Agri-food entrepreneurship. Harvesting, growing and reseeding the orchard through a bibliometric study

Abstract

PurposeScholarly literature on entrepreneurial activities in the agri-food sector has flourished over the years in several different ways. This study uses the metaphor of an orchard to describe how this stream of literature has evolved from its initial “seeds” to the rich and diversified “fruits” of current debate. It is now time to harvest and catalogue these “fruits”. This study aims to map out and systematise the current stock of knowledge on agri-food entrepreneurship, so as to identify gaps and thus “plant” new seeds for the future of the “orchard”.Design/methodology/approachTo identify thematic clusters, this study used a bibliometric analysis coupled with a systematic literature review performed over a dataset of 108 peer-reviewed articles.FindingsThe results revealed six thematic clusters related to agri-food entrepreneurship: ecosystems, formal and informal institutions; contextual entrepreneurial practices; community and stakeholders’ engagement; barriers and opportunities; entrepreneurial orientation; and sustainable entrepreneurship. After investigating each of them, this study created a framework to highlight future avenues through which the topic could be further developed.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first of its kind to systematise, analyse and critically interpret the literature concerned with agri-food entrepreneurship.

A bibliometric analysis of trends in the relationship between innovation and food

“…Although previous studies have already investigated specific innovations related to food via bibliometric analysis (Pontieri et al, 2022;Misra and Mention, 2022;Vesperi and Coppolino, 2022;Luo et al, 2022;Correa-Porcel et al, 2021;Lyu, 2020;Petrolo et al, 2022;Bigliardi and Galati, 2013), a bibliometric analysis of publications on both topics however had not yet been carried out. This study, therefore, fills this gap where a holistic approach was a missing piece in the research literature.…”

“…Topics previously investigated were the impacts of open innovation on agri-food systems (Pontieri et al, 2022;Misra and Mention, 2022), inter-organisational relationships (Vesperi and Coppolino, 2022) as well as the intellectual structure of short food supply chains (Luo et al, 2022). Further research topics include the water-energy-food nexus (Correa-Porcel et al, 2021), destination food (Lyu, 2020), agri-food entrepreneurship (Petrolo et al, 2022) and functional food (Bigliardi and Galati, 2013). Whilst these studies provide important new knowledge on specific innovation activities, a comprehensive review of the interrelations between innovation and food remains lacking.…”

Unleashing the value of artificial intelligence in the agri-food sector: where are we?

“…Intangible aspects of agri-food and AI are represented in entrepreneurship and/or innovation-related studies. On one hand, Petrolo et al. (2022) through a bibliographic study and a systematic analysis, investigated the phenomenon of agri-food entrepreneurship concluding that agri-food entrepreneurs play a key role in developing ecosystems.…”

“…Intangible aspects of agri-food and AI are represented in entrepreneurship and/or innovation-related studies. On one hand, Petrolo et al (2022) through a bibliographic study and a systematic analysis, investigated the phenomenon of agri-food entrepreneurship concluding that agri-food entrepreneurs play a key role in developing ecosystems. Nonetheless, more efforts should be directed towards educating agri-food entrepreneurs on how to adapt different practices and develop their soft and hard skills to overcome sociocultural challenges (Petrolo et al, 2022).…”

“…On one hand, Petrolo et al (2022) through a bibliographic study and a systematic analysis, investigated the phenomenon of agri-food entrepreneurship concluding that agri-food entrepreneurs play a key role in developing ecosystems. Nonetheless, more efforts should be directed towards educating agri-food entrepreneurs on how to adapt different practices and develop their soft and hard skills to overcome sociocultural challenges (Petrolo et al, 2022). On the other hand, Misra and Mention (2021), through the deployment of a bibliometric analysis of 84 publications, emphasized that open innovation concurs with a growing space in food innovation research.…”