Despite the benefits of sustainable innovations in the agricultural sector being widely recognized, their adoption rate remains below the level designated by the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. To understand the reasons behind this phenomenon, the current systematic literature review (SLR) provides a comprehensive overview of factors affecting farmers’ innovation adoption behavior in developed countries. A total of 44 studies, published since 2010, were identified, analyzed, and summarized. The analysis revealed that specific innovation characteristics foster the innovation adoption process, together with individual psychological and socio-demographic features. It emerged that the path to adopting sustainable innovations can be driven by environmental values; for example, when comparing organic and conventional farming, organic farmers have a stronger environmental view and are more likely to take less into account economic gains. On the contrary, complexity of innovation, a high degree of innovation aversion, and a low perceived control over innovation are among the core barriers to the innovation adoption. Findings provide important insights on potential research avenues that could further depict farmers’ adoption dynamics of sustainable innovations.

Culinary tourism represents an emerging component of the tourism industry and encompasses all the traditional values associated with the new trends in tourism: respect for culture and tradition, authenticity and sustainability. Italy is known worldwide for the richness and variety of its gastronomy, and agri-tourism represents one of the most important places where culinary tourists can experience local food and beverages. By using a modified version of Kim and Eves’ motivational scale, the present study aims to investigate which motivational factors affect the frequency of culinary tourists to experience local food and beverages in agri-tourism destinations. The findings of the present study reveal that the social and environmental sustainability, among the other motivations, has shown to play a crucial role in influencing Italian tourists’ frequency to experience local food and beverage in agri-tourism destinations.

The past few years have witnessed an intensifying effort by hotels to respond to customers’ growing environmental sensitivities. A critical aspect of this market trend is the actual willingness of tourists to pay (WTP) for green products and services offered by green hotels. Previous studies in this research field have mainly focused on the relationship between guests’ attitudes and their behavioral intentions, neglecting the influence of external and situational factors. In light of this, the present paper contributes to knowledge by analyzing the influence of e-Word-of-Mouth (e-WOM) and physical image, as it emerges from digital platforms, and the effect of green hotel attributes on the travelers’ WTP for green hotels. Methodologically, the research is experimental and is based on a survey of 251 travelers who stayed at hotels in Italy. The findings revealed a positive and significant relationship of e-WOM valence, physical image, consumers’ income, and green attributes related to the sustainable transport services offered, on the WTP of tourists for a green hotel. The findings, as well as enriching the literature on green hotels, can guide practitioners to develop effective communications tools on website and social media platforms to enhance the green image of hotels.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explain the growing interest of English consumers in local organic food sold through box schemes, by providing insights into the motives of customers of such schemes and examining the relationship with their awareness about problems of the agro-food system. Design/methodology/approach: A mixed methods approach combined in-depth interviews with 22 box scheme customers with a quantitative survey of 416 consumers, analysed by means of principal component analysis and an ordered logit model. Findings: Consumers of small local organic box schemes in England are both altruistically and hedonistically motivated. This includes a strong political motivation to change the current food system, as shown by the strong influence of an anti-globalisation factor and wanting to support small farmers. They perceive local organic food as a more environmentally sustainable alternative to the mainstream food system. The box schemes offer consumers a practical alternative by providing high quality products combined with convenience illustrating the importance of the latter also in local food shopping. This reinforces the possibility to successfully combining the attributes of “local” and “organic”. Research limitations/implications: The study was conducted in only one country (England) with about 400 consumers of ten organic farmer-led box schemes. It was based on a self-selecting sample of consumers of such schemes, which included a large proportion of females and people with high level of education. Further research is needed to validate the results. Originality/value: This study is the first academic study investigating the main factors affecting consumers’ choice to purchase local organic food through a number of English box schemes. It identifies that such consumers are ethically and politically motivated and show some differences compared with the general literature on organic food consumption.