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With the introduction of the mandatory European Union (EU) organic logo for all organic food products in 2010, the European Commission aimed at fostering the internal organic food market. This needs consumers’ knowledge of the logo. According to earlier research consumers’ knowledge of the EU organic logo is low. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to elicit consumers’ attitudes towards organic certification and labelling and to develop recommendations on how to improve consumers’ knowledge of the EU organic logo.

By means of an online survey with 3,000 participants in six European countries, knowledge of the logo and attitudes towards organic farming and European labelling, as well as organic food purchase behaviour and socio-demographic indicators were elicited. Factor and cluster analysis based on several statements on the test persons’ attitudes towards organic farming and corresponding EU legislation were conducted in order to segment consumers.

The results indicate that knowledge of the logo is low. Only about 15 per cent of all respondents knew its meaning. Four clusters of consumers could be identified: “Committed organics”, “Pragmatic organics”, “Organic sceptics” and Organic disinterested’. With reference to the EU organic legislation’s aim of promoting the organic market, particularly “Organic sceptics” should be addressed by emphasising the trustworthiness of the organic certification and labelling system.

Segmenting consumers according to their attitude towards organic farming, its labelling and certification allows for targeted and efficient communication and organic market development.

Organic food consumption is growing, increasing the need for studies investigating the importance of organic certification labels in emerging countries. The research aims to identify the influence of certification labels and fresh organic produce categories (greenery, vegetable or fruit) on consumer trust and purchase intention.

An online experimental survey 3 × 3 was administered among 349 Brazilian consumers. Certification label and fresh organic produce category were designated as independent variables and manipulated to explore consumer trust and purchase intention. The authors performed a multivariate covariance analysis (MANCOVA) to analyze the data.

Results show that the certification label does not directly affect the dependent variables. It acts as a moderator and indirectly affects both consumer trust and purchase intention. Moreover, depending on the fresh organic produce category considered (greenery, vegetable or fruit), consumer trust changes. Sociodemographic characteristics, age and household income are also important. Finally, the greater the purchase frequency (the main predictor of the model), the greater the purchase intention and consumer trust.

The study contributes to deepen and expand studies involving organic food and to pave the way for future studies that aim to investigate the importance of certification labels of organic foods for consumers.

The mechanism by which organic labelling affects consumers’ willingness to pay (WTP) for wine is not yet fully understood. Organic labelling not only transports information about environmental benefits, but may also influence consumers’ perceptions of quality and taste. The purpose of this paper is to separate the information effect from the perception effect of an organic label on WTP.

Taste and quality perceptions of 110 German consumers and their WTP for white and red wines were collected in a second-price auction in conjunction with a blind tasting. Each measure was recorded under two experimental conditions: with and without organic labelling. Serial mediation analysis is used to identify the information and perception effect of an organic label on WTP. A moderating effect of commitment to organic consumption is considered.

Wines marketed as organic are perceived as tastier and of higher quality and value. The organic labelling effect is stronger for committed organic consumers. Mediation analysis confirms perceived better taste as a key driver for WTP, especially for less committed organic consumers. The findings highlight perceptions of wine quality as the main mediator through which organic labelling affects WTP for red wine and for committed organic consumers.

This paper adds to the literature by decomposing the signalling mechanism of organic labelling and by emphasising the role of individual characteristics in determining its magnitude and pathways. Implications from a marketing and wine industry’s perspective are discussed.

The purpose of the present study is to examine the effect of organic food certification labels of different third-party verification institutions on consumers' choice of organic food in terms of willingness-to-pay (WTP) using cue utilization theory.

The study conducted an experiment in which organic rice and organic certification labels were presented to 360 valid participants.

With different organic rice labels issued by various third-party verification institutions, including (1) foundations, (2) associations, (3) university certification centers and (4) private businesses, results indicate that consumers had different preferences and WTP for certain labels. The institutions preferred organic food labels issued by non-profit organizations. In addition, consumers showed different WTP as a result of different purchase motivations (e.g. health vs environmental protection).

These results imply that consumers might not have confidence in the organic labels issued by associations and private institutions. Therefore, different types of certification institutions can have significantly different impacts on consumers' WTP. The study further proposes that the extrinsic attributes of food products (i.e. the cues used in making a purchase decision) must be incongruent with the image of third-party certification institutions in order to develop more efficient communication of product information and to encourage consumers to give positive comments regarding organic food.

Unlike some developed countries, Chinese food safety certification system is multi-level including organic/green/hazard-free certifications. The purpose of this paper is to assess consumers’ preferences for tomatoes carrying these different labels.

Data used in this study came from choice experiments (CEs) conducted in Shandong province, China. Based on experiment data, a random parameter logit model was established to analyze consumers’ willingness-to-pay (WTP).

Consumers’ WTP for organic tomatoes was higher than that for hazard-free and green-certified tomatoes. Furthermore, consumers’ WTP for the European Union (EU) organic label was higher than that for the Chinese organic label, whereas a non-significant difference existed between the levels of consumers’ WTP for hazard-free and green-certified tomatoes. Consumers with different food safety risk perception (FSRP) had large differences in WTP, whereas those with varying environmental awareness (ENAW) had similar levels of WTP.

This contribution is the first research which focuses on consumers’ WTP for EU organic label, Chinese organic label, green label, or hazard-free label on tomato through CEs in China. Furthermore, the influence of consumers’ FSRP and ENAW on their preference was analyzed through a random parameter logit model.

This study aims to examine the moderating role of private label product type (organic vs non-organic) on the relationships between trust transfer, price fairness, perceived value and brand loyalty.

The empirical data were gathered with the structured questionnaire from two groups of respondents who had previously purchased organic and conventional private label products. The direct, mediating and moderating effects were analysed with structural equation modelling.

The findings confirmed the trust transfer between the retail store and private label brand. The results revealed that both store trust and trust in private label brand positively influence price fairness and which, in turn, elicits higher perceived value. Perceived value was also found to influence private label brand loyalty. The multi-group analyses revealed that the magnitude of the trust transfer was accentuated by organic food private label. Furthermore, the relation between trust in private label brand, price fairness and perceived value was also greater in organic food private label.

This study utilized the trust transfer theory and equity theory as a theoretical foundation to provide novel insights into the moderating influence of private label product type on the relationships between the antecedents of private label brand loyalty. The results of the research can help retailers to develop successful private label brand marketing strategies.

The purpose of this paper is to determine consumers’ willingness to pay (WTP) for tomatoes carrying different organic labels.

The data were collected from 878 randomly selected consumers in Shandong Province, China, using the Becker-DeGroot-Marschak auction experiment. The authors used the multivariate probit (MVP) model to analyze the factors influencing consumer preferences.

Results indicated that consumers’ WTP for tomatoes carrying the European Union (EU) organic label was significantly higher than those carrying the Chinese organic label. However, no significant difference was found between consumers’ WTP for tomatoes carrying the EU organic label and that for tomatoes carrying both Chinese and EU labels. The results of the MVP model analysis demonstrated that the consumers with different individual characteristics had heterogeneous preferences for organic labels. Food safety consciousness and organic knowledge both had positive effects on consumers’ WTP, meanwhile, environmental awareness had no prominent effect on consumer preferences.

This research is of academic value and of value to policy makers and suppliers. To satisfy diverse market requirements, governments, and manufacturers should consider consumer preferences for different certification labels in strategy development.

This paper aims to investigate inferences consumers make about organic and all-natural labeled products in both food and non-food contexts using the health halo effect as a theoretical foundation.

This paper uses three experiments to test the effects of organic and all-natural labeling across three product types, food, personal hygiene and household cleaning, while controlling for environmental attitudes.

The results of the experiments in the context of food, personal hygiene and household cleaning products suggest that both organic and all-natural labeling produce halo effects. Distinct findings are presented across the three product types.

Findings indicate that consumers may make unwarranted inferences about both organic and all-natural labeled products and demonstrates that the health halo effect is a potentially robust phenomenon, pervasive across a diverse array of products. This research used a crowdsourcing platform for sample recruitment. Future research should validate the results of these experiments with other sample types.

This research suggests that consumers may make similar unwarranted inferences for diverse products bearing organic and all-natural labels. These inferences are particularly intriguing given the differing regulatory requirements for the labels

Organic and all-natural labels are ubiquitous in both food and non-food products. However, research on either label primarily exists in a food context and has not directly compared the labels. Understanding the inferences consumers make based on the labels across product types is imperative for both marketing and public policy.

While research shows that organic labels are perceived positively for most food products, the findings are more ambiguous for wine. This may be due to the complexity of the product. Accordingly, the labelling effect might be influenced by people's prior knowledge of wines and their attitudes towards organic wines and thus be more pronounced for certain consumer groups. Providing insights into those moderators could help to steer people towards sustainable wine consumption. Therefore, this paper aims to investigate the effect of organic labelling on consumers' liking of, and their willingness to pay (WTP) for white wine, and the role of potential moderators.

A wine tasting experiment was conducted using a within-subjects design (n = 214). The mediating role of expected liking and the moderating roles of subjective knowledge and attitude towards organic wine were analysed using the MEMORE macro in SPSS.

The results do not confirm an overall positive halo effect of labelling on liking of organic wine. Nevertheless, a positive halo effect on actual liking was observed for those respondents who have a positive attitude towards organic wine. Furthermore, an overall positive effect of organic labelling on WTP was found. Mediation effects could not be confirmed.

This study used an experimental design that considers not only expected liking but also actual liking and WTP for organic wines. Using a moderation-mediation framework helps to better understand consumers' quality evaluation and WTP for organic wine. Finally, it could be shown that the organic halo is more complex for the product category of wine than others have previously stated.

The organic food sold in China can bear organic labels from different countries/regions. The purpose of this paper is to assess the trust and preferences of consumers for tomatoes carrying these different labels.

The data came from real choice experiments conducted in Shandong Province, China. A mixed logit model was used to analyze consumer willingness to pay (WTP).

Results indicated that, among the four organic labels considered in this study, the highest WTP was expressed for organic label from the European Union, followed by Hong Kong’s organic label, Japanese organic label and, lastly, by the Chinese mainland organic label. Consumer trust has a positive effect on their WTPs for the four organic labels. Providing consumers with information on organic can significantly lift their WTPs, and reduce the gaps between WTPs for different organic labels.

This research is of academic value and of value to food suppliers. International food marketers are recommended to equip their products with proper organic labels and initiate additional consumer education.