An empirical examination of the determinants of honey consumption in Romania

While not much attention has been paid in the international literature to the consumption of premium food products with enhanced quality properties in Central‐Eastern European Countries (CEECs), the present survey aims to investigate consumer behaviour in Romania as regards ‘honey’ as an example of such a product. The research concludes that, despite the changes in eating habits induced by changes in the retail environment, honey remains a popular product, the purchase of which in bulk from producers and in open markets is still the dominant trend. The survey further identifies four main dimensions of honey‐purchasing motivation: medical benefits of its consumption, dietary quality, ethical character of honey and suitability with food consumption lifestyle. Using these dimensions validated by factor analysis, three clusters of honey consumers in Romania emerged through cluster analysis: the common consumers, the younger consumers indifferent towards honey and the enthusiastic consumers, who are also more willing to pay premium prices for the organic type of honey. If the first segment may be the keenest on competitive prices, quality differentiation strategies can target the enthusiastic honey consumers. The distinctive features of Romanian consumers also include a low attention paid to labels, related in a low awareness of the energy content of honey. Quality cues are defined by search attributes of the bulk product (colour, taste, aroma, thickness), rather than credence attributes (warranties, brand name, country‐of‐origin). Marketers targeting this market should be aware of this scepticism towards label information, which necessitates more communication effort to built consumer trust.     

Measuring consumer resistance to a new food technology: A choice experiment in meat packaging

The success of new food technologies hinges on consumers’ behavioral responses to the innovation. New packaging technologies associated with improved quality and safety have been introduced but it is unclear if they will be successful. The market success of food innovations depends critically on consumers’ perceptions of and response to the technologies. Using non-hypothetical consumer choice experiments and the food technology neophobia scale, this study examines consumer perceptions and estimates willingness-to-pay (WTP) for vacuum packaging of fresh beef under different information treatments. The findings suggest that information about the positive and potential negative properties of vacuum packaging play an important role in shaping consumers’ attitudes towards vacuum packaging and WTP for vacuum-packaged beef steaks. Results for participants FTNS scores are significantly correlated with their stated food safety perceptions, indicating that risk perceptions together with food safety concerns are major determinants of consumer resistance to food technologies. The results demonstrate the importance of consumer information and education about new food technologies in light of underlying resistance factors to avoid innovation failure in the marketplace.     

Irish consumer acceptance of a hypothetical second-generation GM yogurt product

This paper examines Irish consumer acceptance of second-generation GM products, defined here as those which are expected to exhibit a specific consumer-oriented benefit. Conjoint analysis was used to determine Irish consumer preferences (n = 297) for attributes of a hypothetical GM yogurt. Cluster analysis on the basis of the GM attribute revealed four segments of consumers. An “anti-GM” segment (24.4% of sample) were outright rejecters of all GM foods, while a second cluster (33.4%) specifically rejected second-generation GM products. A further 20.5% of the sample were receptive to the notion of second-generation GM products. However, this group had a number of complex reservations, which would need to be resolved before they would truly accept such products. GM foods offering specific consumer benefits were found to be acceptable to 21.2% of the sample, implying that these foods could represent a segment within the overall food market in the future.     

Brand awareness–Brand quality inference and consumer’s risk perception in store brands of food products

Store brands (SBs) have currently become consolidated in the food market, have achieved an objective quality similar to that of manufacturer brands and a competitive price. However, food retailers have invested little in communication about these brands, considering it enough to use proximity to the consumer and economies of scope derived from the presence of their own brands throughout the establishment. This paper explores the consequences of this communication strategy about SBs on the functional risk perceived by consumers for these brands and the consumer’s identification with them. We propose a theoretical model, contrast it empirically for food products, and perform a multigroup analysis of quality conscious and non-quality conscious consumers. The results obtained reveal a negative effect of the inference brand awareness–brand quality on the consumer’s identification with the SB as a result of the greater functional risk perceived for these brands. This effect is substantially greater in quality conscious consumers, a key segment for retailers since it constitutes the target of their premium SBs. The results show retailers that investment in communication of SBs is absolutely necessary to dismiss SB functional risk and expand customer base by appealing to quality conscious consumers. The investigation has significant implications for the retailer’s strategy for marketing SBs in food products.     

Target groups for organic wine: The importance of segmentation analysis

In light of low and stagnating market shares of organic wine, there is an ongoing debate about growth potential for organic wine. A recent study revealed that even consumers of organic food did not necessarily purchase organic wine regularly. The aim of this contribution was to analyse the wine preferences of organic food consumers and identify promising new target groups for organic wine. We conducted choice experiments in Germany (N = 600) and analysed the data with mixed logit models and latent class models, revealing interesting differences between the results of the two approaches. While the mixed logit models suggested ‘organic’ was the most important wine attribute, the latent class models challenged this proposition. While three of four consumer segments had a strong preference for organic, only one segment in the red wine model (and no segment in the white wine model) gave organic highest priority. Just like non-organic consumers, many organic food consumers seem to use price or country of origin as the most important quality cue for wine. The comparison between the results of the choice experiments and the participants’ stated normal purchase behaviour suggested there is growth potential for organic wine. Apparently, consumers of organic food would buy more organic wine if their preferred type and variety of conventional wine would be available in organic quality at similar price levels.     

An attribute prioritization-based segmentation of the Chinese consumer market for fruit juice

Despite the enormous opportunity that the Chinese market provides for exporting companies in the food and beverage industry, little research has considered Chinese consumer decision making processes surrounding these products. This study provides an empirical investigation into how Chinese consumers prioritize extrinsic product attributes (brand, nutrition content claim, ingredient label, shelf-life, price, and manufacturing country) when making their fruit juice purchase decisions. The study illustrates that consumer decision making processes are culturally embedded by presenting a comparison of the study’s findings with the more prevalent Western-based literature on consumer decision making processes.A choice-based conjoint survey was administered to 645 Chinese participants in Hangzhou, China using the internet-based software 1000Minds. Three consumer segments were identified through cluster analysis: Health Conscious, Premium Product, and Long Product Shelf-life. The Health Conscious segment wants natural and nutritious fruit juices that have a well-known brand. The Premium Product segment is willing to pay higher prices for imported fruit juices. Compared to the other two segments, the Long Product Shelf-life segment prefers lower priced and extended shelf-life fruit juices that are more convenient to store and consume. While the three clusters were similar in their preferences for the fruit juice attributes and levels, they differed in the rank order of the attributes. These findings highlight the importance of how extrinsic product attributes are traded off by Chinese consumers when making their fruit juice purchase decisions.The identification of these Chinese consumer segments provides juice manufacturers better knowledge on the market opportunities in China and strategic guidance for effective positioning, packaging, labeling, and pricing of fruit juices. This attribute prioritization-based segmentation for the Chinese consumer market is novel and thus provides strong implications for the fruit juice industry. In addition, this paper also makes a novel academic contribution to the Chinese consumer decision making literature on food and beverage products.     

Does consumer ethnocentrism influence product knowledge?

Consumer ethnocentrism refers to the consumer opinion as to whether or not it is appropriate or even immoral to purchase foreign-made products. The focus of this paper is to analyze the relationship between consumer ethnocentrism and consumer knowledge structures with the example of Bavarian food products. By means of concept mapping and structured interviews with 193 consumers in three different European countries, consumer ethnocentrism and knowledge of Bavarian food products was queried. Results of count-data regression models show that there is a negative relation between consumer ethnocentrism and the complexity of product knowledge. While there is no significant effect of gender, age and education, nationality matters with regard to the complexity of cognitive structures. The information about the relation between the level of consumer ethnocentrism and product knowledge can help marketers to segment the market more effectively and thus to successfully target different consumer groups with appropriate product communication.     

“One Fish,Two Fish,Red Fish,Blue Fish”: How ethical beliefs influence consumer perceptions of “blue” aquaculture products?

Respecting ethical beliefs of consumers is an important precondition for food manufacturers in their attempt to improve their positioning in the European food market. Based on a cross-cultural survey of 2511 European participants, this research demonstrates how ethical beliefs affect consumer perceptions of “blue” (i.e. environmentally friendly) aquaculture products. The study further emphasises that the positive effect of ethical beliefs on purchase intention operates via an indirect route mediated by consumers’ trust in a product category. Consumer involvement has limited moderation effect on the above relationships. To expand its “blue” business, a key policy recommendation to aquaculture product manufacturers and policy makers is to urge stable and reliable standards of control in environmentally responsible aquaculture production so that consumers can rely on the information source and increase their trust in aquaculture products.     

Exploring consumer beliefs about wool apparel in the USA and Australia

The wool industry has responded to the decline in wool’s share of the textile market with innovations in production, processing and marketing that are aimed at increasing consumer demand for wool apparel. However, little is known about whether consumers’ beliefs about wool apparel reflect these innovations and whether consumers’ beliefs are uniform or vary in different markets. This exploratory study investigated consumers’ beliefs about wool apparel in three different locations (New York and Colorado in the USA and Western Australia). The findings indicate that both positive and negative perceptions of garment attributes are related to perceived garment value, as illustrated in the proposed model. Further, beliefs about wool were found to vary dramatically depending on context.     

Neophobia,personal consumer values and novel food acceptance

For some years now, the food sector has been faced with an increasingly competitive and globalised market and much more stringent demand from consumers. This situation has forced food producers and processors, among other things, to innovate and develop new products in order to improve their position in the competition. However, innovations in the food industry suffer a high market failure rate, partly due to a phenomenon known as neophobia, which is the rejection some people express towards new or unfamiliar foods.This paper aims to analyze whether variation in the complexity and the associated benefits and values in the choice structure relating to novel food products can be linked to the consumer’s degree of phobia towards novel foods. These objectives are pursued through a study based on the “means-end chain” theory. The results show that consumption decisions regarding novel food products have an important emotional component that is more pronounced in neophobic subjects, suggesting that the greater the reluctance to consume the product, the more complex the underlying choice process.     

The Irish organic food market: shortfalls, opportunities and the need for research

In 2009 the Irish organic food market was forecasted to grow from €120 m to €239 m by 2013; however, recent figures set its value at just €90 m. An estimated 70% of this market is imported. Surveys of Irish consumers reveal that 66% of consumers prefer to buy local produce and most organic consumers are buying organic at supermarkets. This evidence reveals that Irish producers must trade at supermarkets, and promote ‘local produce’ to ensure their produce reach the majority of buyers. Seventy‐eight % of organic rejecters state price and 21% state unawareness of the benefits as reasons for not buying organic. Many Irish consumers are buying organic food on the perceived belief that it is healthier, safer and tastes better; however, a review of studies on organic versus conventional foods in terms of health benefits, safety and sensory quality has shown that existing data is limited in scope and fails to show a clear trend. The review concludes with the need for a comprehensive study of a range of organic and conventional foods available to the Irish consumer in order to determine if differences in organic cultivation result in statistically significant differences in health linked compounds and sensory quality. Copyright © 2011 Society of Chemical Industry     

消费者对乳制品质量安全认知途径及影响

对消费者进行调研,结合相关理论,采用Logistics回归分析法对消费者对乳品质量的认知途径进行实证探讨。结果表明,家庭最高学历的消费者对乳品安全认知程度、消费者购买乳品次数、消费者对乳品质量的安全认知度、家里有13岁以下孩童对乳品质量的安全认知度起到促进作用。基于分析结果,从扩大乳品信息的披露途径、加强消费者交易、激励乳品企业信息披露等方面提出建议,以期推动消费者对乳品质量的安全认知度提升。     

The potential of foodservice systems for satisfying consumer needs

Foodservice (catering) systems developed over recent years have aimed to overcome problems of the shortage of skilled labour and reducing operational costs by industrialising the catering operation. Consumer demand for convenience has led to these prepared meals being adapted for the rapidly growing ‘home meal replacement’ sector. Although food scientists and technologists may be satisfied with the products of these new technologies, the consumer may not have the same enthusiasm. This article discusses the results of a survey on how consumers perceive the acceptability of these prepared meals according to age group, social class, gender and frequency of eating out, and the potential for extending the use of prepared meals to those who could benefit. It concludes that the sous vide system can provide opportunities to satisfy many groups of consumers with regard to nutritional, sensory, convenience and safety aspects and that when the products of newer ‘minimal processing’ technologies become more widely available to foodservice providers, they must be introduced with some care to avoid the consumer's inherent conservatism towards new technology.     

Effect of Risk Information Exposure on Consumers’ Responses to Foods with Insect Contamination

This study explores the impact that scientific information about insect contamination of food has on consumer perceptions. Participants (n = 320, Japanese consumers) were randomly assigned to 1 of 8 information‐type conditions: (1) information about insect type, (2) information about contamination processes, (3) information about the safety of contaminated food, (4, 5, 6) combinations of 2 of (1), (2), and (3) above, (7) all information, and (8) no‐information, and asked to rate their valuation, behavioral intention, and attitude toward food with insect contamination. Results demonstrated that some combinations of scientific information that include the safety of the contaminated food are effective to reduce consumers’ compulsive rejection of insect contamination in food, whereas the single presentation of information about insect type increases consumers’ explicit rejection of both the contaminated product and the manufacturer. These findings have implications for the coordination of risk communication strategies.     

Negative emotions,positive actions: Food safety and consumer intentions to purchase ethical food in China

Although ensuring food safety is still an urgent social issue in China, ethical consumption practices are relatively new, and ethical food is not widely consumed. Chinese consumers often face confusing information about a particular food product's safety and are concerned about the situation. Drawing upon stress coping theory, this study examines whether consumer confusion and negative emotions drive intentions to adopt ethical food. Data collected from a sample of 505 consumers were analyzed using structural equation modeling. The results show that consumer confusion has a significant impact on negative emotions, which in turn influence intentions to purchase ethical food products. This research advances the food preference literature by providing a new perspective on ethical consumption based on coping strategies. The findings are important for policymakers and business leaders seeking to develop and better promote safer and more ethical food programs in China.     

Street milk and urban consumers in Turkey: a descriptive study

Milk is important because of its composition, its consumption prevalence, and its use as a raw material for many food products. The milk’s shelf life, reliability during processing, and quality conservation should be considered by the consumer. However, in Turkey, raw milk is sold unpackaged and untreated (by physical processes or heat treatment) by street suppliers without the use of any of the required food conservation techniques. This type of milk is generally called ‘street milk’ (SM). This study was conducted to analyse the Turkish urban consumers’ (UCs) attitudes, behaviours, and perceptions with respect to SM. To achieve a 2.83 % sampling tolerance, 1222 consumers were interviewed in person, and the data were collected. Although 23.6 % of UCs prefer SM, the potential customer rate is 43.1–48.9 %. These UCs tend to choose SM because the product is perceived to be ‘organic’, ‘pure’, and ‘natural’ and because they are suspicious of packaged/processed milk. In this study, the socio-economic statuses (SES) and age differences were identified (P < 0.05), and it was found that the 45+ age group and the low SES group have more positive views about SM. Thus, these groups must be made aware of the differences between ‘raw milk’ and ‘SM’, as well as the safety risks of SM and the importance of the processing and storing of dairy products, including milk.     

Healthy food is nutritious,but organic food is healthy because it is pure: The negotiation of healthy food choices by Danish consumers of organic food

There is increasing demand for organic food products throughout the Western world. Health concerns have frequently been found to be the main motivation of consumers purchasing organic products, but the literature on consumer preferences and behavior is less clear about what ‘health’ means to consumers of these products, and because of this it remains unclear what exactly drives consumers to choose organic products. This article investigates health from the perspective of consumers, and analyzes negotiations of, and justifications behind, their consumption preferences. The analysis is based on a focus group study conducted in Denmark in 2016. Three different understandings of health can be found when consumers explain their preferences for organic products: Health as purity; Health as pleasure, and a Holistic perspective on health. The first two are familiar from the literature on food. The third, which reflects principles behind organic agriculture, is less documented in the context of consumption. Health as purity was the dominant understanding of health used by the participants when explaining why they purchased organic food products. When participants discussed healthy eating in general, detached from a specific context, most employed a purely nutritional perspective as a definitive argument in supporting claims about healthy eating. The paper’s findings have implications for future research on organic consumption. They also have practical implications for organic food producers and manufacturers.     

Personality traits,knowledge, and consumer acceptance of genetically modified plant and animal products

Several studies have investigated the associations between personality traits and consumer behavior, but little attention has been paid to the role of personality traits in the acceptance of genetically modified (GM) food products or knowledge concerning the application of GM technologies. We used a large Norwegian survey to investigate the associations between personality traits, knowledge about GM use in agriculture, attitudes, and willingness to pay (WTP) to avoid GM foods. Using a random effect interval regression model, we found premiums between 19% and 23% to avoid GM soybean oil, GM-fed salmon, and GM salmon. Neuroticism was associated with increased acceptance of GM soybean oil. Conscientiousness was associated with increased acceptance of GM-fed and GM salmon, and agreeableness was associated with increased aversion against these products. Conscientiousness and agreeableness were also associated with knowledge. Agreeable respondents were less likely to think that genetic modification was applied in Norwegian agriculture, and conscientious respondents were more likely to wrongly think so. Attitudes towards naturalness of foods were strongly correlated with increased WTP to avoid GM foods. Current policy restrictions concerning the use of GM technologies are likely to affect the perceived safety of GM foods. Information and more liberal regulations may change attitudes towards GM foods and reduce the resistance against GM technologies over time.     

Consumer attitudes,knowledge and behaviour: a review of food safety issues

Consumers' attitudes have been shown to influence and predict behaviour. This review highlights the diverse consumer attitudes towards the safety of food. The diversity among consumers is based on a variety of factors, including demographics and socio-economic status. The relationship between consumer attitudes, knowledge and behaviour regarding food safety is also examined in this paper. It indicates that different attitudes do not necessarily lead to behaviours that increase the safety of the food consumed. It can be concluded that there exists the need for professional assistance for consumers regarding food safety issues.