*3.3. Grey Literature*

The number of papers that were published in this section is really slight (includes documents not controlled by commercial publishing organizations). Generally, all these works rather give an overview of the phenomenon of SFSCs. The examination of consumers' attitudes is not even addressed by them. The only work of Vittersø et al. [49] (financed by the EU) was the only grey literature that deserved to be mentioned. Short Food Supply Chains as drivers of sustainable development divide the effect of SFSCs into three pillars. These are the economic, social and environmental aspects. The authors more or less try to convince the readers about the advantages of alternative food networks. The only insightful and thought-provoking Figure in this strategy guide is the one about the different sizes of the diverse supply chains' carbon footprint. Within the nine compared chains, internet sales and sales to intermediaries cause the smallest aggregated (producer and consumer) pollution, so a suggestion for the future preferences of environmentally friendly consumers is formulated. Consequently, from this weakly related work, environmental awareness appears as a socio-demographic characteristic that could affect consumption.

The most often analyzed variables from the above reviewed work are summarized in Table 2. The selected papers reveal that the different studies mostly focus on different factors, which causes difficulties in a comprehensive analysis.


**Table 2.** The most often studied socio-demographic variables and their effect in the reviewed papers.

Source: own elaboration. Note: ✓ positive impact, × negative impact, ? not studied.

If we investigate the connections between the publications' abstracts, we can observe three clusters that are created by the VOSviewer. The green keywords are settled around "information" and are linked strongly together (as the thickness of the lines shows). This group is mostly connected through "behaviour" to "importance", which plays a central role in this model. With it, those "features" and "needs" could be defined that could be satisfied by the "producer". This latter keyword is dominant within the red group. It affects the products' features (blue) and consumers' behavior (green), too. This linkage confirms that direct communication (information, knowledge) can influence the perceived product quality. Although only a few works are related to the pandemic, even its effect can be seen in Figure 3. In essence, the local products' features are important for the consumers, but the "story" of them has to be told by the producers. product quality. Although only a few works are related to the pandemic, even its effect can be seen in Figure 3. In essence, the local products' features are important for the consumers, but the "story" of them has to be told by the producers.

*Sustainability* **2022**, *14*, x FOR PEER REVIEW 14 of 17

[41] ? ? ? ? ? ? [42] ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? [43] ? ? ? ? ? ? [44] ? ? ? ? ? ? [46] ? ? ? ? ? ? [47] ? ? ? ? ? ? ? [48] ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?

Source: own elaboration. Note: positive impact, × negative impact, ? not studied.

If we investigate the connections between the publications' abstracts, we can observe three clusters that are created by the VOSviewer. The green keywords are settled around "information" and are linked strongly together (as the thickness of the lines shows). This group is mostly connected through "behaviour" to "importance", which plays a central role in this model. With it, those "features" and "needs" could be defined that could be satisfied by the "producer". This latter keyword is dominant within the red group. It affects the products' features (blue) and consumers' behavior (green), too. This linkage confirms that direct communication (information, knowledge) can influence the perceived

**Figure 3.** The relationship between behavior, product feature and producer through the studied abstracts. Source: own elaboration. Note: "safety" in the blue and "order" in the green clusters are pale because, even though they are relevant, they did not have sufficient connections. **Figure 3.** The relationship between behavior, product feature and producer through the studied abstracts. Source: own elaboration. Note: "safety" in the blue and "order" in the green clusters are pale because, even though they are relevant, they did not have sufficient connections.

### **4. Conclusions 4. Conclusions**

Sustainable and environmentally friendly development is a hot topic nowadays. In agriculture, repetitive environmental disasters and food safety problems encourage more and more consumers to strive to ensure their purchase comes from a reliable source. The alternatives to the Global/Long Food Supply Chains have existed for years, but the current pandemic situation highlighted more of these advantages. At the same time, this research reflects the fact that there are only very limited relevant empirical economic data available about consumers' characteristics and attitudes that determine their intention to purchase through SFSCs. This aspect of the topic is not widely studied. From many points of view, studies were published, but international databases have not collected information about these channels. The reviewed papers differed widely in their directions. Over the years, the number of publications has increased, and different aspects of the studies have also increased. Many works analyzed producer participation in the SFSC, and various studies were made about the potential advantages/disadvantages, weaknesses and threats of Sustainable and environmentally friendly development is a hot topic nowadays. In agriculture, repetitive environmental disasters and food safety problems encourage more and more consumers to strive to ensure their purchase comes from a reliable source. The alternatives to the Global/Long Food Supply Chains have existed for years, but the current pandemic situation highlighted more of these advantages. At the same time, this research reflects the fact that there are only very limited relevant empirical economic data available about consumers' characteristics and attitudes that determine their intention to purchase through SFSCs. This aspect of the topic is not widely studied. From many points of view, studies were published, but international databases have not collected information about these channels. The reviewed papers differed widely in their directions. Over the years, the number of publications has increased, and different aspects of the studies have also increased. Many works analyzed producer participation in the SFSC, and various studies were made about the potential advantages/disadvantages, weaknesses and threats of SFSCs, too. The role of state intervention was also a popular direction, especially in developing countries, and many slightly related ideas were brought out, too. The number of the involved studies is relatively low, and even these were mostly done in Italy and Hungary; however, the western European countries would be more interested. German and Austrian consumers' green purchasing behavior is well-known, but relevant research from these countries was not published. One of the fundamental issues in the reviewed consumers' attitude studies is the lack of trust. The used additives, low quality, missing traceability and sometimes high prices drive customers to change. The published studies analyze the same product features regularly, but the authors rarely apply a more complicated methodology than mean or percentage calculation. The studied socio-demographic characteristics offer a relatively good base of comparison; however, the results of these could often rather be handled as case studies. Because of the special form of local SFSCs, randomly (without representativity) chosen consumers cannot provide any chance to statistically and correctly reproduce the same study results in another location. Despite this criticism, the involved publications and their primary data provided an insight into the features most often stressed by consumers that affect their decision making. Obviously, age is one of the most crucial demographical factors in many publications independently of the country, and education also plays an essential role according to numerous studies. On the other hand, sociological reasons could also be identified behind the formerly mentioned

characteristics. A higher social class, which could be connected to a higher income or even a higher educational background, necessitates better, more expensive products, but old habits (from childhood), new trends (order directly online from the producer) or even the desire for social contact also can drive people to purchase from SFSCs. Gender also can affect the purchasing channel used, because some of the studies found that women would rather choose this opportunity (especially in a given age group). Naturally, the gender roles within the country of the study can also strengthen or weaken its effect. The residence is also often studied as a demographic factor, but like earlier, many social explanations could be related to this point, too. Recently, family status, number of households and even the presence of a baby have been examined, which reflects the need to refer the studies' socio-demographical features to all the formerly defined variables. Representative studies are barely published, and the proper exploration and examination of sociological contexts are also often missing. However, next to the above-defined main socio-demographical factors, an adequate presentation of the general economic/well-being situation is highly recommended to facilitate a real comparison between studies.

**Author Contributions:** Conceptualization, I.F. and A.C.; methodology, I.F. and A.C.; software, A.C. and P.L.; validation, I.F.; formal analysis, A.C.; investigation, A.C.; resources, A.C.; writing—original draft preparation, A.C. and I.F.; writing—review and editing, I.F. and P.L.; project administration, I.F. and P.L.; funding acquisition, I.F. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

**Funding:** This research received no external funding.

**Institutional Review Board Statement:** Not applicable.

**Informed Consent Statement:** Not applicable.

**Data Availability Statement:** Not applicable.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest.
