This paper analyses two case studies ascribable to neo-endogenous paradigm for rural development experimented by two small municipalities in Northern (Varese Ligure) and Central-southern (Castel del Giudice) Italian Apennines. By means of different approaches, the two towns have been able to provide local development through organic farming that in turn have boosted economic diversification or new forms of territorial aggregation. They have drawn the attention to the neighbouring communities and have stimulated emulation processes. Through a multivariate analysis this study therefore gets to a distinct partition of the two regional territories (NUTS2), where the cases belong, identifying the municipalities that show greater affinity to the cases in question, in order to offer to policy makers useful elements either for encouraging the replication of best practices or including them in future planning strategies. However, while the cluster that includes Varese Ligure (in Northern Italy) appears more clearly influenced by environmental values and a certain demographic resilience, the one to which Castel del Giudice belongs (in the Center-South) is more influenced by the aging of the population and by a greater structural dependency. Both clusters, however, could find a common way of development centred on the economic potential offered by organic farming due to the affinity shown by the proposed case studies.

This study attempts to explain how the motivational domains of Schwartz’s theory of basic human values influence Italian consumers’ attitude towards buying eco-sustainable food products and the extent to which the average monthly amount of money available in households for grocery expenditure may modify this influence. A conceptual model of attitude with the high-order dimensions of the Schwartz’s taxonomy of human values and past experience as predictors has been hypothesized and performed on a representative sample (i.e., on regional basis and age categories) of Italian food consumers (n = 2760). Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used as the methodology. Italian consumers’ households with an average monthly amount of less than 400 Euros for grocery expenditures showed universal values and self-enhancement motivations in supporting their positive attitude towards eco-sustainable food products, but with a significant reduction of their openness to change and conservation in disfavor of these products. Consumers with more than 400 Euros showed attenuated universal and conservation values, but with less openness to change and self-enhancement motives. In conclusion, it has seemed that in Italy, where no legal requirements about sustainability have been established yet, being an ethical and universal food consumer still strongly depends on how much money one is able to spend rather than on how ethical or universal one wants to be. Keywords: Attitude towards Behavior, Eco-sustainable Foods, High-order Factors, Schwartz’s Theory of Basic Human Values, Structural Equation Modeling To cite this document: Marco Vassallo and Anna Saba, "Does Money for Grocery Expenditure Sway Italian Consumers’ Motivational Values in Predicting Attitude towards Eco-Sustainable Food Products?", Contemporary Management Research, Vol.11, No.1, pp.3-24, 2015. Permanent link to this document: http://dx.doi.org/10.7903/cmr.13840

On-farm diversification in non-agricultural activities has been increasingly recognized as a rewarding farm strategy through which farmers produce on-farm non-agricultural goods and services. The main objective of this paper is to explore to what extent the condition of peri-urbanity affects farm income diversification in Italy by looking at the push and pull factors that allow peri-urban farmers to re-organize their business by developing diversification strategies that are tightly connected to the demand of goods and services coming from the urban society. A structural equation modeling (SEM) statistical technique has been applied to estimate direct and indirect causal relationships among the multiple variables involved. The SEM analytical approach allowed us to untie the complexity of the push and pull factors connections and to highlight the most significant ones. The strengths of the structural paths provide evidence on the key diversification strategies adopted by peri-urban farms.

Starting in January 2024, street protests by farmers’ groups spread in several European countries. The demands, which started from rather specific aspects, have broadened to involve economic, environmental and geo-political considerations, calling the already weakened European Green Deal even more into question. Starting from an analysis of the motivations for the protests and the responses provided by national governments and European institutions, the article tracks the main arguments that characterized the motivations of the so-called ‘tractor protests’, through the methodology of Sentiment Analysis applied to the social network of accounts (specifically, X) relating to different categories of subjects interested in the debate. The results indicate a generally positive sentiment, characterised by trust and anticipation, suggesting potential for improving the relationship between society, institutions, and the conditions of farmers. Farmers remain at the centre of the debate, which focused on two key areas: the economic and competitive conditions of agricultural businesses, and the compatibility and economic sustainability of the environmental regulations embedded in European policies. The research revealed that the demands were somewhat fragmented and inconsistent. Nevertheless, the protests, although short-lived, had a significant impact by prompting European institutions to steer environmental and agricultural policies in new directions. Additionally, the research highlights that innovative investigative methods can be effectively applied to examine the interplay between the technicalities of public policies and collective perceptions.

The objective of this work is to propose a new perspective in understanding the phenomenon of online behaviors, termed the privacy paradox, i.e., worry on preserving personal data and contents, but a little attention to disclose them, and thus introducing the new definition of e-people. The provocative hypothesis of this study regards the internet users who, in the Big Data era, are affected by a common covariation of being e-popular/e-visible, e-narcissist, e-(socially)-accepted, e-remembered. These e-behaviors will be conceptually gathered under the term of Achilles' paradigm. A structured web-questionnaire was submitted to a convenience sample of 198 internet users. First and second-order confirmatory factor analyses together with latent means models concretely supported the existence of the Achilles' paradigm and its impact on the privacy paradox concerns. As a result, the privacy paradox is not an effective paradox anymore: self-disclosing privacy online seems to be a well-accepted behavior.