Reframing agency in food system transformations: the role of individuals in systemic change

This thesis reframes individual agency in food-system transformations through the Citizen-Consumer lens, integrating behavioural determinants to connect micro-level mechanisms with broader dynamics of change. Chapter 1 presents a PRISMA-based review of 25 peer-reviewed studies and introduces a conceptual spectrum describing how individuals combine civic and consumer orientations, from Alignment to Conflict. Rather than portraying these roles as fixed or mutually exclusive, the spectrum captures their dynamic interplay within everyday food practices. A dual mapping of 257 factors (161 drivers; 96 barriers) influencing the purchase of food from sustainable farming systems, organised within the Motivation-Opportunity-Ability (MOA) framework, identifies leverage points extending beyond information and price instruments to infrastructures, skills, and decision environments. Chapter 2 analyses a nationally representative survey in Italy (N = 800), using K-means clustering to identify four Citizen-Consumer profiles (Aligned, Balancing, Consumer-Dominant, Disengaged) and logistic models to describe their behavioural, motivational, and socio-demographic patterns. Profiles are interpreted through COM-B and Behaviour Change Wheel diagnostics, indicating how interventions can target specific MOA deficits. Chapter 3 examines how eco-emotions (eco-anxiety, guilt, hope, anger) shape intentions and household food-waste behaviour in a second Italian national survey (N = 3500). K-means clustering identifies five Citizen-Consumer configurations, and structural equation modelling shows that emotions influence behaviour through perceived efficacy and identity coherence. Overall, the thesis advances a behavioural-economic understanding of the Citizen-Consumer as a hybrid form of agency, provides evidence of patterned behavioural diversity, and develops an integrative framework linking identity and capability to differentiated intervention strategies. Recognising behavioural diversity as a structural feature of society emerges as key for designing adaptive and inclusive policies that make sustainable choices possible and collectively supported.