Food Waste Reduction in Supply Chains Through Innovations: What Factors Affect the Decision to Adopt Innovations

Purpose – Agri-food supply chains are facing a number of challenges, which cause inefficiencies resulting in the waste of natural and economic resources, and in negative environmental and social impacts. To deal with such inefficiencies, food supply chain actors search for economically viable innovations to prevent and reduce food waste. This paper analyses the factors that affect the decision of supply chain operators to adopt innovations to reduce food waste. Design/methodology/approach – The analysis has been carried out using a four step approach that included: 1) a systematic literature review to identify economic factors affecting the decision to adopt these innovations; 2) an inventory of food waste drivers and reduction possibilities along food supply chains through innovations; 3) a mapping of the results of step 1 and 2; 4) deriving conclusions regarding the factors affecting the adoption of a specific innovation to reduce and prevent food waste. Practical implications – This study analyses the drivers of food waste generation together with the factors affecting the decision to adopt innovations to reduce food waste, and provides solutions to supply chain operators to prevent and reduce food waste through different types of innovations. Originality/value – Literature did not addressed systematically innovation aiming at the reduction of food waste yet. This paper provides a novel view on the problem of food waste reduction by means of innovation, by linking factors affecting the decision to innovate with food waste drivers.