Survey investigating the motivational mechanisms and the perceived impacts on business performance of quality and sustainability certifications in the secondary food industry”

In recent years, the food sector has undergone a significant transformation driven by the rising in customer expectations, regulatory pressures and also more complex supply chains that have led to an increase in quality, safety and sustainability concerns increasing the certifications’ importance as relevant tools for companies looking for compliance, product integrity and competitive advantage. In this way the agri-food sector is facing a wide adoption of standards such as ISO 9001, ISO 14001, BRC or IFS not just as instruments for quality assurance and compliances, but also as strategic tools that bring internal and external improvements for the companies. In this context my thesis investigates the impact of quality and sustainability certifications on business performance within the food sector focusing on large Italian enterprises and explores the motivational mechanisms beyond the certifications’ process. The study focuses on the motivations that drive companies toward the accreditation process, the perceived and measurable benefits, and also on the main challenges that must be faced; by doing so, the research provides a comprehensive assessment on how certifications contribute to firms’ outcomes and to what extent organizational, contextual and managerial factors influence these effects. The study is conducted on a sample of 30 Italian agrifood firms, using both quantitative and qualitative approaches to examine how different motivational orientations shape the organizational outcomes. Regarding this, economic data such as revenues, EBITDA and growth indicators taken from financial statements, alongside survey responses, gathered through a semi-structured questionnaire, based on the personal judgements of the participants, are used perform the analysis. By analysing the underlying mechanism that leads to the certification adoption it emerges that internal motivations significantly distinguish firms’ approaches to certification while external motives are widely shared across the industry. Based on the content analysis and coding of the open question about the main motivations that drive companies toward the certification adoption three archetypes are identified: Operational Excellence Seekers, guided by process improvement and efficiency, Market Conformists, driven by market concerns and Excellence Conformists, defined by a hybrid. While perceived benefits differ according to certification mechanisms and show relevant insights, financial outcomes remain hazy, confirming the debate in literature.