Farmers’ intention to maintain quality certification

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).

Motivations and benefits ofhalalfood safety certification

“…This encourages a firm to improve in terms of quality. In short, this suggests that the pursuit for HFSC is motivated by the need to improve internal processes, increase efficiency and the determination to improve production and product quality (Fotopoulos et al , 2010; Macheka et al , 2013; Karipidis and Tselempis, 2014; Maldonado-Siman et al , 2014; Zailani et al , 2015). Furthermore, firms are eager to become certified because they want to standardise their internal operations by standardising work procedures (Fotopoulos et al , 2010), standardising documentation (Lo and Chang, 2007), formalising internal system (Terziovski et al , 2003) and by increasing consistency in operations (Buttle, 1997).…”

“…Additionally, top management awareness and concern for quality is an important drive for halal certification. Furthermore, the leadership traits possessed by managers strengthen the quest for HFSC and influence a firm’s decision to maintain certification (Karipidis and Tselempis, 2014). The commitment of top management is perhaps the most important internal element for the successful implementation of FSC (Wilcock et al , 2011) Taken together, findings from past FSC literature could potentially indicate that commitment from the top management is key to the success of HFSC implementation.…”

“…Once the internal motivation aspect of the firm is aligned by improving the internal efficiency, better human resource function and commitment from the top management, only then can the financial and reputation aspects of internal motivation take place. Recent literature indicated that the financial aspect is an important motivation toward certification (Karipidis and Tselempis, 2014; Maldonado-Siman et al , 2014). Perhaps the central aspect of financial motivation is to improve sales in domestic and international markets (Maldonado-Siman et al , 2014).…”

Is quality certification in fruit and vegetable production a market-driven choice in Greece?

“…Previous studies investigating the factors of the internal business environment that have an impact on farmers' certification-related decisions also identified some market and public policy factors (Karipidis et al 2009;Asfaw et al 2010a, b;Masakure et al 2011;Muriithi et al 2011;Kersting and Wollni 2012;Karipidis and Tselempis 2014;Soltani et al 2014;Veldstra et al 2014). We select thirteen factors of the external business environment identified in these studies and we also add three factors that we identified in some in-depth interviews with producers as crucial in order to examine the research hypotheses.…”

“…Since the quality of the finished food depends substantially on the quality of the primary agricultural products, some studies have dealt with the adoption and implementation of QMS decisions in agriculture and each of them identified a number of determinants of such decisions (Karipidis et al 2009;Asfaw et al 2010a, b;Masakure et al 2011;Muriithi et al 2011;Kersting and Wollni 2012;Karipidis and Tselempis 2014;Soltani et al 2014;Veldstra et al 2014). These studies analyse the adoption/nonadoption and implementation/non-implementation decisions focusing mostly on factors of the internal business environment, adding also, in some cases, one or more factors from the market and/or policy.…”