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Farmers’ intention to maintain quality certification

Philippos Karipidis (Agricultural Technology – Agricultural Economics, Alexander TEI of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece)
Dimitrios Tselempis (Department of Agricultural Economics, School of Agriculture, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece)

EuroMed Journal of Business

ISSN: 1450-2194

Article publication date: 29 April 2014

915

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).

Keywords

Acknowledgements

JEL Classifications —L15, M21, M31, Q12, Q13

The authors thank the editors and the three anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments.

Citation

Karipidis, P. and Tselempis, D. (2014), "Farmers’ intention to maintain quality certification", EuroMed Journal of Business, Vol. 9 No. 1, pp. 93-110. https://doi.org/10.1108/EMJB-04-2013-0015

Publisher

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Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2014, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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