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This study aimed to the attributes, consequences and personal values that motivate the behavior of consumers of fruits and vegetables (FV) at local markets and how these elements are associated with food safety.

This is a qualitative research that used the laddering in-depth interview technique for data collection. Fifty interviews were conducted with consumers from Minas Gerais, Brazil. From the codification of the interview content, a hierarchical value map was constructed, showing the relationships between the attributes, consequences and values involved in the consumers’ purchasing decision.

Consumers value characteristics related to the origin of the product and the way it is produced and marketed. They seek particular benefits – such as satisfaction with the purchase, care for their health/well-being and safety when consuming food – and social benefits, such as the possibility of contributing to the local economy. Issues related to hygiene, organization, exposure and handling of products were some of the concerns reported by respondents with regard to food safety.

It is worth highlighting the application of the laddering technique itself. Analyzing the predictive validity of the method, there is a propensity for biases linked to possible interference by the researcher, especially in the coding stage of the elements.

This study can be used by producers, marketing professionals and public policymakers to promote FV sold at local markets and to encourage the improvement of food safety practices.

The research points to five consumer segments according to the different motivations that guide their purchase behavior for local FV. In addition, a focus is given to food safety, revealing its importance in the investigated context.

The purpose of this study is to identify, in the context of virtual social networks (VSNs), other types of boycott which have not yet been addressed in the literature. We relate the boycott(s) emerged on the VSNs with those found in the literature (economic, religious, of minorities, ecological and labor boycott), and verify the motivation that must be unique to such context.

Grounded theory was used in triangulation with netnography (interacting with 183 customers), non-participant observation (68 postings/47 complaints, from 2009 to 2012) and in-depth interview (15 consumers).

A new classification of boycott was proposed, which emerged on the basis of company service quality, named “relational boycott”, which can generate additional acts of repudiation, such as interaction, unity of the group and encouragement of third parties.

The model of relational boycott proposed was not empirically tested, but insights for future test are provided.

A model of how the relational boycott is structured is provided, being a deliberate, primary act of the consumer resulting from the management problems of a company generating backlash actions.

Since boycott represents a mechanism of protesting, it is a way that consumers pressure companies to provide better services and products, which may improve consumer’s wellbeing in the long range.

A new type of boycott emerges in the research, named relational boycott, structured in a model that can be tested empirically.

We present a critical literature review debating Brazilian research on social and environmental accounting (SEA). The aim of this study is to understand the role of politics in the construction of hegemonies in SEA research in Brazil. In particular, we examine the role of hegemony in relation to the co-option of SEA literature and sustainability in the Brazilian context by the logic of development for economic growth in emerging economies. The methodological approach adopts a post-structural perspective that reflects Laclau and Mouffe’s discourse theory. The study employs a hermeneutical, rhetorical approach to understand and classify 352 Brazilian research articles on SEA. We employ Brown and Fraser’s (2006) categorizations of SEA literature to help in our analysis: the business case, the stakeholder–accountability approach, and the critical case. We argue that the business case is prominent in Brazilian studies. Second-stage analysis suggests that the major themes under discussion include measurement, consulting, and descriptive approach. We argue that these themes illustrate the degree of influence of the hegemonic politics relevant to emerging economics, as these themes predominantly concern economic growth and a capitalist context. This paper discusses trends and practices in the Brazilian literature on SEA and argues that the focus means that SEA avoids critical debates of the role of capitalist logics in an emerging economy concerning sustainability. We urge the Brazilian academy to understand the implications of its reifying agenda and engage, counter-hegemonically, in a social and political agenda beyond the hegemonic support of a particular set of capitalist interests.