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The COVID-19 pandemic is not a foodborne infectious disease, but it has dramatically impacted food safety practices worldwide due to its potential for transmission through contaminated surfaces and food. Accordingly, the Omicron variant seems to have affected food-related activities and behaviours and disturbed food supply networks since its appearance in November 2021. Hence, this paper aims to assess how the Omicron variant impacted food safety knowledge, attitudes and practices amongst adult consumers in five countries: Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro and Russia.

The study is based on an online survey. The questionnaire was developed and revised based on previous research on the impact of previous COVID-19 waves on food-related activities in several countries. The questionnaire was distributed through the SurveyMonkey platform from January 15 to February 25, 2022. It consisted of 29 multiple-choice and one-option questions organised into three sections. A total of 6,483 valid responses were received. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 25.0 was used to analyse the survey results.

According to the survey findings, food safety practices evolved during the Omicron wave in the studied countries. Firstly, less than half of the sample used a face mask whilst purchasing food. Secondly, regarding food safety knowledge, the survey results suggest that there is still a lack of knowledge in the studied countries. Thirdly, the survey indicates a lack of knowledge amongst the respondents regarding food safety attitudes. For instance, more than a third of the sample (34.4%) are unsure whether the COVID-19 virus can be transmitted through food. These results are surprising and alarming, especially considering that our sample has a higher education than the population of the studied countries.

The main limitation of this research is the sample bias. Survey participants were randomly chosen, enrolled voluntarily and not rewarded. As a result, the questionnaire was self-administered and completed exclusively by people motivated by an interest in the topic. Consequently, our survey does not represent the general population of the studied countries. People with a high degree of education and women, for example, were overrepresented in our sample.

This study is unique in that it is the first to gather information and analyse people’s perceptions of the effects of the Omicron variant on food safety. As a result, the findings of this survey offer a solid basis for future investigations into the impact of the pandemic on food safety in the Balkan region and Russia. This study can help further understand the changes during the COVID-19 pandemic. It provides crucial insights that can be used to guide future decision-making and policy development regarding improving food safety practices. This and other future studies will be a foundation for organisational and government readiness for future shocks, crises and pandemics. The effects of the present Ukrainian conflict on agricultural systems and supply chains throughout the globe (e.g. increased food prices) show that this is timely, urgent and highly required.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate, through a quantitative research, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on online food delivery in Italy and Poland, as well as to ascertain whether or not, under a consumer perspective, respondents consider such method as impacting on the environment and on food waste.

An empirical survey of consumers at Italian and Polish Universities was conducted using the online survey computer-assisted web interview (CAWI) method.

Results reveal that the COVID-19 pandemic has modified consumer habits in both Italy and Poland, though the researched sample does not have full knowledge of these changes. Moreover, the study has proved once again that online food delivery may impact negatively on the environment and the food waste issue.

This paper fills a gap in literature since, by the authors' knowledge, it is the first quantitative study analysing Italian and Polish young consumers as to online food delivery habits and their approach to sustainability aspects of this purchasing method.

This study aims to provide insights into wine consumers in Hong Kong and Mainland China, and the diversity of their behavior, by investigating their motivations, consumption and purchasing behavior and segmenting the sample based on wine knowledge and frequency of consumption to identify three distinct clusters that are then profiled.

Data was collected through an online survey of wine consumers of ethnic Chinese origin residing in Mainland China and Hong Kong, using two methods of recruitment (a convenience sample from wine-related databases, a panel survey undertaken by an international market research firm). The final sample comprised 477 respondents, about equally divided among Mainland Chinese and Hong Kong wine consumers. Analysis of the data using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences for Windows (SPSS) 29 included a series of descriptive analyses, followed by a two-step cluster analysis using an Euclidean distance method.

Wine knowledge and frequency of wine consumption were relatively higher within the sample as a whole than previous studies, but three distinct consumer segments are evident. There is evidence of a democratization of wine consumption, and a greater focus on wine consumption for enjoyment in relaxed and informal settings. rather than consumption driven by health and status, occurring primarily in commercial or business settings. The dominance of red wine in this market is also declining, and intrinsic cues – specifically, prior experience of the wine – are becoming important in wine purchase decisions.

This study uses a broad sample of wine consumers to identify trends in wine consumption patterns and motivations, and purchase decision-making behavior, of Mainland Chinese and Hong Kong wine consumers. The identification of three clusters of wine consumers offers both points of comparison with previous segmentation research globally and within China, whilst also identifying scope for further research.

The purpose of this research is to segment Pakistani consumers based on their insights and preference towards mango quality and safety attributes and to demographically characterise each segment so that effective value chain (VC) development strategies may be developed.

Factor and cluster analysis were applied to data collected from 400 mango buyers randomly selected from seven different cities in Pakistan.

This empirical study identified four distinct segments of mango consumers in Pakistan. The diversity of consumers' perception was mainly based on four factors: food safety, price and marketing, physical quality and shelf life. Based on their demographic characteristics and preferences for product attributes, the identified consumer segments can be classified as “traditional consumers,” “safety-conscious consumers,” price and market-sensitive consumers,” quality-sensitive consumers” and “perfect consumers.” This knowledge is useful to develop mango VCs that target specific consumer segments based on their chain level abilities and aspirations.

This study offers actors of mango VCs an enhanced understanding of consumer segments based on their perceived preferences towards the quality and safety attributes of mangoes, which would help VC actors design and develop business strategies that deliver value specific to each consumer segments. Findings of this study could also be useful to policy makers to design extension strategies that promote food safety and quality standards in mango VCs. Moreover, this study presents yet another case of consumer segmentation study for VC development in developing countries, adding a stepping stone towards a general VC theory development.

The findings stimulate the momentum of the growing literature, particularly in the developing countries on consumer insights and behaviour toward fruit quality and safety attributes of mangoes.

Background: Family violence (FV) is a significant problem that has a bidirectional link with mental health functioning. This research aimed to investigate family violence screening and response practices in a Victorian public adult mental health service, NorthWestern Mental Health, from the consumer perspective.

Methods: A prospective, cross-sectional, electronic consumer survey was created, utilising the Royal Melbourne Hospital Patient Survey FV screening and response tool. Data were collected over a two-month time period, via iPad. Clinicians invited all consumers (age range 18 to 64 years) attending the service to participate on data collection days, unless any of the exclusion criteria were present: a) clinical interaction occurring in a non-confidential environment; b) acute distress/crisis; c) clinician concerns about affecting rapport; and d) cognitive impairment, known disability or diminished capacity preventing them from reading or understanding the survey questions. Categorical and Likert type survey responses were explored descriptively. All variables collected in the survey were provided, specifically the percentage of responses in each category for each question. Free-text responses were analysed using qualitative description of the text-box response content.

Results: 35 consumers participated. 47% reported being screened for at least one family violence issue on at least one occasion. 26% reported disclosing FV concerns. All those disclosing felt mildly or very supported by the clinician’s response, and two-thirds received assistance they found helpful. 9% reported wanting to disclose FV concerns but not feeling comfortable to do so. Consumers indicated that FV should be spoken about more, that receiving assistance is helpful, but that responses varied in quality depending on the discipline of the clinician.

Conclusion: FV screening rates were found to be suboptimal as unmet needs were identified. Further training and services changes are required to improve screening rates, increase client comfort to disclosure, and optimise the clinical response to disclosures.

The use of multi-level labels can enhance product visibility by enabling labeling of various items. Moreover, it can better accommodate the diversity on both the producer and consumer sides. However, studies on the willingness to pay (WTP) for premium levels of those animal welfare labels are scarce.

We investigate consumers’ WTP for a four-level animal husbandry label introduced to the market by German retailers in 2019 by conducting an online survey with 1,223 German meat consumers using Van Westendorp’s price sensitivity meter (PSM).

There is a significant increase in WTP for level 3 of the husbandry label, but only a slight increase for level 4. One explanation is that consumers may have the mistaken belief that level 3 already includes outdoor access for animals. As a result of this expectation, consumers may not perceive much added value in level 4, which is reflected in their reluctance to pay a higher price. This is reinforced by the finding that once informed of the criteria, 18% of the participants reduced their WTP for level 3, whereas only 6% considered a discount for level 4. Furthermore, 40% were prepared to pay more for level 4 after being informed of the respective criteria than they had previously stated.

To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to analyze and emphasize the importance of clear label communication, particularly for multi-level animal husbandry labels.

The purpose of this study is to assess the impact of Covid-19 on sustainable fashion consumption behavior by proposing a conceptual framework combining consumer-specific factors and product-specific factors with a special emphasis on consumer value perceptions.

Theory of consumption value was integrated into the knowledge, attitude behavior model in the conceptual framework having consumer-specific and product-specific aspects. Perceived value (PERVAL) scale was used to measure value perceptions. The model was verified by a survey conducted among a random sample of 520 participants. The factors were extracted by using exploratory factor analysis and then confirmed by using confirmatory factor analysis. The hypotheses in the conceptual model were tested for different consumer groups, and the strength of the relationships was calculated by using multigroup analysis in structural equation modeling.

It was observed the environmental concern raised the need for getting knowledge about the environment. The impact of environmental knowledge on the value perception of sustainable fashion products varied for the consumers affected by Covid-19 at different levels. Quality perception and price perception were influenced most by environmental knowledge in that order for the consumers with “high fear and uncertainty” and “low fear and uncertainty”. Similarly, the perceived emotional and social values were influential on purchase intention for consumers with high fear and uncertainty, whereas price and social value perceptions were influential for the consumers with low fear and uncertainty.

This study is the initial study that investigated the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the consumption of sustainable fashion products. The integration of theory of consumption value into the knowledge, attitude behavior model allowed identifying the relationship between environmental issues and sustainable fashion consumption. Using the PERVAL scale for measuring perceived value, the study provided valuable insights for understanding the most important value dimensions for sustainable fashion products for consumer groups affected by Covid-19 at different levels. The results regarding the changes in the rankings related to the impact of environmental knowledge on dimensions of perceived value and the impact of perceived values on purchase intention enabled the integrated model to explain the attitude–behavior gap.

This study aims to determine the effects of consumers' perceptions of value and environmental concerns toward recycled content clothing on consumers' attitudes and purchase intentions toward these products.

The research methodology consisted of consumer survey. Female consumers registered in the labor market in the province of Konya in Turkey constituted the sample of the study. A total of 296 female consumers selected by a simple random sampling method, and taking into account time, cost and accessibility criteria, constituted the sample of the study.

Perceived customer values and environmental concerns were found to be much more effective on purchase intentions, although they were weak in positively affecting customers' attitudes toward recycled content clothing. Findings show that emotional, epistemic and conditional values and environmental concerns positively affect purchase intentions.

The sample in this study consisted of just female consumers with income in the city of Konya, Turkey. The results might be different in different demographic groups and different cities of Turkey.

Consumers have positive attitude toward the idea of using recycled fibers in their clothes.

The literature generally includes research examining consumers' behavior toward sustainable fashion. This research focuses on the value perceptions and attitudes of Turkish consumers toward recycled content clothing – a market and topic that have not been studied much before.

This study considers perceived enjoyment and attitude consistency as internal states of consumers in an omni-channel environment. This study aims to investigate the mediating role of perceived enjoyment and attitude consistency to reveal how omni-channel environment factors of interaction fluency, convenience, price advantage and personalization contribute to omni-channel shopping intention.

Consumers who had shopped at Uniqlo's online and offline stores were surveyed through an online questionnaire, and 566 data were collected for analysis through partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM).

The results find that interaction fluency, price advantage and personalization positively affect perceived enjoyment, interaction fluency and convenience positively affect attitude consistency and perceived enjoyment and attitude consistency in turn facilitate omni-channel shopping intention. The mediating role of perceived enjoyment and attitude consistency was confirmed.

The original finding of this study is that factors such as interaction fluency, convenience, price advantage and personalization in omni-channel retailing require momentary and continuous affective states of consumers to facilitate omni-channel shopping intention, respectively. Therefore, this study considers the necessity of capturing different affective states of consumers in omni-channel shopping.

This study aims to investigate how brand love and brand loyalty for three brands evolved during critical moments of the 2020 pandemic, and how they performed in the long run up to 2022.

An online longitudinal study, including a survey and Twitter data for three brands: Corona Extra, with a direct semantic association with the word coronavirus; Virus Vodka, with an indirect association; Modelo Especial, with no association with the virus name but from the same company as Corona Extra.

Despite external data indicating a harmful association between Corona Extra and coronavirus, this study's findings revealed that the brand maintained its brand love in the long run and increased brand loyalty during the critical moments of the pandemic. This study's data suggest that brand love and brand loyalty may be the underlying reasons for the increase in Corona Extra's brand equity during the pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic created a highly stressful situation for consumers and brands. Some brands' names had unfortunate semantic similarities with the virus terminology, which became an additional stressor during that time. This study harnessed the opportunity to investigate brand love and brand loyalty during the pandemic at four points in 2020 and one in 2022. The authors also examined relevant Twitter data during 2020.