README file
Data Set Title: “MED-LINKS WP1 T1.3 Consumer Preferences Eco-labels in Short Supply Chains”
Data Set Author/s:
Camanzi, Luca (University of Bologna), ORCID 0000-0003-0738-6279
Ahmadi Kaliji, Sina (University of Bologna), ORCID 0000-0002-2609-3706

Data Set Contributor/s:
Prosperi, Paolo (CIHEAM-IAMM, UMR MoISA, Montpellier F-34093, France; MoISA, Univ Montpellier, CIHEAM-IAMM, CIRAD, INRAE, Institut Agro, IRD, Montpellier, France) ORCID 0000-0002-8494-0344
Collewet, Laurick (CIHEAM-IAMM, UMR MoISA, Montpellier F-34093, France; MoISA, Univ Montpellier, CIHEAM-IAMM, CIRAD, INRAE, Institut Agro, IRD, Montpellier, France) ORCID 0009-0006-4946-2275 
El Khechen, Reem (CIHEAM-IAMM, UMR MoISA, Montpellier F-34093, France; MoISA, Univ Montpellier, CIHEAM-IAMM, CIRAD, INRAE, Institut Agro, IRD, Montpellier, France) ORCID 0000-0002-9350-646X 
Michailidis, Anastasios (Department of Agricultural Economics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece) ORCID 0000-0002-7560-4365 
Charatsari, Chrysanthi (Department of Agricultural Economics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece) ORCID 0000-0002-9160-3469 
Lioutas, Evagelos D. (Department of Supply Chain Management, International Hellenic University, Katerini- Greece) ORCID 0000-0003-3784-9553 
De Rosa, Marcello (Department of Economics and law, University of Cassino and Southern Lazio) ORCID 0000-0002-5053-6861 
Francescone, Martina (Department of Economics and law, University of Cassino and Southern Lazio) ORCID 0000-0003-4153-8942 
Lhoucine OUAHI (Faculty of Law, Economic and Social Sciences, Cadi Ayyad University - Marrakech) ORCID 0000-0002-0105-3169
Mohamed Ait Hou (Polydisciplinary Faculty Errachidia, University Moulay Ismail - Meknes) ORCID 0000-0002-1688-6518

Data Set Contact Person/s: Camanzi, Luca (University of Bologna), luca.camanzi@unibo.it

Data Set License: this data set is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Publication Year: 2024
Project Info: MED-LINKS Data-enabled Business Models and Market Linkages Enhancing, project ID 1591, funded by PRIMA (Partnership for Research and Innovation in the Mediterranean Area) 2020 Section 2, European Union, Horizon 2020 Programme. Grant Agreement num. [insert grant agreement number], https://prima-med.org/faq/.
Data set Contents
The data set consists of:
•	•	1 document in .pdf format 
“MED-LINKS-WP1-T1.3-Consumer-Preferences-Eco-labels-in-Short-Supply-Chains.pdf”
•	• 1 tabular file saved in .csv format
•	• “MED-LINKS_WP1-T1.3_Consumer-Preferences-Eco-labels-in-Short-Supply-Chains-Dataset.csv”
•	•	1 README file 
“MED-LINKS_WP1-T1.3_Consumer-Preferences-Eco-labels-in-Short-Supply-Chains-Dataset _README.pdf”

Data set Documentation
•	Abstract
This dataset, developed as part of the MED-LINKS (Data-enabled Business Models and Market Linkages Enhancing) project, financed by the PRIMA 2020 Section 2 (Horizon 2020), contains the responses collected between 26/05/2023 and 16/06/2023 through a Computer Assisted Web Interview conducted on consumer attitudes and preferences for fruit and vegetables in Egypt, France, Greece, Italy, and Morocco.

Content of the files: 
•	•	file MED-LINKS-WP1-T1.3-Consumer-Preferences-Eco-labels -in-Short-Supply-Chains- questionnaire.pdf contains the questionnaire
•	•	file MED-LINKS_WP1-T1.3-Consumer-Preferences-Eco-labels -in-Short-Supply-Chains-Dataset.csv contains the responses to the questionnaires

•	File specifics
To create the .csv files, “Microsoft Excel” version 2403 (Microsoft 365 for enterprise) was used, with the following specifics:
•Character set Europa occidentale (Windows-1252/WinLatin1)
•Field delimiter « , » (comma)
•Text delimiter  « “ » (quotes)

•	Methodologies 
Respondents were invited to participate in the survey by an agency specialized in market research (Toluna, www.toluna.com) which has a proprietary panel of over 40 million consumers worldwide. Participants were recruited by Toluna in Egypt, France, Greece, Italy, and Morocco. The collection of personal data and consequently the obligation to submit the information and the request for informed consent apply to Toluna, but exclusively for its own purposes (i.e. for the paneling service it provides) and not for the purposes of research in object.
The target is made up of adult consumers who purchase fruit and vegetables non-occasionally (at least once a week) in Local short supply chains (e.g. on farms, purchasing groups, in farmers' markets/shops, local festivals or fairs, vegetable gardens, etc.). 
Based on Cochran's sampling formula (with a 95% confidence level), we set the target sample size to 300 consumers in each Country. We then used a quota strategy to ensure a balanced distribution of respondents based on key demographic factors, including demographic characteristics. Based on that and after thorough data cleaning and validation, the final analysis included a total of 245 respondents in Italy, 220 in France, 225 in Greece, 170 in Morocco and 169 in Egypt.
The authors set up the questionnaire on the online survey platform provided by Qualtrics platform (www.qualtrics.com) to which Toluna will redirect the responses of its panelists in a completely anonymous way (without collecting personal data or tracking IPs).
The structure of the questionnaire included multiple-choice questions, Likert matrix questions with some items each, and some open-ended questions. Responses referred to the Likert scale to measure agreement, which was reported as “strongly disagree (=1)” to “strongly agree (=7)” (see the file “MED-LINKS_WP1-T1.3_Consumer-Preferences-Eco-labels-in-Short-Supply-Chains-questionnaire.pdf” for details). The average time to complete the questionnaire was reported as 15 to 20 minutes.
Following an initial soft launch with 100 completed questionnaires, some minor errors were corrected, and then the final lunch was conducted with three follow-ups to ensure that the expected quotas requirements were met.
The Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS version 27) was used to check the validity of the items in the questionnaire and to analyse the data, using techniques such as factor analysis.

•	List of variables 
The variables used in the study were selected based on consumers’ attitudes and preferences regarding the information on the label such as nutritional content, geographical origin, shelf life, presence of environmentally friendly and information ​(Haws et al., 2014; Peiró Signes et al., 2023)​; environmental concerns in production such as deforestation, neglect of natural resource conservation, non-recyclable packaging, high carbon emissions and wasteful water consumption ​(Grunert et al., 2014; Isaak and Lentz, 2020)​; attitudes and trust in certifications such as satisfaction with existing certifications, trust in existing certifications and feelings towards the environmental concept as label ​(Nygaard, 2023; Rupprecht et al., 2020)​.