Achim Spiller

Consumption behaviour regarding organic food from a marketing perspective—a literature review

There are many publications focusing on diverse aspects of marketing research for organic products. However, so far there have been very few attempts to provide an overall synthesis of current knowledge. The present study therefore gives an overview of marketing research for organic food consumption, enabling the identification of research strengths and deficits. The review analyses a total of 277 research studies published between January 2000 and December 2011. The structure of this review was derived from the concept of the consumer-oriented marketing mix (4Cs), taking into account consumer value and benefits, cost to the consumer, communication and information needs and convenience and distribution. The results of this qualitative analysis reveal a high density of publications, especially for the period from 2008 to 2011. The most investigated topics are cost to the consumer and consumer value and benefits. Nevertheless, there are still many aspects within these research areas that have not yet been addressed, such as ecological packaging, price knowledge and price processing. The research areas communication and information needs and convenience and distribution are also less intensively researched.

Consumer Preference and Willingness to Pay for an Officially Certified Quality Label: Implications for Traditional Food Producers

Con el objetivo de evaluar la preferencia y disposicion a pagar del consumidor chileno por un sello de calidad certificada usado en productos alimenticios de origen campesino, se llevo a cabo un estudio empleando la metodologia de analisis conjunto. Un total de 234 consumidores de las ciudades de Talca y Santiago fueron consultados, respondiendo un cuestionario especialmente disenado. Como producto base para el analisis conjunto se utilizo una mermelada de mora (Rubus ulmifolius) de elaboracion artesanal. Ademas, un conjunto de tres atributos (precio, sello de calidad y presentacion del envase) fueron considerados en la evaluacion. Mediante un diseno ortogonal, se definieron nueve conceptos de productos hipoteticos, los cuales fueron ordenados por los consumidores de acuerdo a sus preferencias. Los resultados obtenidos a traves del modelo conjunto senalan que un ?sello de calidad certificada? es el atributo mas importante que domina el comportamiento de eleccion de los consumidores, observandose una positiva disposicion a pagar por esta caracteristica. Como herramienta de gestion de calidad y diferenciacion, un sello de calidad certificada parece ser una buena alternativa para mejorar las condiciones y oportunidades de mercado de los productores de alimentos respaldados por una tradicion campesina. Cabe destacar que esta es la primera experiencia empirica desarrollada en el pais que relaciona el metodo de analisis conjunto con las preferencias del consumidor por este tipo de productos alimenticios.

Health-improving lifestyles of organic and functional food consumers

Purpose – The desire for health and well-being is a strong driver in the food market. Scientific publications show that health is an important motive for both functional and organic food consumption. The aim of this study is to investigate whether functional and organic food consumers have the same understanding of health, and which health and well-being improving lifestyles are characteristic for them. Based on this, the authors identify dimensions for a wellness-orientated lifestyle model. Design/methodology/approach – In order to measure the different well-being and health lifestyles, AIO dimensions were adapted to theoretical wellness concepts. The results of the conducted factor and multiple OLS regression analyses are based on the data of an online survey of 500 German consumers. Findings – Consumers of functional food have a similar concept of health and well-being to organic consumers, but differ in certain aspects in their way of achieving this. The purchase of organic and functional food is driv...

The Impact of Online Reviews on the Choice of Holiday Accommodations

In order to reduce information asymmetries in the tourist industry, consumers refer to multiple information sources. Among these, e-reviews are supposed to better reflect quality of information because they are based on consumers’ past experiences. The first purpose of this study is therefore to test within an experimental design whether e-reviews have a predominant or a complementary role on consumer behaviour in comparison with other sources of information (hotel rating system, travel guides and recommendations of travel agents). As expected, e-reviews are the most referential information source. We further use a causal model in order to detect the determinants of trust in e-reviews, and we can show that perceived expertness of e-reviews, credibility of the e-platform and brand familiarity explain more than 60% of trust in e-reviews. The final part of the analysis is dedicated to our third research purpose which is the measurement of the impact of trust in e-reviews on choice of accommodations. A significant and positive influence can be demonstrated. Hence, scientific and managerial implications are discussed.

Organic food labels as a signal of sensory quality—insights from a cross-cultural consumer survey

Organic food labels are promising tools to transmit the positive image of organic products to consumers. Besides health-related aspects and environmental concerns, declaration of organic quality may have a positive impact on consumers’ taste perception. Many studies have proven the positive image of organic products, but very few have considered the link between labeling a product as organic and the consumer’s evaluation of sensory quality. This paper therefore investigates how organic consumers from six European countries (Germany, France, Italy, Poland, Switzerland, and the Netherlands) are influenced by the information that strawberry yogurt is produced organically or conventionally. Within the framework of a European Union-funded research project, a cross-cultural survey with a total of N = 1,797 respondents was conducted between October 2010 and February 2011. Standardized computer-assisted interview techniques were combined with sensory tests. Results show that the presence of an organic label may lead to an enhancement of taste perception. With the exception of Italy, consumers evaluated the same product sample slightly better when an organic label was shown. For the evaluation of conventional products, the opposite effect was found for three out of six countries. These findings reveal that the positive sensory image of the organic food branch transfers to single organic products, resulting in a better taste evaluation. However, the relatively weak label effect observed in all study countries suggests that an improvement of the sensory image of organic products is advisable. This can be addressed by enhancing the sensory performance of food products as well as by implementing extensive sensory marketing activities.

Supply chain orientation in SMEs as an attitudinal construct

Purpose – The paper aims to advance the conceptual understanding of supply chain orientation (SCO) in small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) as a general attitude and to empirically measure the link between SCO and willingness to implement supply chain management (SCM). Coordination among supply chain stages is widely considered important for competitiveness in all sectors. Recently, SCO of the actors has been discussed as a precondition for successful implementation of SCM. Design/methodology/approach – SCO is operationalized as a two-dimensional attitudinal construct. In all, 279 German dairy farmers participated in an online-survey. By means of factor and cluster analysis and one-way analysis of variance, the relation between the two SCO dimensions and their link with willingness to implement several currently discussed SCM measures is analysed. Findings – The SCO dimensions are not purely linearly related, as shown by three clusters with different patterns of vertical cooperation orientation and com...

Is there an expectation gap? Consumers’ expectations towards organic

Purpose – While the European organic regulation exists since more than 20 years consumers still do not seem to know what to expect from European Union (EU) labelled organic food. The purpose of this paper is to examine consumer expectations towards organic food in mature and emerging EU organic food markets. Design/methodology/approach – Online consumer survey data (n=1,180; 2011) from Germany, the UK, Spain, and the Czech Republic are used to analyse the question: “Which criteria would you expect of an organic food product labelled with the EU-organic label?”. In total, 23 items including organic production criteria according to EC 834/07 and unregulated food quality criteria are tested. Mean value analysis and exploratory factor analysis are performed. Findings – Consumers expect organic food to be free from chemical pesticides and mineral fertilisers. In total, two factors affect consumers’ expectations: naturalness of organic food products; additional sustainability aspects like, e.g. resource saving....

Price or relational behaviours

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to determine the relative importance of actual price and behavioural factors for the quality of the business relationship between German dairies and their milk suppliers.Design/methodology/approach – The paper reports the results of field study involving 209 farmers in Lower Saxony and the northern section of North Rhine‐Westphalia regions in northwest Germany. These regions are the most important milk production centres in Germany.Findings – The results indicate that, whereas behavioural factors, specifically relationship management practices and price satisfaction, have a positive influence on the quality of the business relationship between the farmers and the dairies, the actual price levels have no influence.Practical implications – Actual prices paid to the farmers is not the most important factor which influences the quality of their relationship with the dairies but rather behavioural norms such as milk price satisfaction and relational norms. Dairies are advised...

Characterising convinced sustainable food consumers

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify the distinguishing socio-demographic and psychographic features of convinced sustainable consumers in contrast to convinced conventional consumers. Furthermore, it contributes to the sparse literature about tea consumption. Design/methodology/approach – This study is based on data collected via an online consumer survey. First respondents took part in a choice experiment with tea varying in its price (four levels) and quality (conventional/organic/fair trade/organic and fair trade). Then they had to complete a questionnaire about their attitudes towards food consumption. Respondents, who always chose sustainable tea, at no matter what price, were grouped and those that always chose the conventional tea. A bivariate logistic regression is used to analyse the influencing socio-demographic and attitudinal dimensions that characterise the two groups of convinced consumers. Findings – Convinced sustainable consumers are more often female than male and perceive...

Concerns about animal welfare: a cluster analysis of German pig farmers

– The Federal Government of Germany, as well as the European Commission, are discussing the enhancement of animal welfare requirements. This study aims to explore different groups of conventional German pig farmers with respect to their understanding of animal welfare. Based on the results, a target group is determined that is willing to take part in an animal welfare programme in accordance with the current state of research, i.e. considering the four “Welfare Quality” principles: good housing, good feeding, good health and especially appropriate behaviour., – Data were collected from 160 German pig farmers between March and May 2010 using an online questionnaire. Data analysis combines two quantitative methods. To reduce complexity and to identify the animal welfare perceptions of the farmers first an explorative factor analysis was conducted. Subsequently, based on the determined factors, the sample was divided into different groups by means of a cluster analysis., – Three groups of pig farmers were defined with regard to the establishment of an animal welfare programme according to the current state of research. While a broad acceptance of the principles good housing, good feeding and good health exists among the farmers, the appropriate animal behaviour is only important for a small group of pig farmers. Therefore, the three groups should be addressed by the developers of an animal welfare programme, using different strategies to gain the support of all farmers., – To successfully introduce new animal welfare requirements, farmers are important actors to take into account. This paper is the first analysis of the animal welfare perceptions of conventionally producing German pig farmers and determines different groups for a comprehensive animal welfare husbandry system as currently discussed by scientists and politics.