Marie von Meyer-Höfer

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....

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...

Mature and Emerging Organic Markets: Modelling Consumer Attitude and Behaviour With Partial Least Square Approach

Although the organic food sector has been researched for around 20 years, still little is known about consumer behaviour when comparing developed and emerging organic markets. Therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate the determinants of organic food consumption in a mature (Germany) and an emerging (Chile) organic market using a model based on the theory of planned behaviour and partial least squares for parameters estimation. The reported results have implications for decision makers in both countries. The use of altruistic arguments in organic food marketing is a key aspect to increase organic food demand in both countries. However, egoistic motives might also gain importance in Chile, as they already have in Germany. In both countries, the barriers for organic food consumption have to be addressed with great attention—a lack of information and availability, especially in Chile, and scepticism about organic food in Germany.

Strategien und Erfolgskriterien für Zertifizierungssysteme am Beispiel der Agrar-und Ernährungswirtschaft

Mit zunehmendem Wohlstand und der Ausdifferenzierung der Markte gewinnen Vertrauenseigenschaften, die der Nachfrager am Endprodukt nicht mehr selber uberprufen kann, an Bedeutung. Gerade auf dem Lebensmittelmarkt sind Prozesseigenschaften wie Umwelt- und Tierschutz von wachsender Relevanz fur kaufkraftige Zielgruppen. Die beachtlichen Mehrpreise fur nachhaltige Lebensmittel werden Verbraucher aber nur bezahlen, wenn sie von der Glaubwurdigkeit der Angebote verlasslich ausgehen konnen. Dafur bedarf es einer unabhangigen Kontrolle entlang des Produktionsprozesses durch Zertifizierungssysteme, die in aller Regel in einem Label mundet. Der Beitrag untersucht die zentralen Grundlagen und Ausgestaltungsfaktoren der Zertifizierung und stellt wichtige Herausforderungen zur Sicherstellung der Glaubwurdigkeit der Audits vor. Im zweiten Schritt geht es um Strategien zur besseren Vermarktung der Labelprodukte, die angesichts der Unubersichtlichkeit der Label und von Problemen des Gemeinschaftsmarketings derzeit haufig Nischenprodukte darstellen. Es werden innovative Ansatze zum Mainstreaming von Labelprodukten entwickelt und diskutiert. Der Beitrag leistet damit Impulse zur Fortentwicklung der Zertifizierungssysteme aus Marketingsicht.