Analysing Stakeholders in Geographical Indications: Patterns, Gaps, and Research Implications – A Systematic Review (2014–2024)

Abstract

Geographical indications (GIs) are frequently framed as collective, place-based arrangements. However, the literature varies in how stakeholders are conceptualised, made visible, and related to one another. This PRISMA-guided review examines how GI studies conceptualise stakeholders, make them visible, and describe relations. Scopus and Web of Science searches (2014–2024) yielded 35 journal articles. Visibility was coded as explicit naming of stakeholder groups in full texts. Results show a post-2018 surge, a European core, and mainly qualitative case-study designs. Producers and public authorities are the most consistently represented groups, whereas the visibility of other stakeholders varies across the literature. Participation, authority, coordination, and inclusion–exclusion are frequently discussed, but conceptualised and examined in different ways. The review offers a comparative synthesis of stakeholder-oriented GI scholarship and identifies implications for stakeholder analysis in territorial GI contexts.