Steps towards a consumer-driven ‘concept innovation machine’ for food and drink

Innovation in the realm of the unforeseen: a review of competence needed

Introduction

Our main research question in this article was: What are the competence structures for innovative processes? Both the nature of the unforeseen and innovation are related to something unknown, i.e., that competence needs to be developed to be able to handle situations and solutions that are not yet completely known. In our article, we address the question of how studies of innovation describe and use concepts of competence in various forms.

Method

We performed a systematic review of the relation between the unforeseen and innovation. In this systematic review we followed the Non-Interventional, Reproducible, and Open (NIRO) Systematic Reviews protocol. The identification of studies via databases and registers was conducted in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyzes (PRISMA) statement. The various types of competence found in the literature review were grouped in such a way that we could develop a structure to use as the basis for a new concept of competence needed in order to initiate and implement innovative processes. We refer to this overview of different competence types as designated competence structures for innovative processes. The searches resulted in the following number of abstracts, respectively Web of Science (2997), ERIC (454), and PsycInfo (550), meaning that a total of 3,768 abstracts were found to be relevant. The 3,768 abstracts were imported into the program Covidence for screening in the first search.

Results

After completing the evaluation process in accordance with the PRISMA checklist and flow diagram, 32 abstracts were found to be relevant for our research question as they were related to competence for the unforeseen and innovation.

Conclusion

Few of the studies we investigated specifically mention competence. Another finding is that the innovation literature describes the activities that should take place linked to what it refers to as competence. Thus, the innovation research field does not define what the competence is or what it consists of, at either individual or group level, but rather describes the activities that contribute to successful innovation in an organization with little emphasis on how this competence should be developed. Training perspectives are lacking when it comes to innovation literature perspectives on competence.

Development of a Holistic Assessment Framework for Industrial Organizations

The evaluation and selection among the best production practices beyond the conventional linear models is, nowadays, concerned with those holistic approaches drawn toward environmental assessment in industry. Therefore, researchers need to develop an analysis that can evaluate the performance of industrial organization in the light of their environmental viewpoint. This study implemented a pilot co-integrated scheme based on an innovative in-house Holistic Assessment Performance Index for Environment (HAPI-E) industry tool while assimilating the principles of circular economy through the Eco-innovation Development and Implementation Tool (EDIT). For the latter, nine qualitative indicators were motivated and enriched the weighting criteria of the questionnaire. The decomposition of the complexity and preferences mapping was accompanied by a multi-criteria holistic hierarchical analysis methodology in order to synthesize a single index upon a need-driven scoring. This multi-criteria decision approach in industry can quantify the material and process flows, thus enhancing the existing knowledge of manipulating internal resources. The key-criteria were based on administrative, energy, water, emissions, and waste strategies. Subsequently, the HAPI-E industry tool was modeled on the food industry, being particularly focused on pasta-based industrial production. Then, the parameters of this tool were modeled, measured, and evaluated in terms of the environmental impact awareness. The magnitude of necessary improvements was unveiled, while future research orientations were discussed. The HAPI-E industry tool can be utilized as a precautionary methodology on sustainable assessment while incorporating multifaceted and quantification advantages.

Substitute foods are more likely than their traditional food counterparts to display front-of-package references

Innovative, highly processed foods are often designed to “substitute” for traditional, less-processed items in the diet. Yet, concerns about the unhealthfulness of diets high in highly processed foods are growing. Their dominance in the diet has been hypothesized to relate, in part, to the strategic use of on-package nutrition promotion. Our goal was to compare front-of-package (FOP) labelling on highly processed products that appear to have been explicitly designed as substitutes for traditional foods with the FOP labelling on their traditional counterparts. FOP references were recorded from packaged foods in three major Toronto grocery stores ( N = 20520). Foods were categorized as substitute or traditional counterparts if these had (1) immediate interchangeability within the diet, (2) inherently different formulation, and (3) the substitute was more heavily processed than its traditional counterpart. Eight substitute–traditional pairs were identified, comprising 18% of products in the data set. Substitute foods were more likely than traditional products to bear FOP nutrition, “organic”, and “natural” references. Substitute foods bore 1.21 times more FOP references, the majority of which highlighted nutrients inherent to the traditional counterpart. Our findings support the contention that highly processed foods may be displacing less-processed foods at least in part through the use of strategic on-package marketing.

The effects of innovative, consumer and social characteristics on willingness to try nano-foods

Purpose

By integrating the diffusion of innovation (DOI) theory, technology acceptance model (TAM), and social capital theory, the purpose of this paper is to: develop a model of consumer behavior and trial willingness toward nano-foods from product, consumer, and social perspectives; examine the effects of innovative features, consumer characteristics, and trust in authority on subjective perceptions (perceived trustworthiness and perceived benefit) as well as the social influence on attitudes toward nano-foods and trial willingness; examine the moderating role of product uncertainty on the relationship between these characteristics and subjective perceptions; and examine the effect of perceived benefit on perceived trustworthiness.

Design/methodology/approach

The results of the structural equation model (SEM), with nano-food knowledge data collected from 431 respondents, supported the research model and revealed the main effects hypothesized in this study and the moderating effect of product uncertainty. Simple slope analysis was further adopted to test the significant moderating effects.

Findings

The SEM results indicated that innovative characteristics (relative advantage, lack of observability, and novelty), consumer characteristics (perceived technology application), and social characteristics (trust in authority) affect perceived trustworthiness or perceived benefit. Social influence also has a direct effect on attitude toward nano-foods and trial willingness. Product uncertainty significantly moderates the relationship between characteristics (relative advantage and perceived technology application) and subjective perceptions (perceived trustworthiness and perceived benefit).

Research limitations/implications

With increasing numbers and kinds of nanotechnology products now being developed and sold, it is important to go further to determine consumer perceptions and attitudes toward these. This study, thus, applied the DOI, TAM, and social capital theory to examine this issue. However, other theories might also be used to carry out research from other perspectives. This study should, thus, be seen as preliminary, and it is hoped that more works will discuss consumer attitudes toward nanotechnology products in the future.

Practical implications

When a new nano-food is introduced, the current study suggests that food manufacturers use the description on the package as a communicative tool. Detailing the advantages of nano-foods on food packages might be a useful way to enhance trial willingness and to reduce the fears and insecurities related to the use of nano-related products. In addition, if food manufacturers could cooperate with organizations or individuals seen as having some authority in this area (e.g. nanotechnology researchers) in order to disseminate accurate information about nanotechnology and related food products, this might be an effective way to increase sales and profits.

Originality/value

This is the first paper integrating the DOI, the social capital theory and the TAM to empirically investigate consumer willingness to try nano-food products.

Do natural pictures mean natural tastes? Assessing visual semantics experimentally

A widespread assumption in Danish consumer law is that if the package of a food product carries a picture of a potentially taste-giving ingredient (say, a strawberry), then consumers will expect the corresponding taste to stem primarily from that ingredient rather than from artificial flavouring. However, this is not expected to be the case if the packaging carries only a verbal indication of the potential ingredient (say, the word