Consumers’ Quality Conventions in Alternative, Conventional, and High-End Food Chains

Participation for what? Organizational roles, quality conventions and purchasing behaviors in solidarity purchasing groups

“…As we showed elsewhere (Barbera et al, 2018a(Barbera et al, , 2018b, quality in conventional food networks refer mainly to hard quality, namely to detectable characteristics such as prices and standardized rules of production, as well as the attribution of premiums, brands and other recognition. AFNs instead point to soft quality, namely to less directly perceivable qualities, which emphasize the role of stakeholders in a local context, respect for tradition, the existence of trust relations, attention for the environment, the value given to shared community spirit and passion for farming (Barbera and Dagnes, 2016).…”

“…In fact, given the importance of relationships, different hypotheses can be formulated about the social mechanisms at work. In particular, consumers associated with SPG seem to base their own judgment devices that drive purchasing behavior markedly on personal relationships (Barbera et al, 2018b). However, as we argued, these relational patterns must adapt to the ways in which roles are structured and modulated at the organizational level.…”

“…Avigliana, La Cavagnetta, Roccafranca, Salvagas) within a broader research project (for a total of 1090 interviews) about the relationship between producers and consumers in AFNs (cf. Barbera et al, 2018aBarbera et al, , 2018b2018c). Specifically, SPGs were selected according to their location (in the city or in the neighboring municipalities), their number of members (small to medium groups, up to 50 adherents, and large groups, with more than 100 participants), and their status (informal groups or recognized associations).…”

“…Even if soft quality is more relevant in AFNs, conventional food chains conjure up certain "alternative" ideas in the products they propose to consumers. The complexity of exchange and the overlap among different quality worlds open a window of opportunity for camouflage strategies by hybrid organizations whereby conventional food chains conquer specific zones of AFNs' quality space in order to fulfill consumers' desire for "alternative" quality conventions (see Barbera et al, 2018b).…”

“…Ponte, 2016) to identify the main dimensions of quality. Hard quality, related to measurable characteristics such as prices, standardized rules of production, brands and other formal recognition; soft quality, related to less detectable features such as the role of stakeholders in a local context, the respect for tradition, the existence of trust relations, the attention for the environment, the value given to shared community spirit and passion for farming (Barbera and Dagnes, 2016;Barbera et al, 2018aBarbera et al, , 2018b.…”