Factors influencing food safety management system adoption in Thai food-manufacturing firms Model development and testing

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to investigate factors affecting the adoption of food-safety management systems by Thai food-manufacturing firms. Design/methodology/approach - The study employs a survey questionnaire using a sample of Thai food-manufacturing firms. The three-part questionnaire was mailed to managers performing food-safety management activities in 480 firms. A total of 217 questionnaires were returned, with a response rate of 45.2 percent. Findings - The results of hypothesis testing indicated that the adoption of a food safety management system can be significantly predicted by: expected gain of social legitimacy; expected gain of economic competitiveness; perceived importance of external stakeholders (government, community, food safety organizations, and media); top management commitment to food safety; firm size and amount of export sales. It can also be predicted by the extent to which firms exchange food safety knowledge with other stakeholders. Practical implications - The results of the study suggest that the Government should formulate food safety policies in favour of educating senior managers in the potential benefits of food safety management systems for their firms. In addition it confirms the importance of Government information dissemination on the successful adoption of such systems and the need to focus Government resources on assisting smaller firms. The findings present evidence of the commercial benefits of system adoption. Original/value - The paper identifies statistically significant factors that can "predict" the uptake of food safety management systems within the Thai food industry.