Solidarity Purchase Groups Research Articles

Differentiating emotions in the theory of planned behaviour: evidence of improved prediction in relation to sustainable food consumerism

PurposeThe theory of planned behaviour (TPB) and its extensions are often used to explain intentions to perform sustainable behaviours. Emotions can provide the impetus for action and should be considered in high-involvement situations, such as sustainable food purchase decisions. Therefore, the aim of this research work was to investigate whether the addition of different types of emotions (self-related, social and pro-active) to the TPB main constructs – attitude (ATT), subjective norm (SN) and perceived behavioural control (PBC) – improves the explanation of intention to make two sustainable food purchase choices: purchase Fairtrade (FT) products and purchase through solidarity purchasing groups (SPGs).Design/methodology/approachThe present investigation was conducted by two studies using online questionnaires and focussing on purchasing FT food products (Study 1) and purchasing food through SPGs (Study 2). Stepwise regression models were run to explain the intention to purchase FT products (Study 1; N = 240) and the intention to purchase through SPGs (Study 2; N = 209).FindingsResults show that emotions increase the predictive validity of the TPB model. The study also highlights the importance to distinguish between different types of emotions. Amongst those considered in both studies, only pro-active emotions play a significant role in predicting food purchasing intention. Results encourage further investigation of the role of emotions in TPB-based models for predicting sustainable food purchase choices.Research limitations/implicationsThe measurement of the three classical antecedents of the TPB model (ATT, SNs and PBC) performed by single items can be considered the main limitation of this work. In future research, instruments made up of more items measuring these three theoretical dimensions should be used. In addition, it would be important to conduct an analysis of the beliefs that determine ATTs, norms and perceived control.Originality/valueDifferent from previous studies that considered emotions in extension of the TPB model to explain sustainable behaviours, the present work separately analysed the role of three different kinds of emotions (self-related, social and pro-active) in explaining sustainable food behaviours.

From branding to solidarity: The COVID-19 impact on marketing Strachítunt cheese from Val Taleggio, Italy

Branding, labelling and certification are the principal instruments for marketing heritage cheese in the Italian Alps. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has put considerable strain on these tools. In Val Taleggio, where the Protected Designation of Origin cheese Strachítunt is made, the cooperative of producers suffered a breakdown in access to markets during the lockdown of March–May 2020. Their strategy was to appeal directly to consumers, connecting digitally with solidarity economy networks such as Gruppi di Acquisto Solidale (Solidarity Purchase Groups). Building on long-term ethnography, the article shows how this appeal brought to the surface a shared discourse and understanding of proximity and solidarity, which is not usually employed in the language of certification and labelling.

Sustainable transition and food democracy: The role of decision making process in Solidarity Purchasing Groups

This study investigates how the decision making process in Solidarity Purchasing Groups (SPGs), intended as hybrid organizations, supports the sustainability transition in food systems. The process of sustainability transition in food systems involves many kinds of tensions, especially in the process of pursuing a multiplicity of economic, social and environmental objectives. This study focuses on the SPGs in Italy and study how they organize their internal decision-making process and their search for the group objectives. This paper argues that the decentralization of the decision rights in SPGs sustains the integration of such different objectives and coordinates efficiently the multifaceted values of their members. The empirical analysis shows that the decision rights are decentralized and that the decentralized decision rights positions in solidarity purchasing groups are associated with the pursuing of different objectives. Our findings indicate that SPGs contributes to the transitions toward sustainability in food systems by using organizational democracy mechanisms to coordinate tensions among social, market and environmental values.

Networks of solidarity economy, tools for local development and social innovation

The article analyzes the capability of enterprises and social enterprises (as reported by Borzaga and Fazzi (Le imprese sociali, Carocci Editore, Roma, 2011); as reported by Drapery (Comprendre l’économie social, Dunod, Paris 2007)) in promoting local sustainable development, starting from the organization of alternative agro-food networks Renting et al. (Environ Plann 35:393–411, 2003). The analysis starts from a case study of 40 solidarity purchasing groups of solidarity economy in Italy. In particular, the article focuses on the solidarity economic network “REES Marche”. Meanwhile, solidarity purchasing groups (SPGs) in the literature have been studied under the perspective of consumers, even those of the Marche Orazi (DES.so. Economia solidali e cittadini consapevoli, Cattedrale, Ancona, 2011), this article means to go ahead underlining also the perspective of producers.The analysis of data raises up 4 types of possible organizations linked to solidarity purchasing groups, with different levels of social innovation in promoting a sustainable development. Results show that a sustainable local development is enhanced by a thick social cooperation among enterprises into a network, as, for example, that of SPGs. Moreover, it is promoted by a reorganization of the productive chain on local, ecological and ethical basis that directly impacts on production and consumption of fair products. Furthermore, the article shows that the direct relationship among entrepreneur and consumers stimulates a social innovation in solving problems.We use a mixed method approach: a quantitative analysis of statistical data on the web site of REES Marche; a qualitative analysis based on participatory observation and on data collected through 34 in-depth interviews with network’s members.

Rural sustainability and food choice: the effect of territorial characteristics on the consumers\u2019 preferences for organic lentils

The importance of pulse cultivation and consumption is recognized by the scientific community in terms of human nutrition, food security, biodiversity and a valid substitute for animal protein. In some marginal areas, pulse cultivation represents also a protection against the abandonment of agricultural land, the preservation of traditional landscape and the maintenance of natural environments, besides contributing to the safeguard of traditional gastronomy and culture.This study explores how some characteristics connected with rural sustainability, like the preservation of the traditional rural landscape, production area in a Natura 2000 Site of Community Importance (SCI) and EU quality labels (PDO and PGI), might influence organic consumers’ choice of lentils. Data were collected in the Umbria region (Italy) in 2014 by interviewing 213 consumers’ members of Organic Solidarity Purchase Groups (O-SPGs). The Discrete Choice Experiment methodology was used, and three different models (Multinomial Logit Model (MNL), Mixed Logit Model (RPL) and Endogenous Attribute Attendance (EAA)) were applied to verify the reliability of the estimates. Attribute non-attendance (ANA) behaviour was taken into account. Results reveal that the presence of ANA had an impact on both the relative importance of the estimated attributes and the magnitude of the estimated mean WTP. Therefore, this study suggests that WTP mean estimates should be considered with caution for marketing purposes if ANA is not considered. Looking at pulses, the results help to understand the importance in monetary terms of the relationship between lentil choice and rural sustainability.

Fostering ethical consumption in food sector: Insights from the Italian Solidarity Purchasing Groups

PurposeThe paper aims at investigating antecedents and predictors of consumers' buying and consumption processes within the Italian Solidarity Purchasing Groups (SPGs) to enrich current debate about drivers and levers on which act for fostering ethical consumption in food sector.Design/methodology/approachBuilding upon the theory of planned behavior (TPB) a theoretical model is proposed for depicting possible antecedents and predictors of consumers' buying and consumption processes in food sector. The validity of the model has been tested via partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) using SmartPLS for analyzing primary data collected through a structured questionnaire from 354 consumers engaged in SPGs.FindingsWithin the domain of food buying and consumptions through SPGS, results show that consumers' behavior intention (BI) is influenced by consumers' attitude (ATT) and perceived behavioral control (PBC). Moreover, the research also demonstrates that consumers' ATT is influenced by consumers' ethical self-identity (ETH), consumers' willingness to support local economy (SLE), and food safety concern (FSC).Originality/valueThe study contributes to the ongoing debate on sustainable consumerism focusing the attention on SPGs as emerging social organizations inspired by ethical food consumption. Both theoretical development and empirical evidences enrich current knowledge about drivers and levers on which act for fostering ethical consumption in food sector.

The economic and environmental sustainability of extra virgin olive oil supply chains: An analysis based on food miles and value chains

Following the growing trend towards globalisation of the agrifood system over the last few years, a number of scientific publications with different aims and methodological approaches have addressed the issue of the progressive link loss between the place of consumption and production of food. In part, thescientific debate has focused on the various agri-food production commercial outlets, highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of both the dominant models like mass market retail, as well as emerging models like solidarity purchasing groups The present study can be classified as concerning the sustainability of agri-food supply chains. It compares five different extra virgin olive oil (evoo) supply chains in terms of the distance between the agricultural producer and end consumer, from both an economic perspective (the number of intermediaries) and a geographical one (production and consumption places). The examined aspects are 1) all the supply chain segments in which value is added to what will be the final food product purchased by the consumer, with a focus on trade and the transport cost estimated in relation to food miles; 2) the environmental impact of transport along the entire supply chain up to the distribution of evoo to the final consumer; and 3) the trade-offs between the environmental impact and economic results.The results obtained confirm some existing general evidence in the literature, such as the greater enhancement of agricultural products through short supply chains, and they emphasize as combining the value chain results with the environmental impact based on FMs, no real trade-offs, but rather trends, emerge.

Food System Resilience during COVID-19 Pandemic: The Case of Roman Solidarity Purchasing Groups

The restriction measures linked to the COVID-19 shock suddenly highlighted the vulnerability of most socioeconomic systems, including the food sector. In a context in which the limitation to the movement of people and goods has put the longer and more structured supply chains in serious difficulty, many experiences and initiatives have emerged as viable alternatives. The aim of the research was to understand if and how the Solidarity Purchasing Groups (SPG) of Rome have contributed to the resilience of the food system of the metropolitan city during the lockdown. The research was based on the results of a questionnaire administered to the SPGs of Rome during the first period of the pandemic (April–July 2020), enriched by some in-depth interviews carried out by the authors. What emerged was that, despite the limited extent in terms of products conveyed within the whole food system, the SPGs represented an important food supply channel during the lockdown period, for two main reasons: a greater flexibility and agility in moving and in handling goods and the possibility of remunerating local farms, contributing to the resilience of the local agri-food fabric. The analysis of the results confirms the strong vitality of such Food Movements in Rome and, at the same time, allows for the identification of a series of interventions that the institutions could adopt to favor the spread of a food environment more compatible with more sustainable and fairer forms of food production and distribution.

Box-scheme as alternative food network\u2014the economic integration between consumers and producers

As a growing option for small farmers, alternative food networks (AFN) have attracted the attention of researchers around the world. Nevertheless, not much focus is given to box-schemes as a format itself. The nomenclature is often associated with community-supported agriculture (CSA) and solidarity purchase groups (SPG), but many companies have reduced geographic and informational distances without demanding such a narrow relationship between collaborators. The aim of this article is to analyze the relationship between companies and their customers. A theoretical framework was built based on thoughts about economic integration and the relationship in the retail environment to examine the possibility of reciprocity and redistribution. The fieldwork was conducted in São Paulo, Brazil. Technology is found to be fundamental to the rise of such companies, but the Internet is not the only key, the telephone is also important for a warmer and closer relationship. The interviews revealed different signals of reciprocity supporting a trusting relationship while the occasional buyers demonstrate more opportunistic behaviors. Of the cases studied, one successful company demonstrated signs of reciprocity between companies and customers, as well as customer integration based on redistribution characteristics. This confirmed the possibility of the box-scheme contributing to rural sustainability, related to customers who have built a broader perspective, going beyond price and quality. The article concludes defending that this format of commerce should be further studied to confirm its capacity to support rural development and continue to deepen the understanding of the conditions that can make it successful.

Ambivalent solidarities: Food governance reconfigurations in Croatia and Italy

The authors compare the solidarity practices of farmers and food activists in Croatia and Italy in order to highlight the unintended consequences of mutual support initiatives and how these may reinforce disengagement from governance. Two ethnographic case studies from Istria (Croatia) and Lombardy (northern Italy) show self‐reliant ways of organizing mutual support networks among, respectively, Istrian winemakers and Lombard Solidarity Purchase Groups. They both challenge the top‐down regulatory governance of food systems, with the former organizing forms of economic and logistic mutual support to bypass strictures and faults of the Croatian fiscal and agricultural aid system and the latter self‐certifying organic crops to avoid the costs and arbitrariness of bureaucratic procedures for organic certification. Both highlight the discourse and practice of morality in food procurement and the ambivalence of the concept and practice of ‘solidarity’.

Consumers Demand for Social Farming Products: An Analysis with Discrete Choice Experiments

This paper analyses the demand for social farming (SF) products. In particular, we investigate the preferences of consumers who buy their products from large retailers, rather than from solidarity purchasing groups or other niche markets using a sample of 225 consumers. In this regard, a discrete choice experiment (DCE) was carried out to estimate the willingness to pay (WTP) a premium price for the purchase of a common product (i.e., eggs) from farms that employ disabled people. The attributes considered in our DCE design are the employment of disabled people and two additional attributes which may have ethical implications for the choices. The results indicate that consumers are interested in buying SF products, with about 74% of the sample willing to buy the eggs produced by social farms and the average WTP being equal to €1.36 for a pack of six eggs. Moreover, the average WTP for the use of labour of disabled people attribute amounted to €0.69 for a pack of six eggs.

Solidarity Purchasing Groups as social innovators: an analysis of alternative food networks in Italy

La mercantilización del sector de la comida y la creciente importancia de los minoristas de masas han creado una cadena de suministro desequilibrada donde, sobre todo, los pequeños productores y los consumidores son más débiles. En contra de este escenario, en los últimos veinte años la agricultura y los mercados de proximidad se han ido situando como espacios relevantes de experimentación de prácticas sociales innovadoras con el objetivo de solucionar esta anomalía y de reequilibrar la distribución del valor en el conjunto de cadena de suministro. Las cooperativas de consumo solidario forman parte de estas experiencias innovadoras y pueden representar una de las medidas más relevantes para contrastar el poder de negociación de los minoristas de masa. No obstante, el análisis en este artículo muestra como las cooperativas de consumo solidario son innovaciones sociales que sólo consiguen parcialmente el objetivo de reducir la marginalización económica de sus proveedores al crear una cadena de suministro alternativa.

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

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

How alternative food networks work in a metropolitan area? An analysis of Solidarity Purchase Groups in Northern Italy

Our paper focuses on Solidarity Purchase Group (SPG) participants located in a highly urbanized area, with the aim to investigate the main motivations underlining their participation in a SPG and provide a characterization of them. To this end, we carried out a survey of 795 participants involved in 125 SPGs in the metropolitan area of Milan (Italy). Taking advantage of a questionnaire with 39 questions, we run a factor analysis and a two-step cluster analysis to identify different profiles of SPG participants. Our results show that the system of values animating metropolitan SPG practitioners does not fully conform to that traditionally attributed to an alternative food network (AFN). In fact, considerations linked to food safety and healthiness prevail on altruistic motives such as environmental sustainability and solidarity toward small producers. Furthermore, metropolitan SPGs do not consider particularly desirable periurban and local food products. Observing the SPGs from this perspective, it emerges as such initiatives can flourish also in those places where the lack of connection with the surrounding territory is counterbalanced by the high motivation to buy products from trusted suppliers who are able to guarantee genuine and safe products, not necessarily located nearby.

From global to glocal. Sustainable Community Movement Organisations (SCMOs) in times of crisis

ABSTRACTThe paper is aimed at understanding how collective action has been organised, sustained and transformed in the wake of the 2008 economic crisis by looking at three different Italian cases of Sustainable Community Movement Organisations (SCMOs): the Gruppi di Acquisto Solidale (solidarity-based consumer groups or solidarity purchasing groups – SPGs), Addiopizzo (a relatively new anti-racket organisation which literally means ‘goodbye to protection money’ or ‘pizzo’ solicited by organised crime) and Rimaflow (an Italian factory ‘recovered’ by its workers in 2013). More specifically, the paper aims to discuss whether, how and why Sustainable Community Movement Organisations have grown even in times of crisis. Data for the analysis come from semi-directive interviews with key actors from the three SCMOs, surveys among activists and participant observation. Our findings suggest that pre-existing crises (social and political) have provided a context for new networks of solidarity-based economy to emerge – such as in case of SPGs and Addiopizzo – but the economic crisis has either provided a way to consolidate such experiences (as in the two cases mentioned above) or it has provided an opportunity for new actions to emerge and rapidly consolidate – such as in the case of Rimaflow.

The participatory construction of new economic models in short food supply chains

While a number of works question the alterity of alternative food chains, little has been said about the social processes under which new economic models are, or may be, developed within the broader movement around ‘short food supply chains’ (SFCs) in Europe. Considering SFCs as economic organisations, we propose an analytical framework based on New Economic Sociology and Convention Theory, enriched by Social and Solidarity Economics, to capture the social construction of new economic models in such chains. We apply this framework to two case studies: an open-air market promoting short food supply chains in France, and a partnership between an agricultural cooperative and several solidarity purchase groups (GAS) in Italy. Analysing the trajectories of the two initiatives, we highlight the processes through which new economic models are jointly built via interactions between different actors. Our results open two lines of discussion: one concerning the ‘new economic models' that emerge from the two cases, a second regarding the actors' participation in elaborating and enacting these new models.

Solidarity Purchasing Groups in Italy: A critical assessment of their effects on the marginalisation of their suppliers

Over the last twenty years, Alternative Food Networks (AFN) have become increasingly successful at reducing the length of the chain that connects food production and consumption in an attempt to counteract the impact of the contradictions of the industrial food system and its supermarket-dominated distribution. Their grassroots actions, aimed at overcoming pre-existing socio-economic structures, are in line with social innovations, which have the objective of promoting the social participation of consumers and producers in food systems (empowerment, socio-political activism or social integration in society). In Italy, the Solidarity Purchasing Groups (SPGs), have been the subject of numerous academic studies, but the scope of these studies has, to date, been limited to the political activism of the consumer. The ability of this experience to foster the social participation of the groups’ suppliers and the effects that the exchange has on the economic life of the producers have not yet been adequately studied. This article addresses this gap by investigating the extent to which SPGs can reduce the economic marginalisation of their suppliers and evaluates if the activities they promote could increase their social participation. Based on quantitative and qualitative data, this study shows that SPGs, in contrast to other AFNs, maintain a clear separation between consumers and producers and this could mitigate the positive impact of these initiatives on their suppliers. Our analysis of the suppliers shows that SPGs can act as a safety net against economic downturns and that the social participation of the producers involved is higher at the macro, meso and individual levels, compared to producers who do not cooperate with the SPGs.

Alternative food networks and potential for social capital development

From sustainability and social justice perspectives, organic food producers have found a bifurcation between conventional growth and maintenance of family farms. The latter are driven to alternative food networks that embrace a broad variety of formats. This article questions how these formats can favor social capital development. Based on a systematic review, 45 articles sustain the existence of a taxonomy of five different types of networks: own production; basket schemes; direct sales; community supported agriculture and; solidarity purchase groups. The reflection regarding expected density and links in each type of network, based on the observed examples, indicate greater potential in groups formed by consumers, followed by those started by producers, basket schemes and, finally, production for self-consumption. This can be a significant contribution to policies aimed to boost responsible consumption and family farm development.SOUZA, Ronaldo Tavares de; CALDAS, Eduardo de Lima. Redes alimentares alternativas e potencialidade ao desenvolvimento do capital social. Estudos Sociedade e Agricultura, jun. 2018, v. 26, n. 2, p. 426-446, ISSN 2526-7752.

Hybrid governance tensions fuelling self-reflexivity in Alternative Food Networks: the case of the Brussels GASAP (solidarity purchasing groups for peasant agriculture)

ABSTRACTThis paper applies the concept of Hybrid Governance to the analysis of the GASAP (Groupe d’Achats Solidaires de l’Agriculture Paysanne), a solidarity-based producers–consumers network established in Brussels in 2006. The Hybrid Governance concept allows to capture the role of key governance tensions in driving the self-organisation, scaling out and self-reflexive dynamics of Alternative Food Networks (AFNs). The approach provides a multifaceted and sound socio-political account of the ways AFNs arise, self-organise, associate and build networks in the pursuit of their food allocation objectives, often facing a contradictory socio-institutional environment. Three types of governance tensions, i.e. organisational, resource, and institutional, as well as the interactions among them, are analysed throughout the life-course of the GASAP network. The analysis identifies three phases in the GASAP’s life-course, showing how governance tensions and their interrelations arise and play a critical role in conditioning the overall development of the organisation through time. The paper concludes with highlighting prospective values of the hybrid governance approach for the analysis of AFNs in general. These values relate to: the role of the hybrid approach in illuminating on key drivers behind the scaling out of AFNs; the hybrid governance as a tool to conceptualise and sustain the self-reflexive capacity of local food initiatives and the ways by which this approach unravels challenges to build cooperative alliances and networks among a diversity of agents in the food arena.

Are Solidarity Purchasing Groups a Social Innovation? A Study Inspired by Social Forces

The Social Forces theory was proposed by Beckert (2010) to study the interconnecting dynamic interrelations between institutions, networks and cognitive frames that underlie economic phenomena. In the context of this article, this theoretical perspective was applied to study Solidarity Purchasing Groups as a social innovation and to assess their capacity to create a new process of social inclusion for their suppliers. Despite being the most relevant alternative food networks in Italy, Solidarity Purchasing groups are only partially able to fulfil the promise of social innovation (by increasing the participation of beneficiaries and challenging pre-existing socio-economic dynamics) through the establishment of an alternative supply-chain alongside the one proposed by mass retailers. The results were obtained from an empirical investigation of 35 solidarity purchasing groups (2015/2016, nationally based), under the frame of the EU-funded CRESSI project.