Search Results (9)

The shift to circular agrosystems necessitates using new ideas like sustainable biochar, which provides many eco-beneficial attributes like enhancing soil fertility, storing atmospheric carbon dioxide, and retaining soil moisture. However, there is still a small number of farmers worldwide (particularly those located in low-income countries) adopting biochar. Accordingly, this research is focused primarily on determining how factors affecting behavior will influence the decision of wheat producers in Marvdasht County, in Iran’s Fars Province, to use biochar as a circular technology for farming. The study will focus on addressing issues related to environmental challenges (e.g., degradation of soil and drought) through the implementation of resource-efficient, sustainable agricultural technologies. The intent of this paper was to research the behavioral characteristics associated with wheat farmers who choose to use biochar in the city of Marvdasht, Fars Region, Iran, using a new Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). The model is theoretically enriched through the inclusion of personal norms and connectedness to the land, allowing for a more comprehensive understanding of pro-environmental decision-making. Data was collected from a total of 386 wheat farmers through the use of a structured survey. The data was analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) with the software Smart-PLS 3.0. The results reveal that attitude (β = 0.342, p < 0.001) and personal norms (β = 0.278, p < 0.001) are the strongest predictors of behavioral intention, while perceived behavioral control showed a weaker but significant effect (β = 0.178, p = 0.049). Subjective norms do not have a significant direct effect (β = 0.115, p = 0.199) but significantly influence intention indirectly through personal norms (β = 0.100, p < 0.001). Furthermore, connectedness to the land strongly affects personal norms (β = 0.420, p < 0.001) and exerts a significant indirect effect on intention (β = 0.117, p < 0.001), highlighting the importance of emotional attachment to land. The findings are significant because they demonstrated that farmers’ biochar adoption decisions are shaped not only by rational evaluations but also by moral obligations and emotional relationships with land. This study makes significant theoretical contributions by extending TPB with moral and relational constructs and empirically demonstrating their mediating roles in agricultural innovation adoption. The novelty of this study lies in integrating personal norms and connectedness to the land into the TPB framework to explain biochar adoption behavior within the context of circular agriculture in a developing country. Practically, the findings provide evidence-based insights for designing policies that integrate cognitive, ethical, and emotional drivers to promote biochar adoption and advance circular agriculture. Specifically, policymakers and extension agencies should prioritize behavioral-level strategies such as awareness campaigns, farmer training programs, and community-based initiatives that strengthen positive attitudes, environmental responsibility, and farmers’ emotional connection to land in order to enhance biochar adoption. Full article

Upcycled foods, produced from edible side-streams that would otherwise be discarded, offer a promising pathway toward circular and sustainable food systems. However, consumer acceptance in China remains limited. Drawing on the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) and integrating eco-wellness awareness and cultural values, this study examines the drivers of Chinese consumers’ acceptance of upcycled foods. Survey data from 612 consumers across multiple provinces were analysed using structural equation modelling. The results show that attitude is the strongest predictor of purchase intention, followed by subjective norms and perceived behavioural control. Health awareness and consumer innovativeness significantly enhance both attitude and perceived behavioural control, while environmental awareness primarily strengthens perceived behavioural control. Collectivism positively influences all TPB components, whereas frugality strengthens attitude and subjective norms only. Perceived risk plays a limited role. The findings highlight the importance of health-oriented and culturally grounded communication strategies for promoting circular food consumption in China. Full article

Greenwashing refers to the fabrication of environmental claims or the exploitation of unreliable data to support an unjustified green image. This study examines how greenwashing undermines sustainable marketing communication and consumer management by eroding trust-based brand–consumer relationships. Grounded in an integrated framework that combines the Theory of Planned Behavior, Expectation Confirmation Theory, and Consumer–Brand Relationship Theory, the research develops a cohesive model linking brand expectations, belief disconfirmation, consumer confusion, brand trust, and loyalty. Survey data from 375 Lebanese consumers were analyzed using structural equation modeling, confirming that subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, and behavioral beliefs significantly shape expectations toward green brands. When greenwashing is perceived, these expectations result in belief disconfirmation, which in turn heightens confusion, reduces trust, and weakens brand loyalty. The findings highlight that while greenwashing may offer short-term reputational benefits, it functions as a critical barrier to sustainable consumption by discouraging authentic engagement with environmentally responsible products. Theoretically, the study advances sustainable marketing literature by identifying expectation disconfirmation and confusion as psychological mechanisms that obstruct progress toward SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production). The study’s innovation lies in integrating three behavioral and relational theories into a unified framework that captures both cognitive (disconfirmation, confusion) and relational (trust, loyalty) mechanisms. This theoretical integration offers a transferable analytical model that can be replicated across markets, generating broader insights into how deceptive sustainability communication affects consumer–brand dynamics. It also contextualizes these mechanisms within a developing-market setting, where weak regulation and fragile institutional trust amplify the risks of greenwashing. Practically, the study emphasizes the need for transparent sustainability communication as both an ethical responsibility and a consumer management strategy essential for fostering loyalty. For policymakers, the results underscore the importance of stronger regulatory oversight, eco-labeling standards, and consumer protection frameworks to mitigate deceptive sustainability claims. Full article

Environmental sustainability is a relevant challenge for companies, and employees’ perceptions of the advantages of ecological innovation, or eco-innovation, introduced by the company represent an important driver of organizational change adoption. This study examines if employees’ environmental concerns, considered as a general attitude and a value orientation, are related to the perception of the advantages of eco-innovation. Building on climate literature, it also investigates if the climate of support for innovation moderates that relationship. A cross-sectional study was conducted with 130 Italian workers. A confirmatory factor analysis and a moderation model were tested. Results show a significant positive relationship between employees’ environmental concern and perceived benefits of eco-innovation. Intriguingly, the climate of support for innovation negatively, instead of positively, moderated this relationship. Results suggest that in order to increase the perception of the benefits of the introduced eco-innovations, organizations should consider the whole set of innovations undertaken and address, especially to very concerned and value oriented employees, the unique environmental benefits of those innovations. Full article

In pursuing innovation, eco-friendly deliberate practice will inevitably elevate eco-innovation performance without creative self-efficacy and perceived eco-innovation importance to organizations. This eco-friendly deliberate practice–eco-innovation link is essential because it extends current thinking, treating creative self-efficacy as a causal mechanism and perceived eco-innovation importance as the magnifier of eco-innovation performance. Anchored in social cognitive theory, this study aims to investigate the role of eco-friendly deliberate practice in fueling eco-innovation performance through the mediating role of creative self-efficacy and the moderating role of perceived eco-innovation importance. This study collected 367 responses from the service employees in tourism firms in Pakistan using a time-lagged, i.e., three-wave, research design. The authors analyzed data using a variance-based structural equation model processed in SmartPLS (v 4.0). The findings support the hypothesized relationships, for example, that eco-friendly deliberate practice has a significant positive relationship with eco-innovation performance. In addition, creative self-efficacy significantly mediates the association between eco-friendly deliberate practice and eco-innovation performance. Besides, employees’ perceived eco-innovation importance moderates the eco-friendly deliberate practice–eco-innovation link, such that at high(low) levels of perceived eco-innovation importance, the relationship between eco-friendly deliberate practice and eco-innovation performance is more(less) pronounced. The study examines a hitherto unexplored moderated mediation model to explain under which conditions eco-friendly deliberate practice promotes eco-innovation performance through creative self-efficacy and perceived eco-innovation importance. Full article

Studies on the effect of biospheric value, eco-design, and green management intransigence on perceived green performance in the tourism and hospitality industry are gradually emerging. However, more evidence is needed from the aviation industry or airport context, especially in Africa. This cross-sectional study aims to probe and demonstrate the effect of biospheric value on green management intransigence and perceived green performance, the mediating role of management intransigence and biospheric value, and the influence on pro-environmental behavior among airport management and employees. The extended theory of planned behavior (TPBe) and triple bottom line theory (TBL)/sustainable economic development theory (SED) (TBL/SED) set the foundation for this research study. With the case study approach, data were collected through online questionnaires from employees and management staff of two international airports in Lagos and Abuja, Nigeria. This scientific study contributes to the literature on green energy by shedding light on the importance of integrating green practices into airport operations with environmentally friendly programs. Its focus on green management intransigence and its implications on employees’ behavior has received little or no attention. The data were analyzed using PLS-SEM and Importance–performance matrix analysis (IPMA). The IPMA is innovative as it helps to extend the results of PLS-SEM by also taking the importance and performance of each construct into account graphically as it relates to green airport management. IPMA posits that management tends to take actions to improve conditions that enhance factors of most significant concern to stakeholders. Our results reveal the effect of biospheric value and the behaviors of management and nonmanagement staff of the selected airports on the green performance with apparent differences in the group-specific performance. In practice, this implies an urgent need for airport management to review their approach and strategy to sustainable practices, airports’ resilience, and adaptation to climate change for sustainable tourism development. This study advances scientific and practical knowledge of eco-design of airport buildings (EAB), biospheric-value (BV), and green management intransigence (GMI). The findings can assist decision makers and practitioners in embracing green technologies and practices in airport management and operations. Full article

The promotion of sustainable consumption plays an extremely important role in Vietnam’s National Green Growth Strategy. However, despite an increase in concerns about environmental issues, eco-friendly buying behaviors in general and organic food consumption in particular are still unpopular among Vietnamese consumers, leading to a question about the importance of situational factors, which this article focuses on. Based on attitudes; subjective norms; perceived norms, which are mentioned in the theory of planned behavior (TPB) and consumer choice theory; and social norms from social categorization theory, the research created a questionnaire and then sent it to respondents who were in charge of buying food for their family in Hanoi. Then, 423 of the 570 responses received were used to create the structural equation model (SEM) with four distinct stages in AMOS statistical software, which evidences the crucial role of situational factors. Subjective norms and social norms have the highest positive impact on organic food purchase among households in Hanoi. Moreover, households’ organic food purchase is also positively affected by perceived behavior control and the availability of products but negatively affected by the price of products, which strongly fits with TPB, social categorization theory, and other studies. In particular, there is no evidence about relationships between knowledge of or attitude toward organic food and family income and organic food purchase among households in Hanoi. In addition, age and education status do not have any impact on respondents’ behavior in organic food purchase in this city. Finally, the authors propose some suggestions to promote organic food consumption among households in Hanoi. First is that businesses specializing in the production and supply of organic products should focus on customer care activities, innovate business models, and advertise to attract customers to use organic products. Second is that the government should issue regulations to encourage businesses to invest in the research and production of organic products as well as implement strict regulations to penalize violations in the production and supply of organic products. Full article

Although eco-innovation in the agri-food sector is receiving increasing attention, the heterogeneity of firms operating in the sector encourages the development of specific sub-sectoral studies to define specific strategies. In this regard, the main goal of the present study is to evaluate the drivers of eco-innovation in the olive oil production sector. Our empirical method relies on data from Spanish olive oil mills, and uses qualitative comparative analysis (QCA). The results show that large olive oil cooperatives have an important commitment to sustainability, and that cooperation with a wider range of different agents encourages the implementation of eco-innovation, particularly among smaller firms. However, the main finding of the study is the limiting effect of belonging to a protected designation of origin (PDO) on the implementation of eco-innovative measures. Although traditional production of olive oil (production under a PDO) is still perceived as a central competitive advantage in olive oil firms, further efforts should be made to coordinate traditional elaboration with production under a more sustainable management approach. Full article

In the wine sector, the choice of a sustainable strategy based on smart marketing has gained more relevance due to the growing importance of sustainability. The literature illustrates a multiplicity of perspectives, wherever firms are committed to improving sustainability and market performance. This exploratory paper aims to make sense of the extant literature by analysing 10 case studies in Italy, focusing on sustainable competitive resources and strategies, considering the role of CF (Carbon Footprint) as a crucial factor. The research has considered a complementary theoretical framework based on both Resource-Based Theory and Competitive Advantage Theory. Data were analysed by descriptive statistical techniques. The results show a bundle of unique resources and strategies in pursuing firm performance, wherever CF may lead to significant sustained competitive advantages in firms’ value capture (ex. image and reputation and customers’ relationships loyalty, entrance into new foreign markets). Findings highlight that perceiving the costs and benefits of investments in lowering CF may guide to a more accurate understanding of the value-creating from the different type of eco-innovation for building tailor-made communicational and marketing strategies. Full article