Social network analysis applied to the organic food chain: a systematic review

Abstract

Social network analysis applied to the organic food chain: a systematic review. Organic food is a practice in many countries for decades. In recent years, the organic food has grown in a global context. Organic production method is considered a production system that tends to encourage the construction of relationships between individuals, companies and public and private institutions. On this way, this study, through a systematic literature review, sought to investigate the application of Social Network Analysis in studies of the organic food chains in the last years (2010 to 2019). In the analyzed studies, it was possible to verify that the focus of the use of Social Network Analysis is directed to questions related to the network size, number and importance of the actors and the effects of the relationship among its members, trying to understand the contacts and relations between a certain group of individuals/organizations, the types of bonds established, the importance of the roles that individuals have in relationships, their intensity, durability and frequency.