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This paper aims to explore how a socio-digital platform can facilitate consumer responsibilisation in food consumption to encourage sustained responsible consumption and uncovers its possible impacts on different stakeholders in the agricultural ecosystem.

Two-year-long case study of a socio-digital platform that aims to integrate consumers with the farming process; creating value for them and the farmers in India.

The process of consumer responsibilisation happens through three mechanisms; construction of a moral-material identity, vicarious self-artisanship and shared responsibilisation. Through these key mechanisms, the socio-digital platform could foster consumer responsibilisation and engender positive societal impacts by promoting both responsible production and consumption.

This study shows how the construction of moral–material identity could move beyond an either-or choice between moralistic and material identity and allow space for the coexistence of both. This paper highlights how a socio-digital platform can be leveraged to facilitate responsible consumer engagement in an aestheticised farming process.

This paper aims to guide policymakers to design digitally-enabled human-centred innovation in facilitating consumer engagement with farming and cultivating responsible consumers in achieving sustainable development goals.

This study shows how consumer responsibilisation can actually address market failures by enhancing the value created in the system, reducing wastage and cutting costs wherever possible, which drive better incomes for the farmers.

Previous studies have discussed heterogeneous motivations for responsible food consumption. However, this research explores the processes through which an individual reconnects to food production and the mechanisms that support this process in the long run.

The purpose of this paper is to understand the ethnocentric tendencies of Indian consumers towards foreign multi-brand retailers (FMBRs), and the influence that such ethnocentrism has on their attitudes towards, and future purchasing behaviour from, these international retailers.

The paper used a mall intercept method with a randomised data collection process to secure data from 119 organised retail shoppers in a major metropolitan Indian city. The analysis was carried out using analysis of covariance, bootstrapping mediation, multiple regression analysis, and Johnson’s relative weight analysis.

Two main results are as follows: concern for livelihoods of small retailers and a perception that earnings of foreign retailers are unjust are revealed as the most significant drivers of negative attitude towards FMBRs, and although high ethnocentric customers have a strong negative attitude towards FMBRs, they are open to the idea of making future purchases of goods that are not available with small retailers, from the foreign retail outlets.

The study sample is from a single metropolitan city, albeit one which serves as a miniature version of the Indian society. As a limitation, the results might not be generalisable to small, non-metropolitan Indian towns.

These results provide valuable input regarding the marketing strategy and sustainability of foreign retailers planning to launch operations in India. For example, FMBRs should position themselves as not being in competition with existing small retail shops by offering a different array of products. Further, younger and more educated Indians are the least ethnocentric towards FMBRs, thus making them an attractive target segment.

Extant research has studied consumer ethnocentrism of Indian consumers towards foreign brands and products, but not towards FMBRs. This paper attempts to fill that research gap.