Attitudes and behaviour towards organic products: an exploratory study

2008 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 158-175 ◽  
Author(s):  
Efthimia Tsakiridou ◽  
Christina Boutsouki ◽  
Yorgos Zotos ◽  
Kostantinos Mattas
Keyword(s):  
Organic Food ◽  
Food Products ◽  
Local Economy ◽  
Health Concern ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Consumer Decision Making ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Actual Behaviour ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Organic Products

PurposeThe aim of this paper is to identify consumers' attitudes and behaviour towards organic products in Greece.Design/methodology/approachThis paper draws on a non‐probability quota sample of 660 respondents to explore the attitudes and behaviour of Greek consumers towards organic food products.FindingsGreek consumers seem to be informed about environmental and health issues. They seek information about the nutritional value of food and demand more products free from chemical residues. The results show that most consumers associate organic consumption mainly with fruit and vegetables. Although demographics seem to affect attitudes towards organics, their value in explaining actual behaviour is minimal.Research limitations/implicationsIt is recognized that the data gathered in this study focus on the metropolitan area of Thessaloniki, Greece. The specific area though, is considered to be representative of the total Greek population. The results confirm that health, concern for the environment, animal welfare and support of the local economy are drivers of organic consumption. However, there is an indication that the importance of motives and barriers may vary for different product categories and perhaps future research should focus on product segmentation.Practical implicationsAlthough certain similarities in consumers' attitudes towards organic food products have been identified, this paper records the variation in behaviour towards organics among the various consumer groups examined in Greece, and highlights the gap between attitudes and actual behaviour. Given the complexity of consumer decision making, future research should explore the other value trade‐offs that consumers make.Originality/valueThis paper attempts to provide evidence on the relatively under researched area of organics attitudes and behaviour in Greece.

Procurement and consumption of local and organic food in the catering of a rural town

2014 ◽  
Vol 116 (3) ◽  
pp. 419-430 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irma Tikkanen
Keyword(s):  
Local Community ◽  
Local Food ◽  
Organic Food ◽  
Food Products ◽  
Local Economy ◽  
Development Cooperation ◽  
Environmental Benefits ◽  
Food Culture ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Rural Town

Purpose – This paper aims to describe the transformation towards consuming local and organic food (LOF) in the catering of a rural town. Product development cooperation, procurement, consumption, and prices are illustrated. Achieved local, social and environmental benefits are depicted. Design/methodology/approach – Theoretical framework includes the EU's strategy for corporate social responsibility concerning public procurement. Recent research on LOF and its procurement are summarized. The sources for empirical data included web pages depicting the case town and an interviewee, namely the food service manager. Findings – The results indicated that in 2011 local food products amounted to 46 per cent, whereas organic food products accounted for 14 per cent of the food procurement in the case town school's catering. The percentage of local food products in the whole town's catering amounted to 13. Benefits for the local community included money supporting the local economy, which thus facilitated the producers developing their businesses. However, higher prices were paid. Social benefits entailed that LOF contains the least amount of additives possible and LOF also advocates local food culture. Environmental benefits included, e.g. the following aspects: protecting the natural environment; decreasing packaging and bio waste; and diminished consuming water and energy. Practical implications – Increasing consumption of LOF required the following actions: integrating LOF into the town's strategy; allocating extra resources; training catering personnel; developing products with producers; and organising local procurement procedures. Originality/value – The results offer ideas for small municipalities how to increase the consumption of LOF gradually, and thus achieve benefits for the local community. The results may interest also those selling-in to that market sector.

scholarly journals Consumers' Intentions to Purchase Organic Food Products

2017 ◽  
pp. 68-82
Author(s):  
Syaidatina Akila Mohamad Azizan ◽  
Norazah Mohd Suki
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Concern ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Organic Food ◽  
Food Products ◽  
Health Concern ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Sustainable Food ◽  
Guiding Principle ◽  
Intention To Purchase

The Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) is applied as the guiding principle in this conceptual paper with the aims to discuss the factors in influencing consumers' intention to purchase organic food products among Muslim consumers. The literature review exposed that attitude, health concern, environmental concern and labelling affect consumer intention to purchase organic food, and moderated by Islamic values. Results suggest the role of religiousity in firming up the intention to purchase organic food. This paper extends the literature reviews on the consumer behavioural intention towards organic food products by incorporating religiousity values which have been lacking in previous research in sustainable food consumption and also gather another perspective of the role of halal and eco-labelling in influencing consumers' interpretation of the products. Further empirical studies can be carried out to assess the underlying linkages among the factors and uncover the viable model for future research.

Effects of quality claims on willingness to pay for organic food

2016 ◽  
Vol 118 (9) ◽  
pp. 2218-2233 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marin Cagalj ◽  
Rainer Haas ◽  
Ulrich B. Morawetz
Keyword(s):  
Willingness To Pay ◽  
Organic Food ◽  
Food Products ◽  
Health Claims ◽  
Experimental Auction ◽  
Experimental Auctions ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Credence Attributes ◽  
Organic Products ◽  
The Eu

Purpose Claims about environmental impact, health effects and taste of food products are restricted in the EU. The purpose of this paper is to quantify how much such claims would change the willingness to pay (WTP) for organic products in Croatia. Design/methodology/approach For estimating the WTP under different claims the authors used an experimental auction. Participants (258) bid for real food products (organic and conventional tomatoes and apples) and are endowed with cash at a location where they usually go shopping. Findings For the sample the authors find that consumers are willing to pay on average a premium of 42 percent for organic apples and 59 percent for organic tomatoes. On top of that, WTP increases between 16-20 percent for environmental claims and 12 percent for health claims. Taste-related claims are not significant. Practical implications Sellers and producers of organic food can benefit from adding claims to organic labels. To protect consumers from manipulation, regulators are well advised to be cautions when allowing claims about credence attributes of food. Originality/value The authors quantify the influence of claims about organic products on the WTP by using experimental auctions which are particularly suitable to investigate effects which cannot be observed on the market.

Food quality vs food patriotism

2019 ◽  
Vol 121 (2) ◽  
pp. 371-385 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mirzobobo Yormirzoev ◽  
Ramona Teuber ◽  
Tongzhe Li
Keyword(s):  
Food Quality ◽  
Food Products ◽  
Russian Government ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Valuation Model ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Food Market ◽  
Imported Food ◽  
The Right ◽  
Domestic Food

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of perceived food quality and consumer ethnocentrism and potential trade-offs between these two concepts in Russian consumers’ food purchase decisions after the implementation of the Russian import ban. Design/methodology/approach Survey data were collected via in-person interviews in the City of Perm, which is one of the largest and most industrial cities in Russia. A double-bounded dichotomous-choice contingent valuation model is utilized to estimate willingness to pay (WTP) and to analyze factors that affect consumers’ choice. Findings The results suggest that most respondents do not consider domestically produced cheese as a risky product in terms of food safety but simply of lower quality than imported cheese. However, the average respondent’s WTP discount for domestic cheese compared to imported cheese is 8 percent, which is relatively small. This corresponds to participants’ opinion that buying domestic cheese is the right thing to do since it supports Russian farmers and producers. The results indicate further that with increasing education and income levels, individuals are less likely to prefer domestically produced cheese for either economic or quality reasons. This effect is stronger for the quality preference. Research limitations/implications The results indicate that if the Russian government aims at expanding the domestic food market further, more attention needs to be paid to ensuring the quality of domestic food products in order to increase consumer acceptance and WTP. Originality/value This is the first study providing empirical evidence on Russian consumers’ attitudes and perceptions of domestically vs imported food products after the implementation of the Russian import ban, which can be considered as an external policy shock.

“Tree against hunger”: potential of enset-based culinary tourism for sustainable development in rural Ethiopia

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tamagn Urgo Woyesa ◽  
Satinder Kumar
Keyword(s):  
Rural Development ◽  
Farming System ◽  
Cultural Development ◽  
Local Economy ◽  
Rural Tourism ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Culinary Tourism ◽  
Depth Interview ◽  
Conceptual Study

PurposeThis is a conceptual study to analyze the potential of enset-based culinary tourism for sustainable rural development and to obtain a place as a niche tourism market in South-Western Ethiopia. It assumed enset agro-biodiversity as the effect of ages of environment, genetic resources and cultural interaction as a distinctive regional image.Design/methodology/approachThis an exploratory paper based on an in-depth interview, field observation and content analysis of documents. By means of in-depth interviews, the researchers managed to gather extended information from community elders and experts in culture and tourism offices selected based on a snowball technique. Besides, it has gone through systematic reviews of about 180 empirical and conceptual articles, books and conference papers with a critical reading of the content, identification of categories, examination and interpretation of ideas, to supplement the in-depth-interview. The thematic analysis applied to identify various ideas, concepts, categories and relationships to produce themes presented under discussion and results.FindingsThe study found enset-based culinary tourism not only improve the local economy and regional image, but also it would enhance conservation of traditional farming system, biodiversity, food heritages, genetic varieties and livestock. It also identified 18 enset food varieties compatible with the principle of balanced diets. Finally, the study advised rural development planners to consider enset-based culinary tourism so that it would revive lost food traditions and consumption patterns, enhance the regional heritage and destination branding.Research limitations/implicationsThe research is a conceptual study that lacked empirical investigation concerning the livelihood impact, gender implication and actual tourist data. Therefore, future research needs to focus on the aforementioned limitations.Practical implicationsThis study addressed SW Ethiopia, which is the primary center of Ensete ventricosum, and argued that enset-based culinary tourism would help to build regional image and obtain a place as a niche rural tourism destination. It would also contribute to the conservation of food heritages, environmentally sustainable farming system, soil conservation, crop diversities and livestock population in addition to producing tourist experience. Moreover, it would encourage the revival of traditional consumption, reinvent lost food traditions and identities.Social implicationsIt was hoped that rural tourism would eventually improve the livelihood and enhance the capability of resilience. It is also expected to maintain the traditional social-economic structure based on the enset farm while fostering cultural development.Originality/valueTo the knowledge of the researchers there is no previous work on enset based-culinary tourism in Ethiopia and probably there is no published culinary tourism paper elsewhere.

A systematic review of the literature on supply chain agility

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bharat Singh Patel ◽  
Murali Sambasivan
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Cost Benefit ◽  
Business Environment ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Research Directions ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Supply Chain Agility ◽  
Agility Assessment ◽  
Future Research Directions

Purpose The purpose of this study is to critically examine the scholarly articles associated Murali Sambasivan with the diverse aspects of supply chain agility (SCA). The review highlights research insights, existing gaps and future research directions that can help academicians and practitioners gain a comprehensive understanding of SCA. Design/methodology/approach The present study has adopted author co-citation analysis as the research methodology, with a view to thoroughly investigating the good-quality articles related to SCA that have been published over a period of 22 years (1999-2020). In this study, 126 research papers on SCA – featuring diverse aspects of agility – from various reputed journals have been examined, analysed and assimilated. Findings The salient findings of this research are, namely, agility is different from other similar concepts, such as flexibility, leanness, adaptability and resilience; of the 13 dimensions of agility discussed in the literature, the prominent ones are quickness, responsiveness, competency and flexibility; literature related to SCA can be categorised as related to modelling the enablers, agility assessment, agility implementation, leagility and agility maximisation. This research proposes a more practical definition and framework for SCA. The probable areas for future research are, namely, impediments to agility, effective approaches to agility assessment, cost-benefit trade-offs to be considered whilst implementing agility, empirical research to validate the framework and SCA in the domain of healthcare and disaster relief supply chains. Practical implications This paper provides substantial insights to practitioners who primarily focus on measuring and implementing agility in the supply chain. The findings of this study will help the supply chain manager gain a better idea about how to become competitive in today’s dynamic and turbulent business environment. Originality/value The originality of this study is in: comprehensively identifying the various issues related to SCA, such as related concepts, definitions, dimensions and different categories of studies covered in literature, proposing a new definition and framework for SCA and identifying potential areas for future research, to provide deeper insights into the subject and highlight areas for future research.

Perception of Romanian Consumers on Ecological Products

2016 ◽  
pp. 203-224
Author(s):  
Violeta Sima ◽  
Ileana Georgiana Gheorghe
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Organic Food ◽  
Food Products ◽  
Purchase Decision ◽  
Main Concern ◽  
Review Of The Literature ◽  
Consumption Behavior ◽  
Perceptions And Attitudes ◽  
Organic Products ◽  
Decision Making System

This chapter aimed to investigate perceptions and attitudes of Romanian consumers about organic products, in order to study the connection between knowledge and attitudes of consumers and their place in purchase decision-making system to understand their behavior toward organic food. In the first part, after a brief introduction, the authors tried to perform a review of the literature in the field, starting from the presentation of the concept of green or ecological consumption behavior and the notions related to it. A synthetic scheme of the drivers of the green market was proposed as a conclusion of this introductory part. The main concern is about consumption of the ecological products in Romania. The authors identified a number of 17 relevant studies performed in Romania in order to help them substantiate their work. They took into account two issues, namely, Ecological Non-Food Products and Ecological Food Products.

The double-edged effects of guanxi on partner opportunism

2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (6) ◽  
pp. 1313-1322 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lu Shen ◽  
Chuang Zhang ◽  
Wenbo Teng
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Test ◽  
Asset Specificity ◽  
Sales Manager ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Control Mechanisms ◽  
Moderating Effects ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Matched Data

Purpose This study aims to examine the double-edged effects of guanxi on opportunism and the moderating effects of legal enforceability and partner asset specificity. It thus differs from the current literature, which primarily focuses on the benevolent effects of guanxi. Design/methodology/approach Based on matched data collected from 268 sales manager and salesperson dyads, this study tested hypotheses using hierarchical regressions. Findings The empirical test supports the conceptual model and demonstrates two findings. First, guanxi between boundary spanners follows an inverted U-shaped relationship with inter-firm opportunism. Second, both the benefits and drawbacks of guanxi are stronger under the condition of low legal enforceability and high partner asset specificity. Research limitations/implications The study did not untangle guanxi into different dimensions and did not investigate how firms should make trade-offs between the benefits and drawbacks of guanxi. Therefore, future research could further explore this question by using a multidimensional approach. Practical implications The study alerts managers that guanxi is a double-edged sword, so they should complement it with formal control mechanisms, particularly when they are operating in legally inefficient regions or when their partner firm’s asset specificity is high. Originality/value The study offers a more balanced view of guanxi by showing both its positive and negative effects on opportunism. It also uncovers legal enforceability and partner asset specificity as two boundary conditions that influence the curvilinear effects of guanxi on opportunism.

What motivates Indian consumers’ to buy organic food in an emerging market?

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 97-113 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heerah Jose ◽  
Vijay Kuriakose ◽  
Moli P. Koshy
Keyword(s):  
Emerging Market ◽  
Organic Food ◽  
Food Products ◽  
Least Square ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Indian Consumers ◽  
Perceived Price ◽  
Buffering Agent ◽  
Ordinary Least Square Regression

Purpose Indian consumers are showing an increased demand for organic food products; however, little is known about their intention to buy organic foods. The purpose of this paper is to understand how fear towards conventional food products motivates an individual to buy organic food products and whether trust and perceived price as contextual factors are able to enhance the buying intention. Design/methodology/approach A total of 275 valid responses were collected using a self-administrated structured questionnaire, representative of Indian consumers. An ordinary least square regression analysis was used to analyse the effect of trust and perceived price in influencing the relationship between consumers’ fear and intention to buy organic food products. Findings The moderating role of trust and perceived price in enhancing the direct relation between fear and intention was established. In addition, cluster analysis results revealed that married women with children are showing a greater interest in buying organic food products. Practical implications The findings of the study are of high importance to all stakeholders in organic food products, as selecting marketing practices which target consumers’ concern is an indispensable part of finding a niche for organic food products. Originality/value The findings suggest that even though consumers are fearful towards conventional food products, they displayed negative intention to buy organic food products when their trust towards the third party is low, thus confirming the importance of trust as a buffering agent.

Who really values healthy food?

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Pilar Ester Arroyo ◽  
Javier Liñan ◽  
Jorge Vera Martínez
Keyword(s):  
Psychological Health ◽  
Food Choice ◽  
Food Preferences ◽  
Food Product ◽  
Food Products ◽  
Healthy Food ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Individual Traits ◽  
Health Related

PurposeWhen selecting manufactured foods, customers consider several product features. Given the contemporary trends of food consumption, the purpose of this paper is to determine the influence that some demographic and psychographic key variables have on the chances of a consumer belonging to a market segment characterised by health-related food preferences.Design/methodology/approachThe food choice scale is revised to develop a multidimensional measure of the factors underlying consumer food choices. Data of 288 sampled consumers were used to validate the scale and to group consumers into four segments based on the value assigned to several food-product meta-attributes. Depending on these food choice values, the study identified four dissimilar clusters: utilitarian, protecting, toning and highly demanding.FindingsConsumers use multiple attributes when choosing food products. However, emerging segments tend to prefer health-related attributes over utilitarian or conventional attributes, such as price, flavour or accessibility. The consumers of these segments tend to be older, more health conscious and more prone to psychological health risks.Originality/valueDemographic and psychographic traits tend to drive trade-offs between health- and non-health-related attributes when considering food products. Several multivariate methodologies were innovatively coupled to characterize consumers based on their healthy food preferences and individual traits.

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