1,720,993 research outputs found
Food system digitalization and power shifts
Full text linkThe article provides new insights into the assessment of food system digitalization by analyzing how the entire process is mainly power-driven rather than the outcome of fair competition among alternative technological patterns. It focuses on the power forces that have accelerated the digital revolution in the food system and how this revolution is enabling certain subjects to exercise old and new forms of power in the economic, political, and geopolitical spheres. The analysis begins with a brief review of food digital technologies and how the existing literature has discussed their possible benefits and risks. It then focuses on the role of agenda power in promoting digitalization and on hegemonic power as the most important form of power produced by digitalization. The aim of the study is to offer a new perspective, based on the analysis of shifts from one form of political power to another, to better analyze the political issues raised by food system digitalization. The results suggest that to resist the negative aspects of digitalization, it is necessary to transform covert conflicts into overt ones and to understand the mechanisms through which the exercise of power blocks the transition from awareness of conflicts to political action
Innovation trajectories and sustainability in the food system
Full text linkThe goal of the study is to answer the question of whether the current processes of technological change and innovation within the agri-food system could help to increase its sustainability. Four strands of literature are used to unveil the nexus between sustainability and innovation: models of technical change and innovation, sustainability definitions, agroecology as a science and political movement, and the conceptualization of food regimes. The results indicate that innovation processes in the system follow two innovation trajectories, leading to two different food regimes, with opposite effects on sustainability. Since market forces push towards the less sustainable regime, adequate interventions are required in order to assure the sustainability of the system
Framing Political Issues in Food System Transformative Changes
No full textThe paper addresses political issues related to policy interventions for food system sustainability. It presents the results of a literature review, which explores how the concept of power has been used so far by scholars of food system dynamics. Articles numbering 116 were subjected to an in-depth qualitative analysis, which allowed the identification of three main strands of the literature with respect to food and power issues: (1) marketing and industrial organisation literature, dealing with the economic power exercised by economic actors in contexts of noncompetitive market structures; (2) articles addressing the power issue from a political economy perspective and by using an interdisciplinary approach; (3) heterogenous studies. The results of the review witness a growing interest for the analysis of food systems, political issues, and the need of a wider use of analytical tools and concepts offered by social sciences for the study of power in sustainability policy design
Consumer’s attitude, vertical differentiation and labelling regulation in the food industry
No full texthe paper discusses results of a simulated marked research evaluating consumer’s preferences toward GM and NGM food products in the South of Italy. Three experimental scenarios with different hypotheses of price ratio and product attributes of GM and NGM products were run. Consumers’ choices were related to information and risk attitude. We find that consumers tend to prefer NGM products to GM products, without any statistical relationship with their information level and risk attitude. When the NGM product is compared with an enhanced GM product, most consumers still prefer NGM product. GM product consumption does rather depend on consumers’ risk perception. The results demonstrate that there is room in the market for vertical differentiation policies based on the wholesomeness of traditional production methods
Consumers' concern towards palm oil consumption An empirical study on attitudes and intention in Italy
No full textPurpose – Palm oil is a versatile ingredient of many food and non-food products. Yet, over the last year it has rapidly become a controversial product due to its alleged harmful health and environmental effects. Palm oil has rapidly become a controversial product. As a consequence, many food companies have introduced alternative fat sources into their products, in order to meet consumers’ concerns. The purpose of this paper is to: First, investigate consumer purchase intention by assessing whether the environmental, social and health concerns (HCs) act as drivers with regard to the choice of not consuming products containing palm oil; and second, estimate the direct effect of participants’ information seeking (IS) upon their intention, and whether IS mediates the effects of the attitudinal latent constructs on intention. Design/methodology/approach – A quantitative survey of 608 respondents was performed. A structural equation modelling (SEM) procedure was implemented. Findings – Results show that: First, HC is the main driver of participants’ intention to reduce palm oil consumption; second, consumers’ attitudes towards environment and social fairness exert significant direct effects upon intention; third, IS exerts a direct effect on intention; also, it partially mediates the effects of environmental and social concerns, whereas it totally mediates the HC effect. Originality/value – This is the first study to address the issue of comparison between different drivers of sustainable consumer intentions using a formal test by SEM. Moreover, findings add insightful discussion points to some important issues concerning the role of consumers in the current food system organisational structure and strategies
Consumers’ attitude towards palm oil consumption: The key role of health concern.
No full textPalm oil is a versatile ingredient of many food and non-food products. Yet, over the last year it has rapidly become a controversial product due to its alleged harmful health, social and environmental effects. Many food companies have introduced alternative fat sources into their products, in order to meet consumers’ concerns.
Despite a growing literature exists on palm oil sustainability, consumers’ attitudes towards palm oil consumption have not been deeply investigated yet. There are few available studies, mainly focused on consumers’ willingness to pay for palm oil free products and consumers’ awareness of the problem.
The aim of the present study is to gain a better understanding of consumers’ attitudes towards palm oil consumption, by taking into account three dimensions of sustainable consumption—environment, social issues, and health—and assessing their relations with intention to avoid palm oil and individual’s engagement in information seeking about palm oil.
A survey of 608 respondents was performed. Data were analysed by structural equation modelling (SEM). Noticeably, this is the first study to address the issue of comparison between different drivers of sustainable consumer intentions using a formal test by SEM.
Results show that: a) health concern is the main driver of participants’ intention to reduce palm oil consumption; b) consumers’ attitudes towards environment and social fairness exert significant direct effects on intention; c) information seeking exerts a direct effect on intention; also, it partially mediates the effects of environmental and social concerns, whereas it totally mediates the health concern effect.
Keywords: Palm oil, health concern, food consumption sustainability, structural equation modelling
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
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