Local and/or organic: a study on consumer preferences for organic food and food from different origins

This paper gives a deeper insight into consumer preferences for different food products of varying place of origin (i.e. local, Germany, neighboring country, non‐EU country) and production practices (i.e. organic vs. non‐organic). Consumer surveys combined with choice experiments were conducted with 641 consumers in eight German regions. Mixed logit models were estimated to draw conclusions on consumers’ preferences for different product attributes. The Stimulus‐Organism‐Response model was applied to theoretically frame the key findings. Results reveal that consumers prefer locally produced food to organic food. However, conclusions on consumers’ preferences should not be generalized as they vary depending on product type and consumers’ place of residence. When looking at the willingness‐to‐pay estimates for ‘organic’ and ‘local’ while distinguishing among consumers from different regions of Germany, results indicate that consumers living in rural areas and consumers living in the eastern part of Germany are less willing to pay a premium for organic products than urban consumers and consumers from other parts of Germany. As preferences for origin attributes and organic production vary between different food products and in different regions of Germany, market actors should design marketing activities accordingly. This study adds to the international research on consumers’ preferences for organic and/or local food. The results provide better insights into preference structures, as more than one product has been included and surveys were conducted in different regions across Germany.     

Hear what I appreciate: activation of consumption motives for healthier food choices across different value segments

Abstract

This study represents ‘nudging’ interventions aiming to promote healthier food choices by altering the environment where choices are made, without price incentives. The study focuses on the activation of a consumer’s different consumption motives immediately prior to making food choices, thereby drawing a direct goal-priming approach that is postulated to stimulate congruent behaviours. The twofold purpose of this experimental research is to (1) evaluate the usefulness of direct goal priming when aiming at healthier food choices and (2) to identify the boundary conditions that either favour or inhibit the emergence of motivational priming effects. This purpose contributes to the literature on consumer health behaviour in two ways. First, it reveals new motivational origins for health-goal priming effects. Second, it gleans unprecedented empirical evidence for the moderating capacity of consumers’ values. Direct priming of a health goal proved to be effective in steering consumers towards healthier food options. Surprisingly, however, responsibility and status primes also led to an increase in choices of healthy food products. Moreover, a moderation analysis showed that the consumer’s values (achievement, conservation, and universalism) play an important role in how goal priming works. Thus, the success of priming greatly depends on the underlying values of the consumers.     

Information search behaviour and its determinants: the case of ethical attributes of organic food

Daily decisions on food purchase are known to be undertaken using limited information search. However, when confronted with ‘ethical’ products, consumers often become more involved, and this results in a more extensive search for information. This research focuses on the information search behaviour of European consumers with regard to ethical attributes like animal welfare or environmental aspects of organic food by means of an Information Display Matrix. Row‐wise information search by product characteristics (attributes) was widely preferred over information search by product alternatives (column‐wise). Therefore, information (e.g. in the Internet) should increasingly be provided by attributes. The majority of consumers use simplifying and selective search strategies when looking for information on organic food with additional ethical attributes. Consumers tend to start information search in the top, left hand corner and move towards the bottom, right hand corner. Thus, principal attributes should be placed in the upper left corner and be followed by the next most important and so on when presenting information on an array of different products. Our results show that information search patterns of consumers depend on socio‐demographic characteristics like gender and age and, to a lesser extent, also on attitudes regarding environmental or social aspects of food production. Thus, marketers, particularly those using the Internet, should revise their systems of information provision and focus increasingly on consumers' needs.     

Organic and local food consumer behaviour: Alphabet Theory

Semi‐structured interviews are conducted to understand why consumers buy organic and/or local foods. The interview findings are consistent with existing theoretical frameworks for explaining environmentally significant behaviour: Value‐Belief‐Norm (VBN) theory and Attitude‐Behaviour‐Context (ABC) theory. Findings show that organic food shoppers in particular are motivated by values, beliefs and the creation of norms. However, the interviews indicate that knowledge (K), information seeking (IS) and habit (H) are also important in understanding why consumers choose organic and local foods. Incorporating demographics (D) as well, the resulting VBN‐ABC‐D‐K‐IS‐H or ‘Alphabet Theory’ is presented as a new framework to explain organic and local food purchase behaviour.     

Altruistic or egoistic: Which value promotes organic food consumption among young consumers? A study in the context of a developing nation

The present research attempts to understand the importance of altruistic and egoistic value in determining the young consumers’ intention to buy organic food. Environmental concern was considered as the altruistic value, whereas health concern as egoistic value. Using the convenience sampling method, a total of 304 usable responses was collected from young consumers, with the help of self administered questionnaire survey approach. Data analysis was done using two step structural equation modeling (SEM) approach, i.e. measurement model and structural model. Findings indicated that, both altruistic as well as egoistic value influences the intention to buy organic food among young Indian consumers. However, egoistic value was found to have more impact on the consumers’ organic food purchase intention. The present research is one of the initial attempts in the Indian context to understand the importance of values (altruistic and egoistic) organic food consumption among young consumers.     

Segments of sustainable food consumers: a literature review

Sustainable food consumption is an important aspect of sustainable development. When adopting a sustainable food lifestyle, consumers are confronted with complex choices. Today's food consumption is too complex to be explained by socio‐demographic factors exclusively. A broader perspective is needed. In order to explain behaviour across different consumer segments better, relatively homogenous segments of food consumers were identified by segmenting food consumers based on a wide range of variables. The current study aims to provide an overview of published studies that have segmented consumers with regard to sustainable food consumption. The literature review has been conducted by searching SciVerse Scopus for all relevant articles available until November 2010. The main criterion for including a specific study was the inclusion of empirical analyses of primary data, resulting in consumer segments with regard to sustainable food consumption. Sixteen articles were incorporated in the final analysis. First, the variables used for segmentation and profiling in the included articles have been categorized into three levels of abstraction: personality characteristics, food‐related lifestyles and behaviour. The three levels of abstraction proved to be helpful in categorizing the segmentation studies. The findings indicate that variables on all three levels were efficient in differentiating consumer segments regarding sustainability. In addition, the importance of price and health differed across the segments, although these variables are only indirectly related to sustainability. Second, the three most frequently identified consumer segments with regard to sustainable food consumption were: ‘greens’, ‘potential greens’ and ‘non‐greens’. These segments differed from one another on all three levels of abstraction. This implies that future segmentation studies should include variables on all levels of abstraction to get a complete picture of existing sustainable consumer segments. Marketers should be aware that targeting specific segments based on socio‐demographic variables exclusively is not sufficient. Personality characteristics, lifestyle and behaviour are all important to take into consideration. Attempts at stimulating sustainable consumption might be most effective when differences across consumer segments are taken into account. Future research is needed to explore the characteristics of different sustainable food consumer segments with respect to their potential contributions in promoting sustainable development.     

Why do people buy organic food? The moderating role of environmental concerns and trust

Although consumer interest in organic food has risen over time, resulting in a generally positive attitude toward these organic food products, scholarly research suggests a comparatively low volume of its consumption in the market. This has resulted in an urgent need to study the motivations which enhance consumers’ proclivity to purchase food items produced organically. The current research attempts to understand potential associations between motivations (intrinsic and extrinsic), attitude, and buying behaviour towards organic food. Self-determination theory (SDT) was applied to develop a theoretically grounded framework which was evaluated with 378 organic food consumers. The hypotheses were tested by analyzing the data through structural equation modelling (SEM), wherein environmental concerns and trust were the moderating variables. The study results demonstrate the significant influence of intrinsic motivation, integrated and external regulation on consumer attitude, and buying behaviour. But, attitude had no significant association with buying behaviour. The findings indicate consumers’ motivation may be stimulated to encourage higher frequencies of purchasing organic food by emphasizing values that reflect motivations arising from ethical or green consumerism, health, and social benefits. Furthermore, policymakers should focus on avenues to integrate organic food as permanent parts of individual lives and a socially exalting behavioral action.     

Organic food consumers' trade‐offs between local or imported,conventional or organic products: a qualitative study in Shanghai

This paper presents a qualitative study of the trade‐offs made by organic food product consumers in the Chinese Metropolis of Shanghai. More precisely, this article deals with trade‐offs that consumers make between three types of products: (1) locally produced organic food products, (2) products that are locally and conventionally produced and (3) imported organic food products. We used a qualitative methodology using open questions and projective techniques and based on 23 individual interviews. Local organic products are the products best perceived by the Chinese interviewees, who think that organic food is beneficial to health and makes agriculture more environmentally friendly. The fact that food is produced locally is another positive argument for many interviewees who do not perceive any important differences between local and imported, more expensive, organic food products. Local and conventionally produced food products give rise to worries related to health and consumers buy them only because they are much cheaper than organic products. The reasons for choosing organic products are mostly related to health issues. Altruistic motives such as environmental concerns, food miles concerns or support for small producers are only emerging. This study mostly highlighted consumers' trade‐offs between different individual benefits, mainly health vs. economic benefits. However, some trade‐offs between altruistic (environmental concerns) and individual (economic) benefits are apparent, confirming emerging altruistic motives behind organic food consumption.     

An extension of the benefit segmentation base for the consumption of organic foods: A time perspective

Abstract

Benefit segmentation is a long-standing marketing approach that emphasises the ‘what’ and ‘how’ dimensions of consumer benefits; that is, what benefits consumers perceive in product/service consumption, and how such benefits are perceived. This research proposes a fresh time-based approach to benefit segmentation – namely, focusing on the ‘when’ element or when in time benefits take effect. Drawing upon a survey of UK consumers, it explains and discusses consumption motivations through examining antecedents of temporally dominated benefits in application to organic food. Specifically, the study investigates why some consumers predominantly seek present-based benefits vis-à-vis future-based benefits or vice versa in organic food purchase and consumption behaviour. Using correlation and regression analyses, the research findings establish significant associations of level of involvement, prior knowledge level, and product usage level, and some association of time orientation with the temporally emphasised consumption benefits consumers ultimately pursue. Overall, the research highlights the added contribution of a time perspective in a benefit segmentation approach which can assist marketers in understanding better and communicating more effectively with consumers through drawing up consumer profiles based on when in time their dominantly pursued benefit for an offering is perceived to take effect.     

Perceptions that matter: perceptual antecedents and moderators of healthy food consumption

Unhealthy eating patterns present in most Western countries pose a serious threat to economic welfare and have severe consequences for the health and quality of life of the individual consumer. The purpose of this paper is to develop and test a conceptual model for understanding how health authorities and marketers can affect consumption of healthy food – and ultimately body mass index (BMI) – by addressing perceptual antecedents of consumers' involvement and health competencies. A qualitative (n = 16) pilot study and a consumer panel survey (n = 599) assisted in completing this task. The obtained structural equation modelling results confirmed that increasing consumers' competencies concerning healthy food consumption may improve the healthiness of their food behaviour, and ultimately reduce their BMI. Notably, these effects may occur even for consumers who perceive healthy food consumption to be a challenge. Our results also revealed that it may be problematic to improve health competencies for food consumers who are less involved in healthy food consumption. However, our study shows that two perceptual factors, ‘personal food identity’ (the extent to which consumers believe that their health identity is linked to their food behaviour) and ‘unhealthy food taste belief’ (the extent to which consumers believe that unhealthy food is more enjoyable and tastier than healthy food), may assist health authorities and marketers in increasing consumers' involvement in healthy food consumption.     

Immigration and Chinese food preferences in the Greater Toronto Area

This paper presents important socio‐economic characteristics of Chinese Canadians in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and the impact of these characteristics and acculturation on their expenditure on and consumption of ethnic vegetables. These consumers purchase ethnic vegetables based on attributes such as quality, traceable production, versatility and language. The factors that predict expenditure on ethnic vegetables among Chinese Canadians are as follows: the percentage spent on food out of total monthly income, years spent in Canada and acculturation. The estimated demand per month for Chinese ethnic vegetables in the GTA is $CAD21 million. Meeting this demand with ever more locally produced vegetables will reduce ‘food miles’, enhance niche market production and facilitate greater agricultural sustainability in Ontario.     

The effects of age cues on preferences for organic food: The moderating role of message claim

Organic food, a form of green consumption, is a growing industry, with consumers purchasing for both altruistic and egoistical motives. However, there is limited research into how marketers can develop advertising strategies to promote organic food. The present research examines how age cues influence consumer preferences for organic food. Across two experimental studies, this research demonstrates that consumers exposed to a younger cue show higher preferences for organic fruits when evaluating an altruistic claim. More importantly, this research draws upon psychological reactance theory to test the opposite effect, such that consumers exposed to a younger cue show lower preferences for organic fruits when evaluating an egoistic claim. Further, the emotions of compassion and anger are established as the mediators of the interactive effect between age cue and message claim on consumer preferences for organic food. These findings thus offer theoretical and managerial implications for the use of age cues and motivational claims, specifically in promoting organic food.     

Values,socially conscious behaviour and consumption emotions as predictors of Canadians’ intent to buy fair trade products

Over the last two decades, a growing concern about ethical behaviour has been observed among consumers. Ethically minded consumers are more inclined towards the consumption of ethical goods, such as green products and fair trade (hereafter, ‘FT’) products, organic products and local products. Establishing the motives that predict FT consumption behaviour provides ground for understanding how consumers make purchase decisions. This research postulates that the intention of buying FT products is influenced by socially conscious behaviour, consumers’ values and emotions. The study, conducted among 268 Canadian consumers, shows that the high intention of buying FT products is linked to high levels of pride, enthusiasm, satisfaction, happiness and joy related to FT product consumption. The FT consumption experience provides consumers with hedonic gratification. It shows that the higher the levels of self‐centred, equality and social justice values are, the higher the intention of buying FT products. An increase in socially conscious behaviour generates an increase in intention of purchasing FT products. The research contributes to a preliminary analysis of the role of emotions in this field and calls for the development of cognitive‐affective models of purchase and consumption behaviour. Understanding the dimensions of hedonic values and the significance of pleasure experience is essential to the development of the theory and practices of FT consumption.     

Discovering India's three levels of luxury consumption: An exploratory research to find a conceptual framework

Luxury marketing research has moved from functional product attributes to a ‘democratized’ view in emerging economies. This seems to be based on the development of interactive and digital communications. Luxury research studies have historically focused on the brand's and marketer's perspectives. Thus, little attention has been given to the consumer's view of what we consider to be the individual drivers, i.e., the ‘inner and outer self’ and how that impacts luxury consumption. This paper presents a framework of luxury and self, using concepts such as interdependent or outer, independent or inner, and a new concept of ‘digital self’. These appear as three levels of luxury consumption, i.e., conspicuous, individual, and interactive. The interdependent self is influenced by the external motives and leads to conspicuous luxury behavior. Individual self is affected by internal motives and thus influences individual luxury consumption. Digital self affects the networks of motive and relationships and thereby impacts interactive luxury consumption and behavior.     

Do consumers care about food miles? An empirical analysis in France

We conducted two qualitative surveys to identify whether food miles, defined as the distance that foodstuff travels between the production location and the consumption marketplace, matter for French consumers. First, two focus groups with ‘conventional’ consumers show that distance is a multidimensional concept, both positively and negatively perceived, and that most consumers are not concerned by food miles and their subsequent environmental impact. Second, 10 face‐to‐face interviews with consumers of locally grown organic food demonstrate that these consumers purchase local food for other reasons than reducing ‘food miles’ and buy imported organic food in spite of increased food miles. We shed light on this situation using theoretical concepts from economics and psychology. Some implications for policymakers and marketers are stressed.     

Attitudes and consumption values of consumers of imported fruit in Guangzhou,China

Research on how Chinese consumption values influence Chinese consumer behaviour is rare. First, this paper examines consumers’ attitudes towards the physical and intangible attributes of imported fruit. Then, it identifies consumers’ consumption values and the role of these values in purchasing behaviour. Data were collected through point of sale intercept surveys conducted in Guangzhou, China. Latent consumption values of consumers were identified through factor analysis. K‐means clustering revealed four natural groupings of consumers, each group demonstrating different consumption values. The results demonstrated the primary importance of symbolic values and hedonic values in the decision to purchase imported fruit. Such consumption values may derive from the intermingling of Confucian and Western cultural values. Results from this study could help to better understand interrelationships among product attributes, consumption values and cultural values, and could make a significant contribution in developing strategies to market imported fruit in China.     

Studying food tastes among young adults using Bourdieu's theory

The purpose of this study was to study the relationship between social position and food tastes. The empirical data stem from a survey carried out in 1991 on 703 people aged 23–26 years. Bourdieu's theory of the relationship between social position and consumption was used as a theoretical framework. Bourdieu attacks the position often expressed by economists that consumers are similar in most respects except for their economic capital. He introduced the concept ‘cultural capital’ when describing different consumption practices and emphasizes the relationship between gender and food tastes. The social position variables in this study include economic and cultural capital, and gender. Participants were asked to evaluate exotic, healthy, filling, inexpensive and traditional food. Two dimensions of food orientations were observed: food as form and food as function. Economic capital was of importance concerning the costs of food and its filling functions. Groups rich in cultural capital were more interested in healthy and exotic food and less interested in filling food than those possessing less cultural capital. Women were more concerned about healthy food than men. Cultural capital had an independent effect when economic capital was constant.     

Organic as a Heuristic Cue: What Spanish Consumers Mean by Organic Foods

One of the strategies employed by companies to differentiate themselves from others, in the food market, has been to market organic products according to the assumption that environmental values are an important influence on people's behavior. However, studies of the behavior of organic food consumers show that there is some debate on this subject. Although some studies associate organic food consumption with motives and attitudes in which the environment plays a predominant role, a greater number conclude that the motives for consuming this type of food are basically egoistic (related to health, food safety, or the quality or flavor of the food). This can lead to problems in deciding the central thrust of the marketing strategy. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the meaning and interpretations placed on the term “organic,” and how they are integrated, as a way to explain consumption behavior. Qualitative research methods were adopted for this purpose. Four focus group sessions with different sociodemographic profiles, held in the cities of Madrid and Seville, in Spain, displayed two evident paradoxes, which could indicate that environmental motives are not important for consumers in this market. It is concluded that the term “organic” plays an important role as a heuristic cue to superiority, irrespective of the consumer's knowledge about the real features of organic food. Three alternative models are presented to explain consumer behavior. These results could be useful to food companies, largely in connection with positioning this type of product and with their communications policy.     

The influence of product and personal attributes on organic food marketing

The study adapts the theory of planned behaviour and proposes organic food-related attributes that constitute perceived behavioural control and individual attributes influence quality assessment and purchase intention. The study analyses these relationships separately for individuals who have purchased organic food and those who have not. Data were collected in two stages and conducted in both online and face-to-face formats. The findings show that surface food attributes in general have no significant influences on either quality assessment or purchase intention for both groups of consumers; whereas the attributes that are reflective of food safety and environment issues do. The latter explain additional variance in both quality assessment and purchase intention. Consumers’ purchase styles have significant moderation effects on product quality assessment and purchase intention in both groups. Implications are provided for researchers and practitioners to conclude the paper.     

Relationship between types of food choice motives and well‐being among young and middle‐aged Chinese adults

Food choice plays a vital role in people’s lives and well‐being, and this topic has received more research attention in recent years. The aims of the present research were to identify subgroups of participants who shared similar profiles of multiple motives for food choices, and examine differences across motive types on the well‐being of young and middle‐aged Chinese adults. Participants were 627 Chinese adults aged 18–58 years who completed questionnaire measures. The results of Latent Profile Analysis showed that based on the configurations among different motives for food choice, there were five profiles of food choice motives, corresponding to five types of Chinese adult consumers: unconcerned, mood oriented, weight control oriented, food enthusiast and health oriented. The food enthusiast consumers were more likely to include young adults with high‐income level and educational level, while the unconcerned consumers had a larger share of middle‐aged adults with low income. Results of ANOVA suggested that the types of food choice motives significantly predicted individuals’ well‐being. Specifically, the food enthusiast group had the highest level of well‐being, while the unconcerned group had the lowest level of well‐being. The other three groups had moderate levels of well‐being. The current study is the first to explore the potential influence of food choice motives on well‐being using a person‐centred approach, and the results have practical implications for public health authorities in developing effective interventions, for food companies in tailoring marketing campaigns and for individuals in optimizing food choices.