**3. Materials and Methods**

This section describes the methodological approach and research methods used within this study (see Figure 6). The main research tasks are as follows:


**Figure 6.** The methodological framework of this research (source: the authors).

The methodology of the research was based on the literature review, the content analysis of the literature, the focus group discussions, and expert semi-structured interviews. Using the descriptive analyses and the system thinking approach, the cognitive model of the process and main stakeholders of the sustainable consumption value chain has been visualized and described. The comparative analyses were applied to investigate empirical practices in the recent changes in the consumption patterns of industrial consumers.

To answer the research questions, the exploratory qualitative research was conducted, which helps to analyze the importance of biocomposite materials in sustainable industrial consumption and the impact of COVID-19.

The semi-structured interviews were conducted, transcribed, and classified. Semistructured interviews are commonly applied in the studies related to the sustainability and the circular economy [30,130,131]. The purposive sampling method [132] was used in the selection of informants for the interviews. In the beginning, a sample of informants was created based on the following criteria: (1) deep knowledge and expertise, (2) the comparatively high degree of involvement or engagement in the value chain, and (3) the position and the role in the process of the sustainable production of the biodegradable composite.

In order to ensure reliability and competency in assessing and selecting potential informants, several focus group discussions were organized. Using the snowball sampling principles [133], during the interviews, informants were asked to suggest other important stakeholders or experts that should be included in the sample of interviews, thereby enriching the list of informants, based on the initial set of the criteria defined for the informants. In total, 10 interviews with an average duration of 60 to 120 min were conducted by phone or video calls (e.g., using zoom) were conducted (see Appendix A). All interviews were recorded for further data analyses and processing.

The selected sample of interviewees represented industrial actors related to the consumption of biodegradable composite materials. The interviewees were industry experts who had represented the industry on a long-term basis and could provide a comprehensive insight into it. These are both global and local companies representing the food, cosmetics, fashion, and furniture industries. All interviewees were related to the European market.

The structure of the questions of interviews is presented in Tables 2 and 3. The interview questions consisted of two parts: (A) and (B). While part (A) revealed the general profile of the interviewee, part (B) collected opinions; the main research questions included such topics as EU Green Deal guidelines for industry, how consumer behavior affects industrial consumption during COVID-19, insights into the use of biocomposite materials at each stage of the value chain, and possible impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.


**Table 2.** The structure of the questions of interviews—Part: A—Interviewee Profile.

The interview questions were piloted with several researchers before being given to our sample. The analyses of the interviews were performed in two stages. First, to ensure the validity and quality of data processing, the interviews were coded after being recorded and transcribed. After the coding, we proceeded with the data analyses through the detailed analyses of all questions by each interviewee and comparing the opinions of informants in each question discussed during the interview. The main results and conclusions of the analyses were synthesized.

This research has a particular focus on the industrial consumers of the value chain, excluding end consumer and waste management stages, specifying the limitations of this paper. Accordingly, the chosen methodology was adapted to assume these limitations and keep the focus of the research aim following methodological approaches kept by previous studies [134–138]. The literature analyses provides deeper insight into the nature and characteristics of concepts investigated. The exploratory research with semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions investigated the practice of companies regarding the sustainable industrial consumption and established the relationship of the potential impact of the COVID-19 pandemics.

This study was performed applying the multi-disciplinary approach by composing the expertise of the business management, engineering and material sciences, as well as the earth and environmental sciences. The lack of such multi-disciplinarity has been identified by previous research [139,140], and this study addresses this research gap. This multi-disciplinary approach allowed the sustainable industrial consumption chain to be empirically analyzed in an in-depth and contextual way and to develop a conceptual model in order to reflect on the practices of the industrial sustainable consumption of biocomposite materials.

**Table 3.** The structure of the questions of interviews—Part: B—Main questions.


## **4. Results**

The interview results reveal that the impact of external forces such as a change of consumer values, pro-environmental regulations, technologies, and new risks would require industrial consumers and packaging manufacturers to focus more on the use of raw materials and biocomposites. Recently, the food, cosmetics, and clothing sectors have been facing increasing importance of the problem regarding packaging sustainability. This is causing a growing interest in the use of biocomposites. Suppliers and processors of raw materials are forced to review, optimize, and adapt production processes in the direction of sustainable transition. It is important for industrial consumers to be fully aware of, and for the manufacturers to be able to justify, the origin of the raw materials. Such an assumption is supported by plans to introduce a declaration of origin (DoO) for products in the coming years. The participating stakeholders in a supply chain will be held responsible for arranging the respective flow of information, ensuring that every raw material is substantiated by a DoO. This will be facilitated by implementing strict requirements and regulations by the governing organizations.

The insights gathered from expert interviews have been used to develop the conceptual model for estimating the influence of COVID-19 on each stage of the value chain of sustainable industrial consumption of biocomposites (see Figure 7). The results show positive impact (green arrows in Figure 7) for the first three stages of the value chain, neutral impact for the Product manufacturing stage, and negative impact for the Retail stage. More details on these impacts are described in the following paragraphs.

**Figure 7.** Conceptual model estimating the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the use of biocomposite materials within each stage of the value chain (source: the authors).
