Access to healthy food and the introduction of sustainable nutrition practices are two important issues today. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought new challenges to food security but it has also provided opportunities for local food production. The discussion on local food has been gaining attention in recent years, but there is still a lack of clear understanding of the term ‘local food’ in the literature. The relationship between local food and sustainability issues is still unclear and has various connotations. This discordance leads to further discussions on whether buying local food should be considered a sustainable behavior and whether consumer preference for local food can be perceived as a sustainable practice. A scoping literature review was conducted in order to fill this gap and to shed light on the main tendencies of the scientific literature regarding this topic. The outcomes of the research revealed three dimensions of ‘local food’ definitions in the literature: geographical, geopolitical, and organic; while the problem of a unified local food definition remains open. The studied literature did not show any sound evidence for sustainability attributes in the definition of local food and consumer perception of local food.

Social isolation during the pandemic contributed to the transition of educational processes to e-learning. A short-term e-marketing education program for a variety of students was introduced in May 2020 and is taught entirely online. A survey was conducted regularly in the last week of training using Google Forms, and three cohorts were surveyed in July, September, and December 2020. A high level of satisfaction indicates an interest in the content and a positive assessment of the level of comfort of an organization adapted to the needs of students; this positive result contrasted with the negative opinion of the remote learning in Russia since March 2020, and this surprising satisfaction of students has motivated the study to try to explain its reasons. This result was compared with the short-term course taught through the educational pedagogical platform of a university. The students of traditional short- and long-term university programs were asked to assess their satisfaction with different digital communication tools used for e-learning. They showed low satisfaction with the pedagogical platform and a positive reaction to the e-communication tools (messengers, social media, short surveys, video conferences, etc.). The qualitative responses helped to better understand the real problems of the cognitive process and the triple structure of intellectual production during e-learning, including interest in the intellectual outcome, the need for emotional and motivational elements of cooperation and competition between students, and smooth behavioral enrichment, which requires special efforts from students and their leading from teachers. The main conclusion concerns a practical decision to continue the implementation of the educational program in the form of an online course with the use of the mixed digital communication tools of social media, messengers, and video conferences, which most likely meets the expectations and capabilities of students.

Purpose: Investigate the behaviour and the habits of the consumers from central-southern Italy in relation to extra olive oil consumption, focussing on the impact of protected designation of origin (PDO) and EU–organic certification on purchase intention and quality perception.Design/methodology/approach: A specific questionnaire was submitted to 160 consumers; a subsample of ten experts, ten semi-experts and ten habitual consumers of olive oil tested, through a blind test first and a normal one then, three Italian samples: an extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO) without certification, an organic EVOO and a PDO EVOO, which were characterised also from a chemical-physical point of view. The answers provided during the tastings were statistically analysed and compared.Findings: People interviewed prefer local olive oils; they are positively influenced by PDO/organic certification, while price is not a decisive factor on the purchasing choices. According to tasting panel results: experts gave consistent answers preferring organic olive oil, semi-experts are positively influenced by the PDO brand contrary to what they claimed; non-experts would buy EVOO, although they are positively influenced by the PDO brand and negatively by the organic certification.Practical implications: Only knowledge and experience can aid consumers make consistent and aware choices. Information campaigns could help them to distinguish products, correctly identify food attributes and overcome their scepticism towards quality of organic products.Originality/value: Few works investigated the impact of quality and sustainability labelling on perception of olive oils, valuing the consistency between answers provided before and after sensory assessments.

The consumer decision-making process for buying food products is based on various factors. One of these is the perceived value that the consumer acquires upon seeing a certification label, such as “Protected Designation of Origin” (PDO) and “Protected Geographical Indication” (PGI), which is an indicator of product quality and the degree of sustainability of the supply chain. The aim of the study is to identify the main factors influencing the behaviour and purchasing intentions of Italian consumers through the divulgation of a survey and the application of a statistical approach. The results were elaborated upon using a conceptual model, estimated following the partial least squares approach to structural equation modelling. As a result, the perception of quality influences purchasing decisions and food patterns, as labels play an increasing role in contemporary society, thus making quality standards relevant for the buying outcome. This research contributes to supporting studies on the importance of certifications of origin, as well as highlighting that food safety is a major determinant in the purchasing of certified food products.

Digital regulation implies the quantified measuring and the network infrastructure allowing managers to control the processes of value creation. Digital regulation needs to take into account tacit elements of the value creation process, including unconscious competency, creativity, and intuitive anticipation, to assure the resulting network’s innovation growth. Digital society in developing countries is built on the ground of fact change of the economy and social relations, of transition towards an emerging market within the global offline network of interactions and online activities through Internet; the innovative growth imposes the evolution of managerial behavior and attitudes. The main objective of the paper is to obtain indications on the perception of intellectual capital by corporate managers. The exploratory study was carried out in Russian companies operating in different sectors, with the use of the open-ended approach, including focused interviews and group discussion among experts, middle and senior managers from marketing or corporate governance background. The data were complemented by documentary analysis of descriptions of internal processes of the implementation of digital tools of accounting, which includes the human resources control applied for the remote work during the pandemic. Networking helps to coordinate functions between team members at remote work and between teams and administrators. The interviews demonstrated the administrative tendency to under-estimate the non-formalized factors of innovation activity, such as awareness of corporate strategy, creativity, motivation, and affective and behavioral components of communication of the persons involved in the enrichment of intellectual capital. The results show fuzzy boundaries between the intellectual capital components that are difficult to control. This difficulty provokes the preference for the use of “traditional” quantitative indicators that had been implemented at the stage of the financial digitalization, instead of developing new parameters or measuring approaches. The networking emerges synergetic effect if the administrators refuse their monopoly on the uncertainty zones and are oriented to construct the trustful atmosphere of personal responsibility within the network.

The paper aims to explore consumer behavior towards “Made in” products in order to determine the associated quality and value-attributes related to the purchasing intention of consumers. In particular, the article presents the comments and results deriving from an empirical investigation on “Made in Italy”. The research questions addressed are: (1) Does recognition really exist in terms of qualitative characterization of “Made in Italy” products? And if yes; (2) Does willingness to pay a “premium price” for such products exist in quantitative terms? The study is characterized by two phases. From a theoretical standpoint, the main literature on the topic is presented through the identification and deepening of the scientific strand of reference, such as the Country of Origin, the Country Image and the Brand Image, placing them in a broader context on Willingness to Pay. From an experimental standpoint, the research group investigates the existence and the type of relationship between the perception of quality and the willingness to pay for “Made in Italy” products. The summarized main findings show (1) “Made in Italy” is well established as a conceptual category in the minds of consumers; and (2) there is a significant “premium price” recognized by consumers for “Made in Italy” in the three sectors analyzed (food, fashion and furnishings). The “premium price” is not homogeneously recognized for the various product sectors analyzed, although for all the sectors the most commonly encountered value is relative to 10–30%.