Can conscious consumption be learned? The role of Hungarian consumer protection education in becoming conscious consumers

The purpose of this research is to examine how consumer consciousness can be defined, along what dimensions it might be measured and, according to these dimensions, how conscious Hungarian university students are. In addition, it is also discussed how their consumer protection education might contribute to their consumer consciousness. Two hypotheses have been proposed concerning factors potentially affecting conscious consumer behaviour (gender; participation in consumer protection education). To test these hypotheses, a questionnaire survey has been conducted with a total of 280 respondents, whom are undergraduate students of a Hungarian university. It is found that different aspects of consciousness dominate the consumer decisions of females and males. Female respondents appear to be characterized more by hedonistic consumption but they are more price sensitive than males. Veblen effect is stronger for males, and they have greater trust in well‐known brands. Although the survey revealed that both research variables might affect consumer behaviour (not only gender but the participation in consumer protection education as well), the role of education cannot be unambiguously identified in the process of establishing consumer consciousness. On the one hand, the results show that the behaviour of ‘trained’ consumers is mainly characterized by price sensitiveness, while the other (‘non‐educated’) group is more reliant on marketing and brands. However, on the other hand, it might also be concluded that young adults participating in the survey already have their own consumer habits and preferences; therefore, their consumer behaviour is more difficult to be formed by means of education during their university years. These findings are nevertheless limited to Hungarian university students and cannot be generalized to the entire society or other countries.     

消费者绿色食品购买行为分析

绿色食品代表健康、优质的食品,越来越引起消费者的关注。本文运用合理行为理论,分析影响消费者绿色食品消费的主要因素。首先对成都市消费者绿色食品购买行为的实证调查进行描述性分析,然后运用Logistic模型,对影响消费者购买行为的因素进行回归分析。模型回归结果表明,消费者家庭是否有6周岁以下儿童和消费者对绿色食品的安全感知是决定消费者是否购买绿色食品的主要因素。     

Consumer Associations with the “All Natural” Food Label

“All natural” food labels have become increasingly popular in recent decades. Labels may communicate to consumers a level of food quality above that of unlabeled products. In April 2011, a nationally representative survey was conducted asking respondents to estimate the likelihood that they will increase purchasing in response to an “all natural” label on food products. The sample totaled 1,000 respondents, with 49% being male and 35% between the ages of 45 and 64. Demographic information includes gender, age, income, region, and education. Ordered logit models were used to estimate the likelihood of changes in purchasing based on the “all natural” label. This stated that intended behavior change was evaluated using the ordered logit estimates for nine products: beef, pork, poultry, ice cream, yogurt, cheese, milk, soft dairy products, and bread and bakery products. For all products, being male and having too little information at grocery stores decreased the likelihood of purchase. Conversely, those respondents, who associate the “all natural” label with no preservatives, perceived such products to have improved taste, improved nutritional value, and improved food safety increased the likelihood of purchase.     

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.     

消费者心理特征对新产品购买的影响作用研究

消费者新产品购买意向对企业新产品开发和营销策划具有重要参考价值。在理论探讨和实证研究基础上 ,从消费者行为特征和产品特征两个方面 ,分析了新产品购买意向的主要影响因素和新产品购买意向强弱程度不同的消费者群体的主要特征。此外对新产品的营销策划提出了一些建议。     

新消费者的消费行为研究与营销策略

把握和分析消费者的心理与行为是吸引消费者的制胜法宝。随着新经济时代的到来和消费者群体经济重要性的发展,我国消费者在心理与行为上发生了根本性的变化,呈现出一批新的消费者群体(简称"新消费者")。商家对新消费者资源的争夺使激烈的市场竞争日趋白热化。要想在竞争中立于不败之地,商家必须对他们加以重视,分析和研究他们的心理与行为,并据此采取有针对性的营销策略。     

Ethical Consumerism: A View From the Food Industry in Morocco

Both consumers and firms are now more concerned about ethics as a way to make business transactions a win–win deal. As consumers ensure profitability to businesses, they expect fair practices and honest behaviors toward society. The study reported here attempts to investigate Moroccans’ perceptions and attitudes toward ethical consumerism of food. Consumers’ willingness to buy those products and their motives for such purchases as well as factors preventing ethical purchases is investigated. Besides price, which drives most their decision to buy a food or not, Moroccans are driven by ethical claims such as “healthy,” “no fat,” “pasteurized,” etc. It was shown that consumers trust information on the labels of products besides information provided by consumer authorities. In relation to ethical aspects, Moroccans are mostly concerned about the environment and religion. Older men with high income are shown to be a good target for the ethical food market.