Ethical certification in the Spanish agrifood industry: An alternative paradigm?

Abstract

The agrifood sector belongs to traditional industries often supported by the national governments. The quality of the output is directly related to human health and, therefore, several initiatives within the EU have been introduced. These initiatives support the consciousness of the broad public, including the individual agrifood businesses. Besides the marketing standards, geographical indications and organic farming, there are also national and private certification schemes. All these tendencies aim to promote the socio-ethical principles of the business to support the non-monetary issues related to the agrifood sector. This paper provides a closer exploration of the socio-ethical aspects of companies in the Spanish agrifood sector. Any awareness of these principles in the daily business routine can be considered as a potential competitive advantage for an individual company. The objective of the paper is to examine whether there are significant differences among individual sub-industries within the Spanish agrifood sector in terms of social and ethical aspects. A sample of 66,047 different agrifood companies in the year 2012 was examined. Results of empirical tests prove that there are significant differences between the agricultural producers, manufacturers, wholesalers, and retailers.