Consumers’ Perceived Value and Willingness to Purchase Organic Food

ABSTRACT

The demand for organic products has rapidly expanded worldwide in recent years. However, the organic market remains a niche market in most countries, and research in this area remains limited. Further investigation is necessary to better understand consumer perceptions about organic food and the circumstances in which they are willing to purchase organic food. Accordingly, the authors seek to understand the perceived value that consumers associate with organic food and the factors that impact their willingness to purchase organic food. This study is exploratory in nature and uses a qualitative approach through the use of in-depth interviews. Findings from the study suggest that consumers who perceive a positive value with regard to organic food are more willing to purchase organic food, in which health was the primary perceived benefit. For consumers who perceive a negative value with regard to organic food, they are less willing to purchase organic food. Many did not see any difference between organic food and nonorganic food. Instead, they viewed the prices of organic food as being expensive and argued that more efforts are needed on their part to source for organic food. Implications and recommendations from research findings are also presented.     

The future of farming: The value of ecosystem services in conventional and organic arable land. An experimental approach

In the current work, a novel, experimental ‘bottom-up’ approach is used to quantify the economic value of ecosystem services (ES) associated with highly modified arable landscapes in Canterbury, New Zealand. First, the role of land management practices in the maintenance and enhancement of ES in agricultural land was investigated by quantifying the economic value of ES at the field level under organic and conventional arable systems. This quantification was based on an experimental approach in contrast with earlier value transfer methods. Total economic value of ES in organic fields ranged from US $1610 to US $19,420 ha^− 1 yr^− 1 and that of conventional fields from US $1270 to US $14,570 ha^− 1 yr^− 1. The non-market value of ES in organic fields ranged from US $460 to US $5240 ha^− 1 yr^− 1. The range of non-market values of ES in conventional fields was US $50 — 1240 ha^− 1 yr^− 1. There were significant differences between organic and conventional fields for the economic values of some ES. Next, this economic information was used to extrapolate and to calculate the total and non-market value of ES in Canterbury arable land. The total annual economic and non-market values of ES for the conventional arable area in Canterbury (125,000 ha) were US $332 million and US $71 million, respectively. If half the arable area under conventional farming shifted to organic practices, the total economic value of ES would be US $192 million and US $166 million annually for organic and conventional arable area, respectively. In this case, the non-market value of ES for the organic area was US $65 million and that of conventional area was US $35 million annually. This study demonstrated that arable farming provides a range of ES which can be measured using field experiments based on ecological principles by incorporating a ‘bottom-up’ approach. The work also showed that conventional New Zealand arable farming practices can severely reduce the financial contribution of some of these services in agriculture whereas organic agricultural practices enhance their economic value.     

The demand for organic foods in the South of Italy: A discrete choice model

This paper analyses organic food consumer’s demand that can help advising on implementing organic food policies at European level or, for a particular European country. In particular, it investigates the main factors explaining organic food demand in the South of Italy. Following the Lancaster consumer’s demand theory we assume that consumer’s utility depends on product characteristics instead of the product itself. Thus, consumers will choose the product (organic versus conventional) that possesses the combination of attributes that maximises its utility. Consumer’s choice for organic foods is analysed within the random utility discrete choice model and a bivariate probit model has been specified. The data were collected through a questionnaire conducted in the Italian region of Campania (Naples) in 2003. Findings indicate that economic factors are still factors limiting the growth of organic demand in Europe. Moreover, the consumers’ perceived benefits of organic food (environmental and health) are factors promoting organic food demand. In addition, greater information on organic food products is crucial to expand its demand in the South of Italy because this information will increase the consumer’s organic knowledge. Then, higher organic knowledge will increase the probability to buy organic foods and, to a larger extent, the level of consumption among existing consumers.     

Citation network analysis of organic LEDs

The field of organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) is an emergent research domain because of both scientific interest in chemistry and condensed matter physics and industrial importance as flat panel displays. In this paper, we analyzed a citation network of OLED papers and used a topological clustering method to investigate the structure of research and to detect emerging research domains. We found that most papers belong to two main clusters: organics and polymers. These two clusters have distinctive differences in subcluster structures and journals where papers are published. Supposing this discrepancy to indicate research progress, organics are in the applied research stage, while polymers are in the basic research stage.     

诱致性变迁中的制度供给滞后及其解决:以中国金融综合化转型为样本

作为诱致性制度变迁的金融综合化转型未能完成由普遍性市场行为到强行性规则体系的程式转换,肇因于分业监管体制下的行政监管者和金融企业基于有限理性的成本—收益考量。在既得利益已达到满意标准的情况下,双方均缺乏推动制度供给的动力,从而形成自生性滞后的默契僵局,酝酿了严重的市场稳定性风险。鉴于次贷危机的教训和美国《蓝皮书》的改革思路,综合化转型的市场稳定性风险应该由回归监管角色的央行负责,并由其主导金融控股公司立法进程,最终实现分业监管体制的整合。     

Does willingness to pay increase with the number and strictness of sustainability labels?

Labels signaling sustainable product attributes are gaining importance, although uncertainty concerning the environmental, micro‐ and macroeconomic benefits of such labels persist. One of the questions still incompletely answered is whether Willingness To Pay (WTP) varies with a gradually increasing number of labels on a food product. In order to answer this question, we conducted a laboratory experiment with 191 student respondents, testing consumer valuations of different labeling strategies. Using the Becker‐DeGroot‐Marschak mechanism, WTP for 15 food products was measured. The products were endowed with up to six different sustainability labels, such that each grocery item was available in eight product versions. For perishable, nonperishable, and plant‐based products, the results indicate that participants are prone to allocating WTP‐premiums to labeled products, more than to unlabeled products. For animal products, however, labels do not influence WTP significantly. Furthermore, the premiums do not vary with an increasing number of labels, irrespective of whether the labels signal substitute or complementary sustainability information. The results are not entirely in line with normative notions of magnitude variation, but rather with the behavioral economic concept of embedding effects.     

A Balancing Act: Disproportionate Sampling of Organic Foods

When exploring decision making in food marketing, particular events are often unequally represented in the data. Concerns over bias can confuse public policy or strategy interpretation if samples are unbalanced. This occurs when researching organic food marketing. A small share of the market (～4%) and of product innovations (～7%) are organic. Caution is advised when predicting trends based on this disproportionately small sample of organic products. This study demonstrates that there is little statistical difference, and even a net gain in predictive power, when using a balanced sample to test factors that influence a firm’s decision to market organic food. Marginal probabilities for the smaller, balanced sample are biased by a constant factor. Thus ex post adjustment is easy and recommended to enhance predictive power.     

What is this thing called organic? – How organic farming is codified in regulations

Organic farming is one of the fastest growing sectors of world agriculture. Although it represents only 1% of world agricultural area, organic is one of the most recognized food labels and most people in developed countries consume some amount of organic food today. There is a wide range of interpretations of what organic means by different actors in the sector. Here we examine eight different organic regulations from across the world to understand how they have codified the large diversity of ideas inherent in organic agriculture. Our analysis shows that organic practices and regulations do not differ substantially between countries – across the board organic regulations define organic mainly in terms of 'natural' vs. 'artificial' substances that are allowed (or not) as inputs. This interpretation of organic as “chemical-free” farming, largely void of broader environmental principles, does not fully incorporate the original ideas of organic theoreticians who conceived it as a holistic farming system aimed primarily at improving soil health, thereby leading to improved animal, human, and societal health. This narrow focus of organic regulations can be explained by the interest of organic consumers who predominantly buy organic because they believe it is healthier and more nutritious due to the absence of harmful substances. Organic regulations need to place more emphasis on environmental best practices in order to ensure that organic agriculture can contribute to sustainability objectives.     

日本有机农业的经营与产销协作

日本从1992年起就开始制定有机农业相关政策与制度，积极推动包括有机农业在内的环境保全型农业的发展。与传统农业相比，有机农业生产在劳动的强度、技术的难易度、技术的成熟度以及成本方面还存在着一定的问题。通过生产者和消费者的产销协作不仅可以降低生产者的经营风险，还能保护消费者的安全及健康，从而推动环境保全型农业的发展。     

Standardized food governance? Reflections on the potential and limitations of chemical-free shrimp

Multilayered conformity-assessment systems (MCASs) are becoming an increasingly prominent governance mechanism in food and agriculture. MCASs maintain their legitimacy through the use of scientific norms and practices, as well as multiple tiers of oversight. The purported outcome is standardized conformity-assessment practices, and thus, standardized food and production practices regardless of location or producer. This article examines the ability of MCASs to enforce one form of zero tolerance standards: organics (i.e., zero-synthetic chemicals). The focus is on the governance of organic standards in the rural Indonesia, where the idea of zero tolerance is historically foreign. Drawing on a case study of an organic shrimp project in Indonesia, the ways that the social, economic, and cultural conditions of the global South affect the operations of a MCAS and the capacity of the MCAS to adapt to such conditions are examined. My findings raise questions as to the capability of MCASs to ensure standardized food governance globally.