Explanatory Factors for Innovation in the Organic Agri-Food Sector: a QCA approach

Abstract

Starting in the 1930s, organic food products established themselves as a “radical discontinuity with the past”, later becoming a crucial example of eco-innovation. The organic agri-food industry has seen steady growth in the last decades, proving resilient even to critical economic shocks such as the recent Covid-19 pandemic. Starting from secondary data analysis, this thesis aims at identifying the different types of innovation that characterize the organic agri-food industry in the Veneto region and the explanatory conditions for subsequent innovations. To this end, two research methodologies were combined: coding (as illustrated in the Gioia Method) and Crisp-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (csQCA), to highlight multiple conjunctural causations and further elaborate on organic agri-food companies' innovation.