From Linear to Circular Economy: Embracing Digital Innovations for Sustainable Agri-Food Waste Management among Farmers and Retailers

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Dear authors,

I liked your article. The UTAUT model is not currently in active use in management practice as a basis for supporting decision-making in the field of implementation of information technologies, since it is at the stage of checking the validity, i.e., compliance with the task and identifying factors influencing the acceptance and use of new technologies by users. Your article makes a significant contribution to practice of using UTAUT.

Possible improvements to the article, in my opinion, could be a clearer description of the statistical methods that you used in the study. In a brief section of the article, name the statistical methods and their mathematical functional essence.

Regarding the English language of the article.

The authors' English does not seem difficult. The language of the article makes it possible to understand the idea and meaning of the study. Minor editing is possible from the standpoint of popularizing UTAUT.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Comments on the Quality of English Language

Dear authors,

I liked your article. The UTAUT model is not currently in active use in management practice as a basis for supporting decision-making in the field of implementation of information technologies, since it is at the stage of checking the validity, i.e., compliance with the task and identifying factors influencing the acceptance and use of new technologies by users. Your article makes a significant contribution to practice of using UTAUT.

Possible improvements to the article, in my opinion, could be a clearer description of the statistical methods that you used in the study. In a brief section of the article, name the statistical methods and their mathematical functional essence.

Regarding the English language of the article.

The authors' English does not seem difficult. The language of the article makes it possible to understand the idea and meaning of the study. Minor editing is possible from the standpoint of popularizing UTAUT.

Author Response

I appreciate your comment. 

Response to the reviewer 1

Comment 1: Possible improvements to the article, in my opinion, could be a clearer description of the statistical methods that you used in the study. In a brief section of the article, name the statistical methods and their mathematical functional essence.

Response 1: Based on the comments received, I have written more about the Structural Equation Modeling, which is the primary statistical method I focus on to examine the factors that affect users' behavioral intention to utilize an agriculture waste trading platform and compare the behavioral differences between farmers and retailers regarding the intention to utilize a digital platform for sustainable agriculture. The section I added can be seen at lines 124–125 (p 4), which is marked with a pink highlight in the introduction and the beginning of the research methodology on page 12 (see the blue highlights).

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The abstract should give some key findings for a better understanding of readers.

The flow chart must be drawn for the methodology

Conclusions should be made precise.

Overall the manuscript is good

Author Response

I appreciate your comment. 

Response to the reviewer 2

Comment 1: The abstract should give some key findings for a better understanding of readers.

Response 1: I appreciate your comment. I've included additional key findings by highlighting the edits in green. It appears on lines 19-32 of the abstract (p 1). I also clarify the utilization of SEM to assess hypothesized relationships between constructs, along with using MGA to examine the differences across groups to determine when relationships differ between groups.  Additionally, I identify a significant target group and further expand the perspective derived from the research findings.

Comment 2: The flow chart must be drawn for the methodology.

Response 2: This point has been addressed. I've added a statistical flow chart as shown in Figure 4 (p 11), with additional explanation highlighted in blue. This can be found within the methodology section of section 3, which contains the research methodology and data analysis on pages 12 to 13.

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Dear authors, I have completed the review of your manuscript and here are my main suggestions for revision: Based on the conclusion, here are six English revision suggestions: 1. "The aim of this study was to understand the factors that influence farmers’/retailers’ behavioral intention to adopt a digital platform to sell agricultural waste products." Revise to: "This study aimed to investigate the factors influencing farmers' and retailers' intention to adopt a digital platform for selling agricultural waste products." 2. "In our study, we found that several factors have significant impacts on behavioral intentions while using waste trading platforms." Revise to: "Our findings revealed that various factors significantly affect the behavioral intentions of users engaging with waste trading platforms." 3. "Social influence (SI), facilitating condition (FC), hedonic motivation (HM), habit (HB), and privacy (PR) are some of the factors that play a role in this situation." Revise to: "Factors such as social influence, facilitating conditions, hedonic motivation, habit, and concerns about privacy were identified as significant in this context." 4. "Another suggestion offered in this study is the facilitating condition, which means that the users from both groups expect platform providers to prioritize user features that cater to diverse needs throughout their interaction with the platform.". Revise to: "Additionally, the study suggests that users from both groups anticipate platform providers will prioritize user features that address diverse needs during their engagement with the platform, known as facilitating conditions." 5. "To summarize, platform developers are responsible for promoting users’ behavior intentions based on their experience and learning ability.". Revise to: "In conclusion, it is the responsibility of platform developers to foster users' behavioral intentions by leveraging their experience and learning capabilities." 6. "Eventually, users’ intention would increase due to the adoption of waste trading platforms.". Revise to: "Ultimately, the adoption of waste trading platforms is expected to enhance users' intentions to engage with such platforms.". 7. Please refer to the following literatures: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.powtec.2019.04.074; http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fuproc.2018.04.031 .

Comments on the Quality of English Language

no

Author Response

I appreciate your comments.

Response to the reviewer 3

Comment 1: I have completed the review of your manuscript and here are my main suggestions for revision: Based on the conclusion, here are six English revision suggestions: 1. "The aim of this study was to understand the factors that influence farmers’/retailers’ behavioral intention to adopt a digital platform to sell agricultural waste products." Revise to: "This study aimed to investigate the factors influencing farmers' and retailers' intention to adopt a digital platform for selling agricultural waste products." 2. "In our study, we found that several factors have significant impacts on behavioral intentions while using waste trading platforms." Revise to: "Our findings revealed that various factors significantly affect the behavioral intentions of users engaging with waste trading platforms." 3. "Social influence (SI), facilitating condition (FC), hedonic motivation (HM), habit (HB), and privacy (PR) are some of the factors that play a role in this situation." Revise to: "Factors such as social influence, facilitating conditions, hedonic motivation, habit, and concerns about privacy were identified as significant in this context." 4. "Another suggestion offered in this study is the facilitating condition, which means that the users from both groups expect platform providers to prioritize user features that cater to diverse needs throughout their interaction with the platform.". Revise to: "Additionally, the study suggests that users from both groups anticipate platform providers will prioritize user features that address diverse needs during their engagement with the platform, known as facilitating conditions." 5. "To summarize, platform developers are responsible for promoting users’ behavior intentions based on their experience and learning ability.". Revise to: "In conclusion, it is the responsibility of platform developers to foster users' behavioral intentions by leveraging their experience and learning capabilities." 6. "Eventually, users’ intention would increase due to the adoption of waste trading platforms.". Revise to: "Ultimately, the adoption of waste trading platforms is expected to enhance users' intentions to engage with such platforms."

Response 1: Thank you for this suggestion. The researchers have resolved this point; the revised text is highlighted in yellow, which is in the conclusion of page 26.

Reviewer 4 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

This is very  interesting paper, with a lot of different methods applied.  They are well correlated with the aim  and scope of the study. The paper is relatively long, especially in first theoretical part, therefore I propose to shortener it. You can use table or picture instead of long text. The chosen subject and case study is well suited, please provide information when the research was conducted. The  all 9 hypothesis were clearly stated and analysed.

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Author Response

I appreciate your comments.

Response to Reviewer 4

Comment 1: The paper is relatively long, especially in first theoretical part, therefore I propose to shortener it. You can use table or picture instead of long text.

Response 1: Thank you for your excellent comment. I agree with this comment. I have added Figure 2 to explain the Circular economy approach and development of digital platforms for agriculture waste management. I have also summarized the content more succinctly below with a yellow highlight, including Table 1 for the review summary (pp 4-6).

Round 2

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The author did not make revisions according to the reviewer’s comments. Please refer to the previous round of revisions and continue making the necessary changes.

Comments on the Quality of English Language

no

Author Response

Dear Reviewer 3,

Based on your recommendation, we referenced those 2 articles in our literature review section to demonstrate additional examples for circular economy innovation (in fuel and energy). Please see the grey highlights on p. 4-6. The references were added to the reference section accordingly.

Thank you.

Regards,

Chavis K.

Round 3

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The paper has been modified and can be accepted.

Comments on the Quality of English Language

no