The Romanian traditional pattern of food consumption as a whole is no longer a reference point in shaping a healthy and sustainable food behavior due to the growing discrepancies between the return to traditions and the constraints of sustainable development, so the aim of this study is to provide solutions for reshaping the food pattern by incorporating the principles of sustainable diet. The research conducted is based on qualitative data and the semi-structured interview was used as method of data collection from a sample of 21 Romanians traditional food consumers. The study led to a typology of respondents that combines two consumption orientations, “healthy” and “convenience”, with two attitudes towards traditional diet, “hedonism” and “conformism”. Although respondents do not completely reject the idea of flexitarianism, they showed the tendency for overconsumption of meat-based traditional foods and a weak concern for environmental sustainability. For these reasons, a set of recommendations for a new model of sustainable diet for Romanian population, focused on the relationship between traditionality, sustainability, and health, was put forward. The research findings show the need for supporting nutritional education programs and extensive information campaigns targeted at Romanian consumers to encourage the adoption of flexitarian style and the switch to a more sustainable diet in the near future.

The fast development of technologies shapes the way companies address and understand their customers’ needs, including the more and more pressing call for sustainability. If, by now, many organizations use the advantages of social media in their marketing strategies, newer technologies, such as Internet of things (IoT) wearables, are not fully used to their whole potential. Thus, we conducted two research studies—a qualitative one in the form of a focus group where eight different companies’ representatives took part, followed by a quantitative one in the form of an online questionnaire, where 84 (Small and Medium Sized Enterprises) SMEs and Large Enterprises answered. The main purpose of our research was to investigate companies’ attitudes and practices about using social media and IoT wearable technologies in developing organizational marketing strategies. The results indicate that, though there are some differences in the perception and use of social media and IoT wearables for developing marketing strategies, these differences are not marked between SMEs and Large Enterprises, but rather between micro enterprises and other companies with higher numbers of employees. Additionally, there are some differences noticed between companies operating in regional, national, or international markets.

Plant-based diets are increasingly attracting attention as they play a significant role in human health and environmental sustainability and are believed to be key components of sustainable food systems. In the present study, both pros and cons of the adoption of plant-based diets are analyzed using a bibliometric method integrated with a qualitative examination of the scientific literature. For the bibliometric study, Bibliometrix software was utilized, examining 3245 scientific articles, downloaded from the Scopus database, and printed between the years 1957 and 2025. The analyses were conducted using R software, version 4.4.1, with access to the Bibliometrix package, version 4.1. The results indicate a remarkable rise, in the last two decades, in the scholarly focus on the influence of plant-based diets on the individual’s health condition as well as the environment. Keyword co-occurrence studies and international collaborations demonstrate a dominance of research focus in both the United States and Europe, with significant contributions from the Asia–Pacific region. Furthermore, the current work offers qualitative identification of the benefits of plant diets from various perspectives like nutritional, economic, ecological, and cultural. It also explores the main dissuaders from adhering to these diets, including perceived nutritional hazards, cost perceptions, low availability, and social prohibitions. Findings emphasize that, in spite of all the barriers, plant food-based diets have a wide-ranging ability to provide tangible benefits at both the individual and population levels, and documented in the scientific literature are recommendations of expert-led education programs, economic incentives, and judiciously framed public policies to overcome these barriers and to make this transition possible towards sustainable food choices. Findings provide a comprehensive understanding of the current lines of inquiry and stage the subsequent work on how to motivate sustainability among the general population.

The emergence of social media led to major changes in the manner in which retailers accomplish their daily profession, particularly since they provide traders with platforms for business development and brand improvement. In spite of this, little is known about their impact and influence on retail businesses. Research on retailers’ perceptions concerning social media is scarce and fragmented, which justifies the current increasing focus of scholars and practitioners on this subject. In this study, a quantitative research design was utilized, aiming to identify the advantages of social media as perceived by retailers in Romania. The findings confirm the hypotheses, acknowledging that Romanian retailers perceive social media as offering great advantages for individuals employed in the retail sector. The practical implications of our research were grouped according to the analyzed aspects, as follows: gathering information, content creation, and customer communication, approached as advantages of adopting social media in retail. This study contributes to the limited literature on social media and the perceived advantages of Romanian retailers, which has implications for further research in this field of knowledge.