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Important socioeconomic changes have been undergone due to the international economic crisis. In Catalonia (Spain), political changes towards independentism also occurred within the same period. The purpose of this paper is to explore the consumers’ wine preferences in Catalonia in two different scenarios. In particular, the authors have focussed the interest in those preferences regarding the regional origin of the wine.

Data were elicited from two identical discrete choice experiments performed in two times: before (2008) and during the economic crisis (2010) in Catalonia, Spain.

The results imply that the external common circumstances may have had a homogenising influence in consumer choices by decreasing the level of randomness of consumers’ selection. Consumers’ preferences for a Catalan origin were enhanced during the crisis, while price became the most important attribute.

Ideally, the participants involved in both experiments would have been the same. Unfortunately, this was not possible to maintain and it is one of the limitations of this study. The authors are also aware that other non-controlled variables may have also played a role and the conclusions that are driven should be taken carefully.

This paper contributes to the literature of the discrete choice modelling using the recently developed Generalized Multinomial Logit Model. To the knowledge this is the first application in the literature of wine preferences to measure the impact of the contextual changes (economic and political) in Catalonia (Spain).

This special issue of the Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, entitled “Business, Industrial Marketing and Uncertainty”, presents selected extended studies that were presented at the European Academy of Management and Business Economics Conference (AEDEM 2012).

The main focus of this year was reflected in the slogan: “Creating new opportunities in an uncertain environment”. The objective was to show the importance that uncertainty has in our current world, strongly affected by many complexities and modern developments, especially through the new technological advances.

One fundamental reason that explains the economic crisis is that the government and companies were not well prepared for these critical situations. And the main justification for this is that they did not have enough information. Otherwise, they would have tried any possible strategy to avoid the crisis. Usually, uncertainty is defined as the situation with unknown information in the environment.

From a theoretical perspective, the problem here is that enterprises and governments should assess the information and the uncertainty in a more appropriate way. Usually, they have some studies in this direction, but many times, it is not enough, as it was proved in the last economic crisis.

The development of the short food supply chain (SFSC) is one of the issues of the current agri-food systems. Consumers are re-connecting the food they eat with the farming process and are increasingly asking for fresh, seasonal and traceable food products from known producer source. The purpose of this paper is to analyse consumers’ opinions towards the SFSC and willingness to pay (WTP) for local honeys in Mar del Plata, Argentina before and after a hedonic evaluation test.

In an incentive compatible approach, using real purchasing scenarios, two non-hypothetical discrete choice experiments were applied, accounting for the impact of the SFSC understanding and hedonic evaluation on consumers’ WTP.

Results showed that consumers’ WTP, a premium for local honey products, is conditioned to specific quality cues and the global sensory acceptance. Consumers with high level of agreement with the social and environmental roles of the SFSC were more quality demanding and exhibited higher WTP towards the locally produced honeys. The development of local market by re-connecting producers and consumers, allowing for in-site tasting, has a strong implication for the structure of the honey added-value chain due to the potential role that may play in satisfying consumers’ preference and needs.

The authors measured consumers’ opinions towards the SFSC and analyse their impact on consumer WTP for honey product by including real purchasing scenarios and hedonic evaluation test, to reduce the hypothetical bias of the traditional surveys. Questionnaires were completed in a controlled laboratory environment for with real product and real money.

Focused on the olive oil sector in Chile which is a non-traditional market (both in production and consumption), the purpose of this paper is to determine the implicit value of the most relevant attributes of olive oil on the final price charged by supermarkets to consumers through the hedonic pricing methodology.

Field work was carried out between September and October 2012 in 12 supermarkets belonging to the four most important Chilean retail chains. A log-linear price-attribute function was used to estimate the hedonic price function. The sample included 248 observations olive oil prices available to consumers in the leading supermarkets in the city of Chillán (Chile).

The model estimation results led to the observation that the attributes that most positively influenced final price are oil acidity level, tin can container of imported oil, and origin. On the other hand, the attributes that most negatively influenced final consumer price are retailer house brand and plastic container.

A limitation of this study is associated with the geographic area where it was carried out, that is, the city of Chillán in the Bío-Bío Region, which is the second largest region and accounts for 12 per cent of the total population. Further research should include other cities such as Santiago (capital), Concepción, Curicó and Valparaíso.

This study can be considered as a first approximation of a hedonic pricing model estimation for olive oil in non-traditional markets like Chile, which is considered an emerging market.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the market potential of a locally produced and high quality food product (i.e. white bean “Mongeta Ganxet” (MG)) from Catalonia, Spain. Consumers' willingness to pay (WTP) for the product is elicited using a non‐hypothetical economic experiment and then the sensitivity of WTP values is analyzed with regard to additional information provided to participants that includes reference prices, leaflets and tasting. Finally, a sample‐selection model is estimated to assess the factors that significantly affect consumers' WTP for the product.

To elicit the willingness to pay a premium for the local food product, 90 subjects were invited to participate in a random nth price experimental auction. Before auctioning the product, participants were asked to complete a questionnaire about consumer attitudes and purchase habits.

Only 7 percent of participants are willing to pay a price higher than the minimum price from which the MG product may be purchased directly from a producer or the local producing market. Also, it was found that providing reference prices of substitute products (both conventional and alternative high quality white beans) positively affects WTP for the MG. Interestingly, however, provision of information on organoleptic, nutritional and cooking characteristics of the MG and product tasting do not significantly influence WTP. Finally, the level of consumption, the degree of knowledge about the product and the participants' previous experience increase the purchasing intention for the MG.

In contrast to traditional market research studies that use hypothetical methods, the authors use non‐hypothetical elicitation mechanism to elicit consumers' valuation for an important local food product in Catalonia, Spain. Since actual products and cash were used in the experiments, the authors provided the respondents with an incentive to reveal their true preferences and valuation for the product of interest. The authors also tested the effect of provision of certain types of information on WTP and analyzed the factors that significantly influence consumers' WTP for the product.

Focussing on Latin American immigrants in Barcelona, the objective of this paper is twofold: to measure their degree of ethnical identity; and to analyse the relationship between food habits and their ethnical identity.

Face‐to‐face interviews with a representative sample of Latin American immigrants in the Metropolitan area of Barcelona are undertaken. Ethnic identity is measured using the MEIM scale, which combines aspects from the social identity and personal development theories. Finally, a Multinomial Logit Model is used to identify the relationship between food habits and ethnical identity.

Results indicate that the higher the level of ethnic identity and feeling of belonging of immigrants in Catalonia, the greater the persistence of dietary habits from the country of origin. Contrasting with results from other studies, no correlation is found between the persistence of dietary habits and either the length of time spent in Spain or the level of integration into the Catalan culture (measured through use of the Catalan language).

Findings should logically be interpreted within the context of the population and sample studied. Further research should be addressed to analyze other immigrant groups such as Muslims, Asians and Eastern Europeans.

This study explores the strength of traditional food habits of immigrants living in a foreign cultural environment and the role of ethnic identity in contributing to this strength. While past literature focussing on this topic is based on atheoretical and partial indicators to measure ethnic identity, this study provides evidence on the usefulness of using a theory‐based and multidimensional measure. The behaviour of Latin American immigrants in Spain is used as a case study.

In explaining the mechanisms that explicate individuals' acceptance of genetically modified (GM) food, one mechanism that has been largely ignored in the growing body of current research lies in the influence of “meta (wider) attitudes” such as the general attitudes towards science. This article, drawing on survey evidence from Spain, aims to examine the causal relationship between attitudes towards science and attitudes towards GM food.

The research employs structural equation modeling and explores this association by using sub‐samples made of regional groups that have GM agriculture.

The results suggest specific behavioral mechanisms in explaining GM consumer attitudes involving attitudes towards science whilst medical and food applications appear to have no (or mild) significant connection in the formation of attitudes towards GM food. Significant influence from age and previously characterized attitude in the formation of structural models is found.

The article has implications for a better understanding of the behavioral mechanisms behind the acceptance of GM food.

This article puts forward several hypotheses on the influence of general meta‐attitudes (towards science and technology) underpinning behavioral explanations for consumer judgments of acceptance towards GM food.

Organic production and its consumption have grown tremendously in recent years. However, in the case of Spain demand still represents only 1 per cent of food expenditure. The main obstacle seems to be that organic food faces problems related to consumers’ acceptability; lack of food availability and seasonality make it difficult to establish appropriate retailing outlets; also, higher costs of production and retailer margins jointly may result in higher prices than consumers are willing to pay for organic food attributes. Research studies have mostly elicited consumers’ willingness‐to‐pay (WTP) for organic food through contingent valuation. Alternatively, explores, using an experimental second‐price sealed‐bid auction, the value that consumers place on organic food and the effect that information included on ecolabel and physical appearance have on their WTP. This methodological approach involves the use of real money and real products, which, in fact, may overcome the hypothetical bias detected in previous studies. Also discusses the effect on WTP of consumers’ demographic characteristics and lifestyles, as well as attitudes towards food safety and buying behaviour. Results show, that as more accurate information is offered, consumers’ acceptability of labelled organic food products increases; and that WTP is highly correlated with consumption habits variables.

Examines and compares wine attribute preferences within and between two different Spanish regions, Aragón and Navarra, by means of the weighted least squares approach for conjoint analysis. Uses three attributes in the conjoint design: price, origin and grape vintage year. Among these attributes, Navarra consumers assigned more importance to the origin of the wine, followed by price and grape vintage year. Aragón consumers also considered origin as the most important attribute, followed, in this case, by grape vintage year and price. Comparing the different attribute levels, consumers from Aragón preferred locally produced and cheaper wines, while consumers from Navarra preferred Rioja and more expensive wines. Identifies and characterizes four wine consumer segments. Describes how a market simulation experiment was designed to simulate market shares of three alternative wine profiles.