Preventing and Recovering Food Waste in Manufacturing Firms: A Contingency Perspective on Circular Economy Practices
基于权变理论，研究了食物废物流特征（如均质质量、定时、充足数量、经济价值和营养价值）如何影响循环经济绩效，通过对15家意大利食品制造企业的定性比较分析，发现只有少数特征足以实现高绩效，企业可根据权变因素选择预防或回收策略。
ABSTRACT Food waste is a sustainability concern in the food industry, which can be mitigated through a circular economy. Circularity can be limited by contextual constraints, such as the characteristics of the waste to be recovered. However, their study in the context of food waste is scarce. Through contingency theory, this work explores which food waste flow characteristics (homogeneous quality, certain timing, sufficient quantity, economic value, and nutritional value) play a role in achieving high circular economy performance. The food waste flows generated by 15 Italian food manufacturing firms are analyzed with qualitative comparative analysis (QCA). The analysis reveals that only a few characteristics may be sufficient for high circular economy performance. The characteristics are contingency factors: Depending on the recognized contingencies, firms may decide to prevent or recover food waste flows out of convenience, necessity, or because of ethics. To improve their circular economy performance, firms can also modify the contingencies themselves.