PurposeDespite increasing pressure to adopt pro-environmental behaviour (PEB), limited research acknowledges the sustainability efforts of ethnic minority retail small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This is despite forming over half of all UK SMEs. Consequently, this research aims to advance our understanding of if, how and to what extent commercial gains (CG) (i.e. profit) and social embeddedness (SE) (i.e. people) impact ethnic minority retail SME'sdecisions to adopt pro-environmental behaviours (i.e. planet).Design/methodology/approachDrawing on the theoretical lens of the value-beliefs-norm theory, this research uses survey data from 352 owner-managers. The hypothesised model is tested in a structural equation model (SEM) using maximum likelihood estimation.FindingsOur results indicate that SE and CG have a positive direct impact on PEB. However, in contrast to previous studies, results reveal an insignificant indirect relationship between CG and values. Similar to previous studies, our results confirm that values influence PEB indirectly and directly through general beliefs to activate personal norms (PN) to predict PEB.Practical implicationsTheoretical and practical implications are discussed to assist retail owner/managers and policy makers.Originality/valueThis research provides a nuanced insight into the under-researched, PEB of ethnic minority retail SMEs. By incorporating SE and CG as two important antecedent constructs, we reveal that profit objectives are prioritised over both people and planet. Subsequently, we envisage that voluntary opt-in, net-zero policies towards environmental targets are unlikely to be adopted at the pace necessary to meet either industry or policy targets by 2040 and 2050, respectively.

In this commentary, we discuss the concepts of place and space, and the development of a ‘spatial sensibility’ in the marketing discipline. Reviewing the way(s) in which place and space have been used in marketing (particularly in Marketing Theory ), we identify two interrelated approaches: as (1) subject/object of research and as (2) context for research, and go on to discuss the main advancements in the field, key scholars to consider, and conclude by articulating a future research agenda—topics and questions requiring further understanding and development.

Embodied and emotional experiences are heightened in encounters with nature, especially in blue spaces. Thus, drawing on the works of Husserl and Merleau-Ponty, we analyse the role of the body in the production and experience of wild atmospheres through the practice of wild swimming in natural blue spaces. Using an interpretive approach involving interviews and ethnographic observations with forty-six wild swimmers, our analysis foregrounds embodiment and illuminates the central role of the body in the relational production and experience of atmospheres in nature. In so doing, we extend current understandings of embodiment by advancing a granular account of the emergence of ‘wild swimming atmospheres’ produced and experienced haptically and somatically through intimate and personal connections and entanglements between human bodies and natural surroundings. The paper concludes with suggestions for exploring embodied haptic and somatic experiences in other consumption contexts within natural settings.

Purpose This study aims to investigate consumers’ construction of food localness through the politics of belonging in a regional context. Design/methodology/approach Following a socio-spatial lens and considering the “realm of meaning” of place, this research focusses on local consumers’ lived meanings of “local” food choice, and hence adopts a phenomenological approach to the data collection and analysis of 20 in-depth interviews with residents of the Italian region of Marche. Findings Drawing on Trudeau’s (2006) politics of belonging, this study reveals three interconnected themes which show how local consumers articulate a local food “orthodoxy” and how their discourses and practices draw and maintain a boundary between local and non-local food, whereby local food is considered “autochthonous” of rural space. Thus, this study’s participants construct a local food landscape, conveying rural (vs urban) meanings through which food acquires “localness” (vs non-“localness”) status. Research limitations/implications There exists further theoretical opportunity to consider local consumers’ construction of food localness through the politics of belonging in terms of non-representational theory (Thrift, 2008), to help reveal added nuances to the construction of food localness as well as to the complex process of formulating place meaning. Practical implications The findings provide considerable scope for food producers, manufacturers and/or marketers to differentiate local food products by enhancing consumers’ direct experience of it in relation to rural space. Thus, enabling local food producers to convey rural (vs urban) meanings to consumers, who would develop an orthodoxy guiding future choice. Social implications The findings enable regional promoters and food policymakers to leverage the symbolic distinctiveness of food autochthony to promote place and encourage consumers to participate in their local food system. Originality/value By using the politics of belonging as an analytical framework, this study shows that the urban–rural dichotomy – rather than being an obsolete epistemological category – fuels politics of belonging dynamics, and that local food consumers socially construct food localness not merely as a romanticisation of rurality but as a territorial expression of the contemporary local/non-local cultural conflict implied in the politics of belonging. Thus, this study advances our theoretical understanding by demonstrating that food “becomes” local and therefore, builds on extant food localness conceptualisations.

This research examines the role of food aid providers, including their spatial engagement, in seeking to alleviate urban food poverty. Current levels of urban poverty across the UK have resulted in an unprecedented demand for food aid. Yet, urban poverty responsibility increasingly shifts away from policymakers to the third sector. Building on Castilhos and Dolbec's notion of segregating space and original qualitative research with food aid organisations, we show how social supermarkets emerge as offering a type of transitional space between the segregating spaces of foodbanks and the market spaces of mainstream food retailers. This research contributes to existing literature by establishing the concept of transitional space, an additional type of space that facilitates movement between types of spaces and particularly transitions from the segregating spaces of emergency food aid to more secure spaces of food access. In so doing, this research extends Castilhos and Dolbec's typology of spaces, enabling a more nuanced depiction of the spatiality of urban food poverty.

Food insecurity is acknowledged as a key social determinant of health among older adults. Despite recording significantly higher levels of poverty in comparison to white ethnic groups, older individuals from ethnic minorities are under-represented as recipients of food aid. Thus, there are knowledge gaps in our understanding of older people and their experiences of food insecurity within ethnic minority communities. Through the theoretical lens of Individual and Community Resilience, we empirically advance our understanding of food security and resilience within South Asian communities via in-depth interviews with community stakeholders and older individuals from Bangladeshi and Pakistani communities across the Greater Manchester region. Our findings reveal that the integration of temporal, environmental and social constructs within a resilience framework reveals significant potential for further negative social, cultural and economic impact on older ethnic minorities in the future, especially as current food support services do not appear to cater for ethnic dietary preferences, language accessibility and/or cultural norms regarding asking for help/charity outside the home. We predict therefore, in combination with the identified persistent stressors, that food insecurity issues within older ethnic minority communities are likely to get much worse, resulting in the need for extensive resilient capacities to cope with future cost-of-living challenges. In acknowledging previous limitations within previous resilience frameworks, we propose an incremental contribution to theory and conclude by identifying culturally and operationally appropriate food support system approaches, which can be used to address the increasing prevalence of "silent poverty" within ethnic minority communities.

This article combines the theoretical lenses of bridal identity and liminal consumption to illustrate the processes of problem-solving, negotiation and reconciliation through which the bride creates her bridal identity, in the Global South context of Nigeria. Most wedding ritual studies typically emphasise the processes of creating and negotiating a successful bridal identity, but few acknowledge the possibilities of failure and its effect upon the liminars. In addition, within liminal consumption studies, the role of liminars’ mentors is often under-theorised. Thus, we contribute to the field by expanding on the concept of ‘liminal gatekeepers’ as the individuals and institutions who control and enforce certain norms associated with the liminal experience. Following an interpretivist approach, the article also advances our understanding of the ways in which the demands of liminal gatekeepers affect the liminars’ experiences and identifies three novel bridal identity outcomes, namely, (i) Embedded Bridal Identity; (ii) Synthesised Bridal Identity; and (iii) Marginalisation. In this way, we advance marketing research around how a liminal consumer identity such as bridal identity is co-constructed between liminars and gatekeepers.

This research draws upon social normalisation and practice theory as key conceptual frameworks through which to explore the normalisation of practices among everyday consumers within the context of austerity. Employing an interpretive approach, in-depth interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of 38 EU consumers across 6 countries. Given the prevalence and sustained nature of modern-day crises, this study contributes to consumer research by offering an EU-wide account of how shifting consumer knowledge, attitudes, behaviour and cultural values in the context of austerity impact on everyday sustainable consumption practices. Our research highlights the transformative and long-term effect of austerity on norms, practices, values and meanings at both individual and societal levels. We also advance knowledge of the importance of the "carrier" role by evidencing how normalised, frugality-induced sustainability practices are performed and reproduced. In conclusion, we outline several recommendations for policy and practice.

Purpose: This study aims to explore the extent to which social innovation is prioritised among a sample of organisations promoting nancial inclusion through the provision of a ordable credit, advice and nancial education. Additionally, we seek to understand the nature of the adopted innovation process and how this is perceived as in uencing social change (if at all). Methodology: This exploratory study uses a combination of qualitative, semistructured, face-to-face interviews with 35 managers in 29 di erent organisations and three focus groups with 16 practitioners and stakeholders. Findings: Innovation processes are in the main, largely incremental as opposed to radical with organisations focusing on process-led innovations. More notably, most organisations found that they often lacked the required social capital capacity, economic and technological resources and the necessary skills to develop, implement and capitalise on innovations, thus limiting the more radical forms of innovations. Implications: To enhance the capacity of smaller organisations promoting nancial inclusion, there is signi cant potential to engage in more open, co-creational projects/partnerships to deliver greater social impact to vulnerable populations. Contribution: We contribute to the under-researched literature on social innovation by highlighting the extent to which social innovation is given precedence within the sector promoting nancial inclusion. Given the contextual and organisational diversity of the sector, highlighting these behavioural practices and circumstances, enable researchers to theoretically advance social innovation theory further and provide more practice-based guidance for organisations to successfully shape social change.

Our research examines the extent to which community-led food retailers (CLFRs) contribute to the resilience and sustainability of urban retail systems and communities in the UK, contributing to existing debates on the sustainability and resilience of the UK’s urban retail sector. While existing literature has predominantly focused on larger retail multiples, we suggest more attention be paid to small, independent retailers as they possess a broader, more diffuse spatiality and societal impact than that of the immediate locale. Moreover, their local embeddedness and understanding of the needs of the local customer base provide a key source of potentially sustainable competitive advantage. Using spatial and relational resilience theories, and drawing on 14 original qualitative interviews with CLFRs, we establish the complex links between community, place, social relations, moral values, and resilience that manifest through CLFRs. In doing so, we advance the conceptualization of community resilience by acknowledging that in order to realise the networked, resilient capacities of a community, the moral values and behavior of the retail community need to be ascertained. Implications and relevant recommendations are provided to secure a more sustainable set of capacities needed to ensure resilient, urban retail systems which benefit local communities.

This article examines lived experiences of food insecurity in the United Kingdom as a liminal phenomenon. Our research is set within the context of austerity measures, welfare reform and the precarity experienced by increasing numbers of individuals. Drawing on original qualitative data, we highlight diverse food insecurity experiences as transitional, oscillating between phases of everyday food access to requiring supplementary food, which are both empowering and reinforcing of food insecurity. We make three original contributions to existing research on food insecurity. First, we expand the scope of empirical research by conceptualising food insecurity as liminal. Second, we illuminate shared social processes and practices that intersect individual agency and structure, co-constructing people's experiences of food insecurity. Third, we extend liminality theory by conceptualising paraliminality, a hybrid of liminal and liminoid phenomena that co-generates a persistent liminal state. Finally, we highlight policy implications that go beyond short-term emergency food access measures.

Purpose In the context of European consumers’ experiences of austerity, this study aims to advance current resilience theory in marketing through developing persistent resilience from a context of austerity influenced consumption. Design/methodology/approach Following an interpretivist approach, 38 face to face, in-depth interviews were conducted with European consumers from Ireland, UK, Spain, Portugal, Italy and Greece who were affected in some way by the global financial crisis. Findings Building upon limited conceptual and empirical investigations in social geography, the analysis identifies the themes of persistent stressors and temporal orientation as constants, alongside day-to-day coping, relating and pragmatism, consumer adjustment, repertoires of resistance and transformation as key elements of persistent resilience within the consumption context of austerity. Research limitations/implications The study addresses the limited theoretical and empirical focus on persistent resilience and austerity and directly contributes to consumer behaviour and marketing theory in understanding persistent resilience and its implications. Practical implications Changes to behaviours as a result of persistent resilience included reducing and stopping consumption, discount shopping, alternative consumption in the form of growing or making and mindful consumption through wastage reduction and re-use. Social implications The study highlights the significant social impact of austerity while also identifying positive outcomes for social relations among family, friends and the wider community. Originality/value This study develops and extends Golubchikov’s (2011) theory of persistent resilience through exploring European consumer responses to austerity, identifying key consumption characteristics relevant for marketing theory and practice.

To encourage greater sustainability regarding apparel consumption practices, policymakers have traditionally focused on economic and/or social psychology frameworks which rely on information-based campaigns to achieve behavioural change. Whilst such campaigns have had limited success and received significant criticism, additional policy solutions are called for. In contrast to conventional behavioural change strategies, this study responds to calls for further methodological insight and explores the potential of creative methods such as upcycling workshops and contemplative theatre performance, as practice-based mechanisms to engender a greater understanding of the environmental impact of apparel consumption and help bring about behavioural change to current apparel consumption practice. Via the theoretical lens of behavioural change theory and contemplative performance practice, our findings reveal the dynamic and continuously reshaping nature of the apparel market, in that most of our participants were until recently unaware of the unsustainable nature of the apparel industry. Despite some participants citing barriers, such as a lack of time, peer pressure, and the desire to express a specific social identity, reactions to practice-based methods were overwhelmingly positive. Thus, initiating a more proactive engagement with sustainability issues as well as increased reflection and discussion on how they might modify current apparel consumption behaviours in the future. We conclude by making suggestions for policymakers regarding future sustainability initiatives.

Academic literature on food retailing has tended to focus on the larger retail multiples, with less attention paid to the small independent retailer. Of the few studies which focus on independent food retailers, academic interest has concentrated on rural retailing. This has left a significant gap in academic inquiry relating to the community-based retail aspects of urban food retailing. This chapter provides a unique insight into the urban independent cooperative food retailer and their complex links between community, place, and social relations. Through a contrasting case-type approach, we extend the concept of community retailing from a sole focus of the local immediate community, to include also a community of values and a supply chain community, thus suggesting a much broader, more diffuse spatiality and ethicality beyond that of the immediate locale.