Yari Vecchio, Martina Francescone, Felice Adinolfi and Marcello De Rosa
The paper aims to analyze the relevance of networking and social capital in promoting the adoption of sustainable innovation, then reinforcing trajectories of multifunctional…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper aims to analyze the relevance of networking and social capital in promoting the adoption of sustainable innovation, then reinforcing trajectories of multifunctional agriculture. It puts forwards a systemic perspective by focusing on agricultural knowledge and innovation systems. More precisely, we share the idea of “micro agricultural knowledge and innovation systems”, by addressing ambidexterity as engine for boosting sustainable innovation.
Design/methodology/approach
Empirical analysis is focused on sustainable innovation adopted by young farmers in Italy and on the mediation effect of ambidextrous relations in performing innovation adoption. Ambidextrous relations are analyzed within at the micro-AKIS level, through the lens of social capital. Relationships between social capital and innovation adoption are statistically measured.
Findings
The analysis shows how ambidexterity develops a mediation effect, with a strong impact on the farm's innovative capacity. Actually, our results confirm that ambidextrous relations reveal good performance and stimulate innovation and, consequently, farms' competitiveness, alongside the path of multifunctional agriculture. As a consequence, the relevance of networking activity in adoption of sustainable innovation may address possible policy action with the aim to strengthen ambidexterity and farm's innovativeness.
Originality/value
The paper tries to fill a gap in literature, by focusing on micro-AKIS which are explored through the lens of social capital.
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Luca Camanzi, Sina Ahmadi Kaliji, Paolo Prosperi, Laurick Collewet, Reem El Khechen, Anastasios Ch. Michailidis, Chrysanthi Charatsari, Evagelos D. Lioutas, Marcello De Rosa and Martina Francescone
The aim of this study was to investigate consumer preferences and profile their food-related lifestyles, as well as to identify consumer groups with similar attitudes/behaviours…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this study was to investigate consumer preferences and profile their food-related lifestyles, as well as to identify consumer groups with similar attitudes/behaviours in the Euro-Mediterranean fruit and vegetable market.
Design/methodology/approach
A structured questionnaire was designed drawing from the food related lifestyles instrument and including other factors relevant to fruit and vegetable consumer preferences. The data were collected in an online survey with 925 participants in France, Greece, and Italy. A principal component analysis was conducted to interpret and examine consumers' fruit and vegetable related lifestyles. In addition, a cluster analysis was performed to identify different consumer segments, based on the core dimensions of the food-related lifestyle approach.
Findings
In each country, three primary consumer segments were distinguished. Health-conscious individuals were predominant in France and Greece, while quality-conscious consumers were prevalent in Italy. These classifications were determined considering various factors such as purchase motivation, perception of product quality, health concerns, environmental certifications, and price sensitivity.
Originality/value
The food-related lifestyle approach has been adapted instrument to create a customised survey instrument specifically designed to capture the intricacies of fruit and vegetable consumer preferences and priorities in three Euro-Mediterranean Countries.
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Marcello De Rosa, Luca Bartoli, Chrysanthi Charatsari and Evagelos Lioutas
The study aims to analyse patterns of innovation adoption among Italian female-owned farms, by evaluating the impact of innovation support services and entrepreneurial orientation…
Abstract
Purpose
The study aims to analyse patterns of innovation adoption among Italian female-owned farms, by evaluating the impact of innovation support services and entrepreneurial orientation on innovation adoption.
Design/methodology/approach
To explore both the entrepreneurial identity of women farmers and the role of innovation support services in boosting innovation, a questionnaire was administered to a sample of Italian women farmers. A multivariate analysis lets to classify the farms under the previous two perspectives.
Findings
The analysis reveals various patterns of innovation adoption, heavily depending on both the effectiveness of innovation support services and farmers' entrepreneurial orientation.
Research limitations/implications
The research analyses a sample of women farmers to excavate worlds of innovation among female-owned farms. Cross-gender comparisons can offer a more complete picture of the ways gender catalyses innovation adoption.
Practical implications
At a policy level, the results of our empirical analysis point out the need for gendering innovation analysis and for tailoring policy interventions to the different worlds of innovation that exist in rural Italy.
Social implications
The paper confirms the importance of deepening research on gender issues, with the purpose of fulfilling gender mainstreaming underlined in numerous policy documents at both the European and international levels.
Originality/value
The analysis represents a first attempt to join both the entrepreneurial identity of women farmers and the role of innovation support services in boosting innovation. Therefore, the paper fills a gap in the literature.
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Felice Adinolfi, Marcello De Rosa and Ferruccio Trabalzi
Within a competing global food market marketing strategies become ever more important; in Italy an important marketing strategy in the wine sector focuses on the so‐called…
Abstract
Purpose
Within a competing global food market marketing strategies become ever more important; in Italy an important marketing strategy in the wine sector focuses on the so‐called designations of origins (Appellations). This paper aims to analyse the public perception of regional wines with designation of origins.
Design/methodology/approach
A semi‐structured questionnaire was administered to a sample of wine consumers in national wine shows in Rome and the provinces. The questionnaire aimed at testing consumers' knowledge and preferences toward wines with a designation of origin produced within the Lazio region. A multivariate analysis has clustered consumers according to their behaviors in relation to wines with a designation of origin. A perception analysis relative to the knowledge and meaning of designations of origins was further performed. The latter has made it possible to rank regional wines and to establish the market effect of designations of origin.
Findings
With regard to behaviors toward wines with a designation of origin, the data suggest three ideal‐types of customers: “sensible” (i.e. customers knowledgeable of the meaning of designations of origins); “indifferent”; and “thrifty” (i.e. customers who understand the importance of designation of origins but are also conscious of price). The conclusions indicate that a designation of origin is a necessary but not a sufficient factor for having a good market performance.
Research limitations/implications
Implications in terms of marketing strategies are evident: wine production is characterized by different worlds of production and marketing strategies should be consequential.
Originality/value
The enthusiasm towards designations of origin is not always justified: the proliferation of designations of origin can de‐sensitize consumers with dramatic effects on rural territories whose economy rotates around the production of quality wines. Organizational adjustment and more efficient communication strategies are indeed necessary complements to obtaining an appellation.
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Marcello De Rosa and Gerard McElwee
The purpose of the paper is to provide an analysis of the adoption of Rural Development Policies (Rdp) as the result of entrepreneurial behaviours carried out by family farms with…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of the paper is to provide an analysis of the adoption of Rural Development Policies (Rdp) as the result of entrepreneurial behaviours carried out by family farms with a focus on the Lazio Region of Italy. Family farming is the backbone of the European model of agriculture. Rdp provide family farms with a set of opportunities which, if well exploited, could drum up farm’s development.
Design/methodology/approach
An empirical analysis of a data base provided by the Lazion region of Italy on the adoption of Rdp by family farms in the Lazio region for the period of 2007-2013. Cluster analysis is the main analytical tool used.
Findings
The results evidence significant differences in the adoption of rural policy on the basis of family life cycle and the composition of the family farm. The empirical analysis underlines the low degree of coherence by farms located in rural areas.
Practical implications
Farmers’ success in accessing funds requires them to be proactive and take a strategic perspective to convince funders that they have a coherent strategy which meets the requirements of the particular Rdp which they are trying to access.
Social implications
In terms of policy, a more nuanced understanding of the entrepreneurial nature of some practices in a rural setting and how they require multi-agency investigation.
Originality/value
The paper is unique, in that it considers the consumption of policy by farmers who are entrepreneurial in their vision. By consumption of Rdp, we mean the farmer’s strategic capability to obtain funds from regional funding pots for rural development.
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Nigel Adams, Adriano Augusto, Michael J. Davern and Marcello La Rosa
Selecting which processes to improve plays a critical role in the first phase of the business process management lifecycle, but it is a step with known pitfalls. Decision-makers…
Abstract
Purpose
Selecting which processes to improve plays a critical role in the first phase of the business process management lifecycle, but it is a step with known pitfalls. Decision-makers rely on subjective criteria and their knowledge of the alternative processes put forward for selection is often inconsistent. This leads to poor quality decision-making and wastes resources. The purpose of this paper is to examine the proposition that decision-makers armed with context-enriched criteria make more logical, better-quality decisions. The context in question is qualitative, sensitive to decision-making bias and politically charged.
Design/methodology/approach
We applied a design-science approach, engaging 70 industry decision-makers through a combination of research methods to assess how different contextual configurations, in a hypothetical scenario adapted from the Australian banking industry, influenced and ultimately improved the quality of the process selection step.
Findings
The study highlights the impact of framing effects on context, and the need to adapt framing to decision-maker behavior and provides five guidelines to improve process selection effectiveness.
Originality/value
Process selection research to date has largely focused on quantitative evaluation techniques, with little attention paid to the role of context and the behavioral interplay of decision-making styles in practice.
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Nyree J. Taylor, Reeva Lederman, Rachelle Bosua and Marcello La Rosa
Capture, consumption and use of person-centred information presents challenges for hospitals when operating within the scope of limited resources and the push for organisational…
Abstract
Purpose
Capture, consumption and use of person-centred information presents challenges for hospitals when operating within the scope of limited resources and the push for organisational routines and efficiencies. This paper explores these challenges for patients with Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS) and the examination of information that supports successful hospital discharge. It aims to determine how the likelihood of readmission may be prevented through the capturing of rich, person-specific information during in-patient care to improve the process for discharge to home.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors combine four research data collection and analysis techniques: one, an analysis of the patient record; two, semi-structured longitudinal interviews; three, an analysis of the patient's journey using process mining to provide analytics about the discharge process, and four, a focus group with nurses to validate and confirm our findings.
Findings
The authors’ contribution is to show that information systems which support discharge need to consider models focused on individual patient stressors. The authors find that current discharge information capture does not provide the required person-centred information to support a successful discharge. Data indicate that rich, detailed information about the person acquired through additional nursing assessments are required to complement data provided about the patient's journey in order to support the patients’ post-discharge recovery at home.
Originality/value
Prior research has focused on information collection constrained by pre-determined limitations and barriers of system design. This work has not considered the information provided by multiple sources during the whole patient journey as a mechanism to reshape the discharge process to become more person-centred. Using a novel combination of research techniques and theory, the authors have shown that patient information collected through multiple channels across the patient care journey may significantly extend the quality of patient care beyond hospital discharge. Although not assessed in this study, rich, person-centred discharge information may also decrease the likelihood of patient readmission.
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This chapter seeks to describe the successive stages in the training and recruitment of economists at the service of the political regime that ruled over Portugal between 1926 and…
Abstract
This chapter seeks to describe the successive stages in the training and recruitment of economists at the service of the political regime that ruled over Portugal between 1926 and 1974. This chapter presents the main institutional settings for the education and practices of those who served the government in economic functions throughout this period. Its main aim is to show the changes that occurred in the understanding of the problems related with the development of the Portuguese economy, seeking to elucidate the processes of legitimation of an authoritarian regime, but also to show the signs of a critical break with a model of economic and social organization and a political regime that had reached the point of exhaustion.
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Looks at the first 100 years of Italian cinema examining its role in Italy’s recent history. Provides a bibliography of major film directors, Italian cinema sources, reference…
Abstract
Looks at the first 100 years of Italian cinema examining its role in Italy’s recent history. Provides a bibliography of major film directors, Italian cinema sources, reference works, histories, themes, theory and criticism and articles in journals.