Farmers' intention to maintain quality certification

Philippos Karipidis, Dimitrios Tselempis

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    Abstract

    Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore farmers' intention to stay under a quality certification scheme, and the factors that impact this intention. Design/methodology/approach: Combining the agricultural household approach with the value concept, the paper analyses farmers' intention using field research data. The improvements farmers observe after certification are viewed as utilities the farm household derives, which have an impact on farmers' intention. These improvements are located as "enablers" and "results" in the EFQM Excellence Model to better explain the findings. Findings: Farmers' intention tends to be positive, and impacted by five improvements. These are located in both the enablers and results fields, implying that farmers' intention is holistically shaped. Furthermore, eight characteristics of the farm and farm household, and four sources of information, shift farmers' intention. Research limitations/implications: Since farmers' intention is examined independently of the quality standards that each one implements, future research should account for the impact of these differences. It should also examine the impact of various policy measures on farmers' intention. Since analysis assumes a linear relationship, future research should introduce a more complex model, possibly in structural form. Practical implications: Public authorities should make the maintenance of quality certification more attractive, especially for segments without strong intention. Certifiers should adjust their audit services to enhance value; and players in the food supply chain should consider the drivers of farmers' intention when building marketing strategies. Originality/value: To the authors' knowledge, there are no extant studies exploring farmers' intention to maintain certification. In addition, the paper proposes a novel theoretical framework, which should also be used in cases where quality-related changes in enterprises impact the income and quality of life of the enterprise owners, for instance in small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)93-110
    Number of pages18
    JournalEuroMed Journal of Business
    Volume9
    Issue number1
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2014

    Keywords

    • EFQM model
    • Farmers' intention
    • Household model
    • Maintaining certification
    • Quality
    • Value

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