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Item The interface between ethical leadership and food safety culture in Aotearoa New Zealand food businesses : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, School of Management, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand(Massey University, 2025-05-20) Newport-Smith, WendyMeasuring, evaluating and improving food safety culture is a priority for Aotearoa New Zealand food businesses. This is driven by the desire to produce food of the highest quality that safeguards consumers, protects the reputation of New Zealand Inc., and meets the requirements of international standards and regulations. This is the first in-depth qualitative investigation into food safety culture and ethical leadership in Aotearoa New Zealand food businesses, including some of this country’s largest food exporters. Using a mixed methods approach this research has provided unique, contemporary understanding and insights, while simultaneously providing a novel contribution to the body of knowledge. Two research workstreams were used; the first a quantitative workstream involving a voluntary survey of manufacturing and distribution employees in New Zealand’s largest food business; a dataset of responses to food safety and ethical leadership questions from 1181 individuals. Using Principal Component Analysis (PCA) applied to Lickert-scale variables, combined with multivariable modelling, this research found a positive relationship between food safety culture and ethical leadership and evidence for differences in responses according to several respondee characteristics. These included associations between PCA coordinates that captured variation in individual responses to food safety and ethical leadership questions, and the supplementary variables: role (e.g. staff or supervisor), site and gender. Ethical leadership has been shown to improve effectiveness, performance and safety at an organisational and individual level. Therefore strategies to improve ethicality across Aotearoa New Zealand food businesses in order to improve food safety culture and ensure safer food outcomes are suggested: consultatively developing organisational values which are well communicated and lived; ensuring ethical considerations when hiring staff; ethical considerations when setting expectations, and in training and mentoring staff and managing performance processes including the use of consequences; and modelling good behaviour, making fair decisions, ensuring open, clear communication and giving employees a voice. While largely positive, the quantitative strand did reveal a level of dissatisfaction with both ethical leadership and food safety culture, suggesting room for improvement. Further research is needed to better understand management’s, supervisors’ and workers’ perspectives on both aspects. The second workstream involved one-on-one semi-structured interviews with 32 founders, owners and senior food safety and quality personnel from 31 Aotearoa New Zealand food companies with thematic data analysis resulting in five key themes: Values; Responsible Stewardship of Natural Resources; Māori Worldview; Ecosystem Pressures and Leadership. The issues identified to be important to Aotearoa New Zealand food businesses include: individual, managerial and organisational values; leadership and management commitment in influencing organisational, food safety and ethical climate and culture; inter-generational value-creation, sustainable practice and acting as kaitiakitanga meaning guardianship or protection. This research has also provided insight into the drivers for and primary challenges related to food safety for Aotearoa New Zealand food businesses. This research has contributed to an up-to-date understanding of the characteristics of ethical leaders in Aotearoa New Zealand, who, according to this study, are humble, honest, respect indigenous Māori values, and are not corrupt. They have a degree of relatedness, care about our natural environment, have a strong sense of identity or place, are collaborative, are fair, and are accountable. Our size, Indigenous Māori worldview, and our geographical isolation contribute to the unique interpretation and application of these leadership characteristics in Aotearoa New Zealand. Several limitations are acknowledged, not the least of which was the context for this research which began at the outset of the global pandemic, with both positive and negative consequences. The use of one, albeit large food business in the quantitative workstream is noted, as is the focus of the participants in the qualitative workstream. Broadening this research to all hierarchical levels in several food businesses would be of benefit, and this is one of a number of research recommendations for the future. The positive correlation between ethical leadership and food safety culture found in this research suggests that maintaining and improving the ethicality of leaders within Aotearoa New Zealand food businesses may positively influence food safety culture and therefore, the production of safer food.Item Place, provenance, protection : alignments, challenges, and opportunities for Māori future foods : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Food Technology at Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa, Massey University, Manawatū o Turitea, Palmerston North(Massey University, 2025-07-08) Wright, Summer RangimaarieThis thesis examines key alignments, challenges, and opportunities for Māori future foods, conceptualised as food production processes and outcomes that positively impact Māori and kinship networks. Beginning with a focus on plant-based future foods, a scoping interview study with Māori enterprise revealed strong alignment with Māori aspirations, including fulfilling kinship responsibilities, bringing together multiple forms of value, advancing collective wellbeing, and protecting and expressing Māori rights and interests - particularly in cultural and intellectual property. Participants identified place branding as a promising avenue to protect and develop cultural landscapes and enable future foods. The second study developed a content analysis protocol to explore the branding of Māori food and beverage packaging, with a focus on the prevalence and potential functions of place elements. Findings show that place branding is widely used by Māori enterprises, affirming its relevance to Māori future foods, while also highlighting a need to understand perceptions of Indigenous place elements. The third study used means-end chain laddering interviews to examine how critical consumers in Aotearoa New Zealand and Singapore perceive Māori place elements. It found a range of positive and negative perceptions across both contexts, which suggest viable approaches to place branding by Māori food enterprise. The thesis presents three key messages: plant-based future foods are relevant to Māori on multiple levels; Māori future foods can be enabled through place branding; and Māori place branding can support enterprise development and the protection of Māori rights and cultural property. These findings have implications for advancing Māori future foods and for growing the research and practice of decolonial Māori and Indigenous place branding. By exploring these interconnections, the thesis contributes to a deeper understanding of how Māori aspirations can shape and benefit from future food systems. It also critiques the ongoing appropriation of Māori culture by government and industry to advance broader agricultural and economic agendas. This research offers a transdisciplinary approach, addressing gaps at the intersection of Māori enterprise, future foods, Indigenous place branding, and consumption studies.Item Risk management by entrepreneurial and non-entrepreneurial micro and small-scale firms in the agriculture food-processing sector in Sri Lanka : a mixed method approach : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor in Philosophy in Agribusiness at Massey University, Manawatu, New Zealand(Massey University, 2023) Ganegoda Hewage, Ishara AnjaleeRisk, risk-taking, and risk management have been identified as integral components of entrepreneurship since the inception of the concept of entrepreneurship. However, the relationship between these components still puzzles scholars as different scholars have presented often contrasting theoretical notions and empirical findings regarding how entrepreneurial firms take and manage risk. Despite the importance of risk in entrepreneurship, the attention given to risk management and the adoption of specific risk management strategies is limited in the research literature. The firms operating in the MSME sector play a vital role in economic development in developing countries, particularly in Sri Lanka. The term entrepreneurship is frequently associated and investigated along with the term MSMEs where many researchers have used these two terms synonymously or alternatively. Literature supports the notion that entrepreneurial firms and small businesses are related but they are two different entities with distinctive features. However, the lack of specific criteria to differentiate between the two firm groups is identified as a major hindrance in the sector that negatively affects the development of beneficial policies and scholarly work. With the above questions identified, the overarching research question of this study is; “Do the entrepreneurial micro and small-scale (MSE) firms in the agriculture food processing sector in Sri Lanka manage the risks they face any differently from other MSEs operating in the sector?”. To address this question first it was necessary to assure the existence of such entrepreneurial firms within the sector. For that, the study devised a method to differentiate entrepreneurial firms from their non-entrepreneurial counterparts. Moreover, the study also aimed to investigate the factors that determine the differing risk management behaviour of these MSEs operating in the agriculture food processing sector in Sri Lanka. The research process began with a preliminary study to investigate the context of agriculture food processing MSEs in Sri Lanka. With the support of the findings of the preliminary study and the literature, the five-dimensional Entrepreneurial Orientation approach (i.e. innovativeness, proactiveness, risk-taking, competitive aggressiveness, and autonomy) was identified as the best-fitting method to differentiate between the two firm groups. Upon confirming the existence of entrepreneurial and non-entrepreneurial firms in the sector, the study adopted an exploratory sequential mixed-method approach consisting of two phases; a qualitative phase with selected case firms to explore the nature of their EO followed by a quantitative phase with survey data to investigate the risk management behaviour of a population of these firms. The qualitative phase was conducted with four selected case firms; two entrepreneurial and two non-entrepreneurial to explore the level and nature of EO. The quantitative data were gathered from a sample of 206 MSEs using a structured, researcher-administered questionnaire. The results confirmed that entrepreneurial firms do exist in the agriculture food processing sector in Sri Lanka. Proactiveness, innovativeness, risk-taking, and competitive aggressiveness were identified as the more suitable EO dimensions that can be used to identify and differentiate between entrepreneurial and non-entrepreneurial firms in the Sri Lankan context, with autonomy being identified as not strongly contributing to this differentiation. The study agrees with the existing body of literature on “entrepreneurs are risk takers”, yet goes much beyond of this common notion to prove that they are not only they are risk takers, but also better risk managers compared to their non-entrepreneurial counterparts. The uniqueness of this study is that it has not inly investigated the risk management behaviour of entrepreneurial small firms but also comapred it with a group of non-entreprneurial firms. Quantitative study found significant differences between entrepreneurial and non-entrepreneurial firms in terms of their adoption of risk management strategies. More entrepreneurial firms adopted knowledge-related, strategic, and product price-related market risk management strategies compared to non-entrepreneurial firms. This was also found in the qualitative phase where the entrepreneurial firms were more proactive and showed a notable orientation toward adopting strategic, and knowledge-related, risk management strategies. The two firm groups showed clear differences in their propensities to risk, with two categories of risk propensities identified as entrepreneurial risk (seeking) propensity attributes and non-entrepreneurial risk (averting) propensity attributes. The entrepreneurial risk (seeking) attributes were found to strongly contribute to the differentiation between entrepreneurial and non-entrepreneurial MSEs while the adoption of strategic and knowledge-related risk management strategies was negatively affected by the non-entrepreneurial risk (averting) propensity. Investigating how sources of risk are perceived, both as opportunities and threats, for both entrepreneurial and non-entrepreneurial firms was another important contribution of this study. The results highlighted that the entrepreneurial group perceived more opportunities arising from the sources of risk than the non-entrepreneurial group, with both groups perceiving the threats in a similar manner. Having a proper identification of entrepreneurial and non-entrepreneurial firms is useful for policymakers to devise their policies more strategically. Finally, this study expands the current understanding of entrepreneurial/non-entrepreneurial firms, especially in terms of strategic planning and knowledge-orientation of entrepreneurial firms in managing risks, risk propensity, and perceiving different sources of risks based on the strong foundation of their proactive and opportunity-oriented nature.Item Determinants of radical product innovation in the New Zealand food and beverage industry : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Product Development at Massey University, Manawatu, New Zealand(Massey University, 2019) Pitrchart, JulawitThis thesis presents an empirical study that investigates the radical product innovation phenomenon in the New Zealand food and beverage industry. Its major objectives are to posit and test determinants of radical product innovation and their relationship in explaining product innovativeness, using the New Zealand food and beverage industry as the study context. The New Zealand food and beverage industry was chosen because of its long history of successful radical product innovation and the importance of that industry to the New Zealand economy. A conceptual model is proposed, based on the literature and content-validated through field interviews with five New Zealand food and beverage companies known to be innovative. The conceptual model is then theoretically-tested using quantitative data collected from 137 food and beverage companies in New Zealand. The research hypotheses were formulated to validate five posited determinants of radical product innovation, including their interrelationships in explaining and predicting product innovativeness. In addition, the study tests the effect of company characteristics on product innovativeness and projects the salient features of a typical highly innovative New Zealand food and beverage company. The study confirmed the five posited determinants—top management innovation capability (TMIC), internal innovation capability (IIC), external networking capability (ENC), innovative organisational culture capability (IOCC), and innovative product development capability (IPDC)—are causally related to product innovativeness (PI). Of the 12 hypotheses that constitute the theory, four were not supported by data, in that the direct effects of TMIC on IPDC, IIC on IPDC, and ENC on IPDC were found to be non-significant (p > 0.05); also, the direct effect of IIC on ENC was found to be negative. The reasons for these discrepancies are discussed and the results are interpreted from a practical perspective. In regard to the effect of company characteristics on PI, younger companies as well as larger companies were found to be more innovative than their older and smaller counterparts. The effect of foreign ownership was not supported by data, probably due to a small sample size of overseas owned companies. The study also shows that a highly innovative New Zealand food and beverage company typically scores highly in the scales ii of the five posited determinants. Young (founded since 2011), and medium to large in size (50+ full-time employees) firms also tend to outperform their counterparts in PI.Item Fractional nonconformance assessment : this dissertation is submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Statistics, Massey University, New Zealand(Massey University, 2020) Zhou, XinFood quality and safety are important due to the very nature of the product and the potentially severe consequences of a fault in the manufacturing process. Statistical tools are widely used in food quality assurance. However, measurement error, which is inevitable in food manufacturing due to the variation and inaccuracy of the measurement system, affects the performance of statistical quality control activities. The concept fractional nonconformance was recently proposed to assess the probability of nonconformance for error-prone individual measurements. This thesis presents five pieces of work for fractional nonconformance assessment mainly suitable for food quality assurance and other applications. The new statistical methods developed pertain to control charting, acceptance sampling, and conformity testing areas. The application of the proposed methods is illustrated with real data from a leading New Zealand dairy product manufacturer. Interactive web-based Shiny apps providing step-by-step guidance to implement fractional nonconformance analytic tools are developed for practitioners.Item Frothing as a food processing technique : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Food Technology in Food Processing at the Faculty of Food Science and Biotechnology, Massey University(Massey University, 1967) Thunpithayakul, ChaiyuteIn this work, two major topics have been studied using frothing techniques. (I) Studies on the possibility of using frothing techniques for recovery of proteins from solutions have been conducted. Using sodium caseinate protein, frothing studies on various possible factors affecting the enrichment ratio e.g. pH, concentration, pre-heat treatment, have been carried out. It was found that, to recover protein as soluble protein, is rather more theoretical than practical. However, further studies on frothing insolubilization techniques (i.e. to insolubilize protein by frothing) have shown that, it was possible to recover up to 65% of egg white albumin from solutions. The key factor governing the recovery efficiency was the stability of the protein prior to frothing operation i.e. the less stable the protein, the greater the recovery. For egg white, the most important single factor in promoting the recovery was the effect of pH near the isoelectric point. When the same techniques were applied to cheese whey, no froth precipitation was experienced even after various efforts to destabilize the whey proteins just preceding the frothing process. A postulate has thus been put forward to explain the results. (II) Experiments have been carried out to investigate the possibility of using frothing techniques for removing some undesirable substances in citrus juices e.g. excessive essential oil in citrus juice, naringin in grapefruit juice. Studies based on model systems have shown that, while a large proportion of essential oil would come out with the froth, appreciable amount of naringin could be removed only when a suitable surfactant was used. When the frothing techniques were applied to natural orange and grapefruit juices, it was found that, by removing a significant quantity of oil, some flavonoids and possibly some limonin, the flavour of the juices could be improved as confirmed by taste panel results. (III) In addition, on the basis of the experimental evidence, a tentative theory and proposed mechanisms have been put forward for the removal of undesirable substances in fluid food product using surfactant. [From Summary]Item Investment opportunities in kiwifruit processing : a case study in product development that considers the advisory role of the New Zealand Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries : a thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Agricultural Science at Massey University(Massey University, 1985) Cloughley, Brian AlexanderThis thesis is set in the context of the Economic Section of the Advisory Services Division of the New Zealand Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries (MAF). MAF provides management advice to farmers and horticulturalists on what and how to produce. The direction for MAF services is taken from the national development strategy which has historically centred on expansion of traditional agriculture, but is now focusing on the development of non traditional agriculture. This shift in strategy, which involves the development of new food and fibre products, has caused MAF to adopt an industrywide market orientation that focuses on the needs of consumers rather than methods of production, so that marketing and production of both primary and processed products could be considered within the domain of MAF advisory activities. The Economic Section of MAF's Advisory Services Division is responsible for economic evaluations of opportunities in agriculture. While the national development strategy has centred on expansion of traditional agriculture these evaluations have concentrated on opportunities to improve farm management. With the shift in both the national development strategy and MAF's orientation to its work, the Economic Section must consider industrywide market orientated economic evaluations of both product and management opportunities. This study therefore involves the development and evaluation of an analytical framework for consumer orientated economic evaluations of new product opportunities. The analytical framework that is developed is, in the broadest sense, one of strategic planning, and it is evaluated through its application to a case study in kiwifruit processing. The results of the case study show that the framework is a useful one that allows a systematic consideration of new alternatives given information on markets and the objectives and characteristics of the developing firm. The second aim of the study was to evaluate and discuss MAF's industrywide market orientated approach to its advisory work. The study concludes that MAF should confine its advisory services to on-farm production, and that MAF should assume an industrywide but not a market orientated approach to its work. It is also concluded that the Economic Section of MAF's Advisory Services Division should assume responsibility for the divisions strategic planning and that this planning should involve an industrywide approach to the evaluation of farm production opportunities. To this end it is considered that a production orientated version of the analytical framework developed in this study is appropriate for use by the Economic Section.Item Reconstitution characteristics of food powders and granules with emphasis on non fat dried milk : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Food Technology in Food Processing at Massey University, Palmerston North, N.Z.(Massey University, 1967) Neff, EdwardReconstitution characteristics of food powders form a major determinant of consumer acceptance, particularly with the trend to instant foods. A working theory has been proposed to explain the mechanism of dispersion of any soluble food powder. A study was made of methods which may be employed to modify reconstitution characteristics. No significant improvement in the dispersibility of Non Fat Dried Milk (NFDM) could be achieved by a compression/repowdering process even though the particle density and porosity of the powder could be increased by this technique. When applied to spray dried instant coffee such process of compression, up to 150 psi, resulted in a small improvement in dispersibility while at the same time achieving a marked increase in the bulk density of the powder. The significance of this observation with regard to potential saving in packaging volume has been discussed. The most significant improvements in reconstitution characteristics of NFDM were achieved by a rewetting/redrying process. A granulation technique is described which has been successfully employed to simulate commercial instantising of powders. By means of this granulation technique it has been shown that by far the most important factors in agglomeration influencing the properties of the resultant "granules" are : 1. Rewetting moisture content at which granulation is achieved prior to redrying; 2. Particle or granule size of the final product. Optimum conditions for NFDM have been determined to be 11-12% rewetting moisture and a mean particle size of 200/u. This granulation technique has also been employed to study the effect of additives at agglomeration upon reconstitution properties of NFDM. Several commercial processes are in use, and are covered in patents, for the purpose of instantising NFDM and other food powders. Despite this, however, no study has previously demonstrated the critical nature of certain variables in this process as clearly as has been done in this study.Item Trade cost and its impact on agri-food trade growth among China, EU and ASEAN : in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of Master of AgriCommerce, Massey University, Palmerstone North, New Zealand(Massey University, 2017) Fang, LingTrade cost is broadly defined to include all costs incurred in getting a good to a final user other than the marginal cost of producing the good itself. According to Anderson and van Wincoop (2003), a rough estimate of the tax equivalent trade costs for industrialized countries is 170 percent. While compared to industrial products, agricultural goods suffer more from trade cost due to its low value to volume ratio and perishable characteristic as well as high protection in both developed and developing economies. By using the trade cost index developed by Dennis Novy (2013), this study examines the trade costs and its relationship with trade growth among China, EU, and ASEAN in agricultural sector. The results indicate that first, although the bilateral agricultural trade among these three economies have been growing steadily over last fifteen years, their trade costs are still high. In particular, the average trade cost between China and EU is about 633 percent tax equivalent. Secondly, economic growth is still the key driver of trade expansion. The contribution of trade cost reduction varies among trading pairs. In the case of China & ASEAN and EU & ASEAN, its impact is limited. But, in the case of China and EU, it contributes over half of the overall trade growth. Combined with the fact that China now has converted from a net exporter to a net importer of EU’s agricultural products, a further trade liberalization between these two could possibly increase bilateral trade significantly. Thirdly, the reduction of multilateral trade barriers diverts large amount of bilateral trade. The trade diversion effect of regional trade agreement is one possible reason. Finally, compared to distance, which is a static number, the trade cost index has a better explanatory power. It is time sensitive, more comprehensive, and not hard to compute.Item A heat shock process for the puffing of dried food gels : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Food Technology in Food Chemistry and Engineering at Massey University of Manawatu, Palmerston North, New Zealand(Massey University, 1965) Perreau, Rex GeorgeThere has been increasing interest in recent years in the use of dehydration as a technique for the preservation of foodstuffs. An extract of production figures compiled by Van Arsdel (1963) is given in Table (l). The production per year, in tons, of six dehydrated foods in the United States of America is shown and indicates this trend which is particularly marked in the production of dried potatoes (mainly instant mashed potatoes), and non-fat milk solids.[FROM INTRODUCTION]