Building a Model to Study the Impact of Social Capital on Product Innovation at Food Firms

Products produced and processed by food firms still have certain shortcomings, are not competitive enough, are not really attractive enough even for the domestic market, and are even more difficult to access when accessing foreign markets. Food firms have been conducting research and inventions according to market needs to create new products, which requires food firms to spend more resources on a product innovation process. Organic and natural product lines and new raw material sources, especially materials from sustainable agriculture, are focused on being exploited by F&B firms in VIE10. Firms have widely deployed the application of new technology and modern management systems to improve production processes, operations, and customer service. In addition, the application of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning has helped firms learn consumer preferences and trends, thereby creating suitable products and services. This study developed a theoretical model based on the theory of social capital, where the independent variable is social capital and the dependent variable is product innovation. This paper presents the theoretical model through a review of existing literature and related studies and provides a more specific direction for the ensuing empirical analysis. Researching the influence of social capital on the product innovation of food firms has many practical implications and contributes to perfecting the theoretical framework for product innovation in Vietnam today.