2017).…”