From Human Needs to Value-Driven Preferences: Consumers’ Willingness to Participate in an Innovative Food Supply Chain Model

TL;DR

The study explores how consumer values influence their willingness to participate in a sustainable food model called Food Village, which emphasizes ethical and local practices.

Contribution

The novelty lies in linking consumer preferences for a sustainable food model to their personal values using a discrete choice experiment and values questionnaire.

Findings

Consumers prefer Food Village attributes like local products and cooperative governance when convenience is ensured.

Moderate participation is favored over overly burdensome involvement.

Values like self-transcendence and conservation correlate with higher willingness to participate.

Abstract

Reflection on sustainable economic models, such as the civil economy, has led to the development of alternative food supply chains grounded in ethical values and practices. From this perspective, the Food Village model was proposed to meet stakeholders’ needs, overcome the limitations of Alternative Food Networks, and scale up. In this study, a Discrete Choice Experiment on hypothetical Food Village participation scenarios was combined with the Portrait Values Questionnaire to analyse preferences for the model’s attributes in relation to personal values. The results indicate that consumers appreciate the ethical and territorial characteristics of Food Village, such as local and organic products and cooperative governance, as long as convenience is guaranteed (product variety, flexible hours). Furthermore, they prefer moderate forms of participation, while excessively burdensome involvement reduces their willingness to participate. Individual values influence preferences: values of “self-transcendence” and conservation are associated with greater willingness, while those of “self-affirmation” correlate with lower adherence to Food Village. This evidence suggests implications for policy and scalability: initiatives like Food Village, if supported by public incentives and flexible participatory schemes, can contribute to more sustainable food systems at scale.