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1 – 10 of over 1000
Article
Publication date: 22 October 2018

Yun-Hee Kim

The purpose of this paper is to understand how identities drive customer values, attitudes toward organic foods and satisfaction, all of which influence world or mouth (WOM).

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to understand how identities drive customer values, attitudes toward organic foods and satisfaction, all of which influence world or mouth (WOM).

Design/methodology/approach

Questionnaire surveys were administered to the purchasers of organic foods. In total, 512 completed responses were obtained for data analysis.

Findings

Strongly defined social identity and role identity are significant antecedents of consumers’ health consciousness and socially responsible consumer behavior (SRCB). This finding explains why organic shoppers value their health and the environment (i.e. self- and others-oriented values). Additionally, health consciousness and SRCB significantly influence attitudes toward organic foods. The study reveals that attitudes toward organic foods positively influence organic shoppers’ satisfaction, and their satisfaction increases positive WOM. Finally, the moderating effects of involvement and mass media are examined. When organic shoppers are strongly involved with organic foods, their health consciousness has a more positive effect on their attitudes toward organic foods. However, organic shoppers’ involvement did not moderate the effect of SRCB on attitudes toward organic foods. Likewise, the mass media did not moderate the effect of health consciousness and SRCB on attitudes toward organic foods.

Originality/value

This study incorporates critical factors such as the antecedents of the customer values to develop a comprehensive model for understanding of organic shoppers’ consumption of organic foods.

Details

British Food Journal, vol. 121 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0007-070X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 16 December 2019

Muhammad Ahsan Sadiq, Balasundaram Rajeswari and Lubna Ansari

The purpose of the paper is to segment and profile the Indian shoppers in the context of organic foods in India. It proposes to use a healthy lifestyle (HL) as a segmenting…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of the paper is to segment and profile the Indian shoppers in the context of organic foods in India. It proposes to use a healthy lifestyle (HL) as a segmenting variable and to use a factor-cluster analysis approach to achieve the same. The current study is expected to add a substantial base to the segmentation literature in marketing.

Design/methodology/approach

Food stores in Indian metropolitan city Chennai are sampled, and data is collected in the form of a mall intercept survey method. In total, 441 usable structured questionnaires are filled by the respondents which are subjected to suitable statistical analysis.

Findings

Three significantly different consumer segments emerged from the given sample of respondents, which shows uniqueness concerning consumer’s, HL features, demographics and the variables of the theory of planned behavior (TPB).

Research limitations/implications

Clustering method used to segment the potential shoppers of organic foods is an exploratory technique only. It cannot be treated or generalized to the population like those of inferential techniques. The researcher suggested testing the same with a larger sample size and in a different context. It is limited to urban and suburban facets of the metropolitan city in India.

Originality/value

The study will be helpful to marketers and decision makers to target the potential organic foods consumers.

Details

South Asian Journal of Business Studies, vol. 9 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2398-628X

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 21 December 2010

Julie V. Stanton and Deirdre T. Guion

Purpose – This study explores U.S. consumer attitudes toward organic foods in order to demonstrate that multiple and meaningful segments can be identified based on attitudes and…

Abstract

Purpose – This study explores U.S. consumer attitudes toward organic foods in order to demonstrate that multiple and meaningful segments can be identified based on attitudes and beliefs rather than demographics and that a more targeted marketing strategy could likely create a better fit with consumer wants and needs.

Methodology – Q-methodology is employed, in part to demonstrate its usefulness for segmentation purposes.

Findings – Six meaningful segments of consumers are generated based on attitudes toward organic foods: Health Enthusiasts, Organic Idealists, Hoban's Hogwashers, Unengaged Shoppers, Bargain Shoppers, and Cynical/Distrustfuls. These groups vary in attitudes toward organic food, and despite conventional wisdom, exhibit a reasonable match between attitude and purchase behavior. Segments are also generated for viewpoints toward conventionally grown foods, revealing that consumers do not simply hold binary positions (pro-organic, anticonventional), but instead consider each food type on its respective merits. Positioning and media choice strategies are considered for each organic food segment.

Originality – This chapter distinguishes between different types of consumers of organic food by using Q-methodology, with the result being a rich, detailed description of the values and preferences of each group. With these descriptions, the organic food industry can better align its marketing efforts with the priorities of individual consumer groups, rather than their simplistic demographics as are commonly utilized. The chapter also offers a unique perspective on the attitude–behavior gap, revealing that when the attitude is understood in greater detail, the gap appears to disappear.

Details

Research in Consumer Behavior
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-0-85724-444-4

Article
Publication date: 5 February 2018

Almir Peštek, Emir Agic and Merima Cinjarevic

The purpose of this paper is to obtain empirical understanding of organic food buyers in the context of emergent organic food market (i.e. Bosnia and Herzegovina) by using a…

2164

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to obtain empirical understanding of organic food buyers in the context of emergent organic food market (i.e. Bosnia and Herzegovina) by using a segmentation approach.

Design/methodology/approach

A self-administrated online survey was carried out among organic food buyers (n=202) using the snowball sampling technique. Measurement items were mainly adapted from the prior studies.

Findings

The authors analysed the heterogeneity of organic food buyers with latent class model. Four distinct latent classes (i.e. segments) of organic food buyers were identified. Those segments were named as enthusiastic social-seekers, enthusiastic moralists, hostile seldom shoppers, and hostile heavy shoppers.

Originality/value

Though the study was exploratory, the identified segments of organic food buyers can enhance our knowledge about differing characteristics of organic food buyers in the context of the country where the organic food industry is in the early stages of development. The findings of this study will give organic food producers and marketers a much better framework for making product, pricing, distribution and marketing communications decision. Moreover, the identification of organic food consumer profiles will provide an insight into how policymakers should tailor their public policy and strategies to expand the size of the organic food market.

Details

British Food Journal, vol. 120 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0007-070X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 August 2005

Susanne Padel and Carolyn Foster

The purpose of the paper is to explore the values that underlie consumers purchasing decisions of organic food.

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of the paper is to explore the values that underlie consumers purchasing decisions of organic food.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper draws on data from focus groups and laddering interviews with a total of 181 regular and occasional consumers of organic food that were contrasted with survey results of other studies.

Findings

The results show that most consumers associate organic at first with vegetables and fruit and a healthy diet with organic products. Fruit and vegetables are also the first and in many cases only experience with buying organic product. The decision‐making process is complex and the importance of motives and barriers may vary between product categories.

Research limitations/implications

While further research would be required to facilitate full understanding of the consumer‐decision making process with regard to organic produce, this work indicates the complexity of the process and the likelihood of variation between different product categories. Future research should consider tradeoffs that consumers make between values and product as well as consumer segmentation.

Originality/value

Prior research concerning the consumer decision‐making process with regard to organically produced food is limited. Theses findings have implications for future sector‐based communications to consumers and, potentially, for product development and labelling.

Details

British Food Journal, vol. 107 no. 8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0007-070X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 3 April 2018

Marija Ham, Ana Pap and Marina Stanic

The purpose of this paper is to examine the direction and strength of the influence of inherent factors of the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) and to extend a model with the…

1458

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the direction and strength of the influence of inherent factors of the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) and to extend a model with the variable “uniqueness-seeking lifestyle” to better explain the variance in the intention to purchase organic food and the referent actual behaviour.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors empirically investigated what drives consumers to purchase organic food using structural equation modelling in AMOS. The research was based on an in-person survey carried out on a convenient sample of 411 primary household shoppers in Croatia.

Findings

The study was able to capture not only the influence of inherent factors in TPB and the extension variable (all proposed constructs were shown to have a significant positive influence on intention, and intention had a significant positive influence on actual behaviour), but also the indirect and mediation effects of the variables within the model, which explain 87 per cent of the variance in intention and 21 per cent of the variance in actual behaviour.

Originality/value

This study provides empirical evidence of the role that desired uniqueness plays in a situation involving the purchase of organic food and responds to the requests of many researchers to investigate beyond intention and to try to identify what influences actual behaviour. This study proposes a new way of measuring actual purchases by asking a respondent to consider their actual purchase in different product categories. Furthermore, this research proposes measuring intention as a latent variable that consists of the variable “willingness to pay more” as well as the “commitment” to the decision regardless of any perceived obstacles.

Details

British Food Journal, vol. 120 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0007-070X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 25 February 2014

Fabian Buder, Corinna Feldmann and Ulrich Hamm

The sales volume of organic food products in Germany has been increasing consistently over recent years, yet only a small number of households is responsible for the majority of…

6664

Abstract

Purpose

The sales volume of organic food products in Germany has been increasing consistently over recent years, yet only a small number of households is responsible for the majority of organic purchases. Even these so-called “regular” organic food buyers spend, on average, less than half of their budget on organic products. The present study aims to analyse the reasons why these consumers do not purchase particular products in organic quality, in order to uncover product gaps and purchase barriers.

Design/methodology/approach

The investigation is based on computer-aided, personal interviews among regular organic food buyers, which were conducted in retail and organic food stores across Germany. Altogether, 817 interviews were carried out. To minimize regional variation in the data-set, stores were selected from north, south, west and east Germany in equal proportions.

Findings

The most important reasons for not purchasing organic products among regular organic food consumers were price, insufficient availability, and the quality of the product. Since product-specific analysis was carried out in this study, the results indicate that the relevance of reasons varies from product to product and according to shop types.

Originality/value

To the authors' knowledge, no research to date has dealt with an analysis of product-specific purchase barriers in the context of regular organic food buyers. Furthermore, in contrast with other studies, a preceding analysis of panel data identifying product groups with the lowest organic market shares builds the basis for a well-grounded survey. The explorative character of the study results in unique findings on consumer purchase behaviour related to specific products in a variety of predefined product categories.

Details

British Food Journal, vol. 116 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0007-070X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 2 August 2013

Heike Klöckner, Nina Langen and Monika Hartmann

Country of Origin (COO) labeling has been shown in several studies to be an important extrinsic cue for consumers in their quality evaluation of food products such as olive oil…

1137

Abstract

Purpose

Country of Origin (COO) labeling has been shown in several studies to be an important extrinsic cue for consumers in their quality evaluation of food products such as olive oil, wine or tea. COO has not been discussed in the context of pepper; however pepper's quality highly depends on the heritage. This paper aims to explore this aspect.

Design/methodology/approach

The study was conducted in an organic grocery store in Bonn, Germany. The first part of the face to face interviews at the point‐of‐sale were carried out for understanding consumers' attitudes towards different extrinsic quality cues. The second part covered the product‐country‐image of pepper as well as consumers' knowledge regarding COO and pepper quality. Third, the contingent valuation method is used to analyze organic consumers' willingness to pay (WTP). Fourth a blind‐tasting of black pepper from different origins and production methods was conducted.

Findings

The study reveals that organic consumers are able to experience taste differences due to COO though only a minority expects those taste differences. Thus, also concerned and involved consumers are not sufficiently informed on COO information to rely on their purchase decision of pepper. As a result consumers are not willing to pay a significant higher price for COO labeled pepper.

Originality/value

This study is the first which combines face‐to‐face interviews regarding attitudes, image and knowledge with a blind tasting of pepper and an investigation of consumers' WTP for pepper from different origins and processing characteristics.

Article
Publication date: 7 November 2016

Manika Rödiger, Sabine Plaßmann and Ulrich Hamm

The purpose of this paper is to gain insights into organic consumers’ price sensitivity by investigating price knowledge, willingness-to-pay and real purchase decision.

3327

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to gain insights into organic consumers’ price sensitivity by investigating price knowledge, willingness-to-pay and real purchase decision.

Design/methodology/approach

Organic food consumers’ price knowledge, willingness-to-pay and real purchase decision were examined in a comprehensive field study with 642 respondents. An innovative method was used to collect data for products that were truly relevant to the respondents: before entering the shop, respondents were asked about the items on their shopping list, the prices they expected to find and the maximum prices they were willing to pay. If respondents stated a willingness-to-pay value below the actual store price, they were approached again after shopping to verify their purchase decision.

Findings

The great majority of respondents failed to estimate the correct store price. The deviation between the estimated price and the actual store price was on average 19.9 per cent. The respondents were willing to pay on average 52.7 per cent above store prices. It was revealed that in 67.0 per cent of the cases, respondents bought a product even though the store price was higher than the willingness-to-pay they stated upon entering the store.

Practical implications

Category-specific insights into price knowledge and willingness-to-pay of organic consumers might be used for price differentiation strategies.

Originality/value

To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to investigate organic consumers’ item- and store-specific price knowledge, willingness-to-pay and real purchase decision in a single-source approach.

Details

British Food Journal, vol. 118 no. 11
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0007-070X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 20 July 2021

Arnold Japutra, Murilo Vidal-Branco, Elena Higueras-Castillo and Sebastian Molinillo

The aim of this study is to analyze the drivers of health consciousness related to millennials’ organic food consumption and the impact of health consciousness on millennials’…

Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this study is to analyze the drivers of health consciousness related to millennials’ organic food consumption and the impact of health consciousness on millennials’ willingness to pay premium through a cross-cultural study.

Design/methodology/approach

A comparative analysis was conducted in two countries (Brazil vs Spain). Based on the stimuli-organism-response framework, the authors present a conceptual model to investigate the relationship between cognitive and affective stimuli (i.e. natural content, value for money, sensorial appeal, price fairness, trend, emotional appeal and food safety concern) and customers’ health consciousness with the mediating effect of food safety concern and their impact on the customers’ response (i.e. willingness to pay premium). A survey and a structural equation approach are applied.

Findings

The results show that cognitive and affective stimuli and food safety concern improve millennials’ health consciousness and, consequently, their willingness to pay a premium price for organic food. The results present a high validity correlation of constructs with significant differences between the two countries.

Originality/value

The originality of this study lies in the comparison of drivers of health consciousness and their impact on organic food consumption among millennials from two countries (developed vs developing). This work contributes to the study of organic food consumption with an analysis of the impact of seven drivers on health consciousness and its relationship with willingness to pay premium in a cross-comparison of Brazilian and Spanish millennials.

Details

British Food Journal, vol. 124 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0007-070X

Keywords

1 – 10 of over 1000