Eating green. Consumers' willingness to adopt ecological food consumption behaviors

Food consumption is associated with various environmental impacts, and consumers’ food choices therefore represent important environmental decisions. In a large-scale survey, we examined consumers’ beliefs about ecological food consumption and their willingness to adopt such behaviors. Additionally, we investigated in more detail how different motives and food-related attitudes influenced consumers’ willingness to reduce meat consumption and to buy seasonal fruits and vegetables. We found consumers believed avoiding excessive packaging had the strongest impact on the environment, whereas they rated purchasing organic food and reducing meat consumption as least environmentally beneficial. Similarly, respondents appeared to be most unwilling to reduce meat consumption and purchase organic food. Taste and environmental motives influenced consumers’ willingness to eat seasonal fruits and vegetables, whereas preparedness to reduce meat consumption was influenced by health and ethical motives. Women and respondents who preferred natural foods were more willing to adopt ecological food consumption patterns.     

The joint moderating effect of health consciousness and healthy lifestyle on consumers' willingness to use functional foods in Taiwan

Functional foods marketed as promoting health or reducing the risk of disease open a promising avenue for consumers to pursue a healthier life. Despite the stable growth in functional foods in Taiwan, at present little is known about whether or not consumers with varying degrees of health consciousness and different healthy lifestyles will have dissimilar attitudes toward functional foods and will vary in their willingness to use them. Regression analysis of this empirical study verifies that consumers’ attitudes toward functional foods do have an impact on their willingness to use such foods. Moreover, moderated regression analysis (MRA) reveals that the joint moderator of health consciousness and healthy lifestyle indeed exerts an impact on consumers’ willingness to consume functional foods. Finally, one-way ANOVA tests show that there are some differences between the consumers of the “Healthy Life Attentive” group and those of the “Healthy Life Inattentive” one both in attitudes toward and in willingness to consume functional foods. The empirical results and findings from this study would be valuable for the marketers in the functional food industry to formulate marketing communication strategies and facilitate this industry's development.     

Consumers’ freedom of choice—advertising aimed at children,product placement,and food labeling

The prevalence of obesity and overweight skyrockets and leads to a myriad of consequences on the individual and the population level, as well as on health care systems and the economy. Food advertisement and promotion, especially aimed at children, and food labeling are important factors behind the obesity epidemic. One of the aims of this paper is to identify and communicate the subtle and aggressive marketing strategies of unhealthy food in order to protect consumers’ freedom of choice. We also aim to raise awareness concerning advertising aimed at children, product placement, and food labeling among consumers and public health professionals. Multiple studies conducted by European consumers’ associations reveal the negative impact of the advertisement of foods that are high in fat, sugar, and salt aimed at children. Industry exerts a whole variety of methods concerning food promotion. Parents are concerned with the advertisement of unhealthy food and largely miss the promotion of healthy food. Product placement of an advertising nature disrespects the principle of separation between advertising and editorial content, and, therefore, jeopardizes consumers’ freedom of choice. Nutrition facts on food packages do not adequately attract consumers and are not easily understandable. We conclude that self-regulation on part of the industry and national measures may not sufficiently protect consumers, especially children. There is a need for strict, European-Union-wide legislation on advertisements and the promotion of unhealthy food covering the whole variety of marketing tactics. Food labeling needs to be simplified and standardized across Europe to help citizens make healthy food choices. This paper contains no conflicts of interest.     

消费者对食品安全信任问题的研究综述

随着食品安全问题的频繁发生,消费者对食品市场的信任危机日益加深。本文通过梳理国内外消费者对食品安全信任问题的研究成果,简要介绍了食品安全信任的内涵,并将其影响因素概括为消费者个人特征、对利益主体的信任、对食品信息的认知、对食品安全问题的认知4大类,最后在结合我国食品安全规制以及信任现状和国际经验的基础上,指出要健全食品安全法规标准体系、完善食品安全管理体系、培育食品安全信用体系和强化食品安全宣传教育体系,增强消费者对食品安全的信心和安全感。     

Awareness, acceptance of and willingness to buy genetically modified foods in Urban China

There is concern about the extent to which consumers will accept genetically modified (GM) foods if they are commercialized in China. The evidence from the existing literature is mixed and sometimes confusing. The objective of this study is to conduct a large in-depth face-to-face in-house survey that examines the consumers' awareness, acceptance of and willingness to buy GM foods in China. To achieve this objective, a well-designed consumer survey was conducted in 11 cities of five provinces in Eastern China in 2002 and 2003. The results indicate that despite much less information on GM foods available publicly in China, more than two thirds of consumers in urban areas have heard of GM foods. But their knowledge on biotechnology was limited. Chinese consumers' acceptance of and willingness to buy GM foods was much higher than in other countries. Chinese consumers also demonstrated great variance in their acceptance of different GM foods. Information and prices of GM foods were two important factors affecting consumers' attitudes toward GM foods. Based on the findings of this study and given that our sample is in the more developed eastern Urban China, we conclude that the commercialization of GM foods is not likely to receive great resistance from the consumers in China.     

Consumers' attitudes toward consumption of cloned beef. The impact of exposure to technological information about animal cloning

Novel food technologies, such as cloning, have been introduced into the meat production sector; however, their use is not widely supported by many consumers. This study was designed to assess whether Japanese consumers’ attitudes toward consumption of cloned beef (specifically, beef derived from bovine embryo and somatic cell-cloned cattle) would change after they were provided with technological information on animal cloning through a web-based survey. The results revealed that most respondents did not discriminate between their attitudes toward the consumption of the two types of cloned beef, and that most respondents did not change their attitudes toward cloned beef after receiving the technological information. The respondents’ individual characteristics, including their knowledge about the food safety of cloned beef and their basic knowledge about animal cloning, influenced the likelihood of a change in their attitudes after they received the information. In conclusion, some consumers might become less uncomfortable about the consumption of cloned beef by the straightforward provision of technological information about animal cloning; however, most consumers are likely to maintain their attitudes.     

Influence of ethnocentrism and neo-phobia on ethnic food consumption in Spain

Over the last decade, a strong upsurge in Spanish immigration has fostered a thriving ethnic food market. To examine indigenous consumer predilections toward ethnic foods, a carefully designed choice experiment is employed, with particular focus on ethnocentricity and food neo-phobia traits on potential purchase decisions. Employing a two level nested logit model, consumers choose to accept/reject ethnic foods, with a positive response met by a further series of different ethnic cuisine and consumption scenario alternatives. Bivariate tests reveal that higher ethnocentric and neo-phobic segments possess common socio-demographic characteristics, whilst neo-phobia plays a significantly stronger role in determining the probability of rejection. Further tests reveal culturally similar Mexican food as the preferred ethnic food across all consumption scenarios. Moreover, the ‘restaurant’ is the favoured format of consumption, whilst there is evidence of a strong association between specific ethnic food types and consumption formats. The implications of our research suggest that in the short to medium turn, price is a strong strategic variable, whilst marketing strategies must successfully isolate and exploit specific ‘ethnic food/consumption scenario’ mixes. Finally, stronger messages emphasizing quality and convenience factors are seen as key to bolstering the underrepresented ‘home preparation’ ethnic food market in Spain.     

Lifestyle segmentation of US food shoppers to examine organic and local food consumption

The food related lifestyle (FRL) model, widely used on European data, is applied to US data using a modified survey instrument to examine organic and local food consumption. Since empirical studies indicate these shoppers are motivated by environmental and health concerns and limited by access, the conceptual framework employs an environmental behavior model, Attitude Behavior Context (ABC), which is consistent with means-end chain theory, the Health Belief (HB) model, and the FRL model. ABC theory incorporates contextual factors that may limit consumers’ ability to act on their intentions. US food shopper data was collected in 2003 (n = 956) utilizing an instrument with variables adapted from the FRL, ABC, and HB models. Cluster analysis segmented food shoppers into four FRL groups: rational, adventurous, careless, and a fourth segment that had some characteristics of both conservative and uninvolved consumers. The segments exhibited significant differences in organic and local food consumption. These were correlated with consumers’ environmental concerns, knowledge and practices, health concerns and practices, as well as some demographic characteristics (race, gender, age, education), income, and variables that measured access to these foods. Implications for marketing and public policy strategies to promote organic and local foods include: emphasizing taste, nutrition, value, children, and enjoyment of cooking for rational consumers; and emphasizing health, fitness, and freshness, and providing ethnic foods for adventurous consumers. While both careless and conservative/uninvolved consumers valued convenience, the former tended to be in the highest income group, while the latter were in the lowest, were more likely to be either in the youngest or oldest age groups, and were very concerned about food safety and health.     

2013与2008年广州市消费者食品营养标签认知与应用比较

摘要:目的　了解广州市消费者食品营养标签的认知与应用能力并与2008年调查结果进行比较。方法　于2013年11-12月在广州市各超市,采用匿名问卷方式调查1003名知情同意的消费者,用SPSS20.0进行数据分析。结果　在调查对象中了解什么是食品营养标签的人仅占9.1%,对食品营养标签信息完全能理解的占4.0%。购买食品时经常认真阅读食品营养标签的只有10.7%。认为食品营养标签对食品选购有一些影响的占71.8%,有很大影响的占 5.7%。与2008年调查结果比较,消费者对食品营养标签的了解程度、理解程度、阅读情况以及信任度差异无统计学意义（P＞0.05）。经Logistic回归分析,食品营养标签与食品选购相关因素有:消费者目前的身体状况、阅读情况、理解程度、信任程度、了解愿望（P≤0.05）。结论　从2008年至2013年《预包装食品营养标签通则》的实施,广州市消费者对食品营养标签的认知度及应用能力并无显著提高,必需加强宣教和引导,提高消费者对食品营养标签的认知与应用,充分发挥其作用。     

Where would you go for your next hospitalization?

We examine the effects of diverse dimensions of hospital quality - including consumers’ perceptions of unobserved attributes - on future hospital choice. We utilize consumers’ stated preference weights to obtain hospital-specific estimates of perceptions about unmeasured attributes such as reputation. We report three findings. First, consumers’ perceptions of reputation and medical services contribute substantially to utility for a hospital choice. Second, consumers tend to select hospitals with high clinical quality scores even before the scores are publicized. However, the effect of clinical quality on hospital choice is relatively small. Third, satisfaction with a prior hospital admission has a large impact on future hospital choice. Our findings suggest that including measures of consumers’ experience in report cards may increase their responsiveness to publicized information, but other strategies are needed to overcome the large effects of consumers’ beliefs about other quality attributes.     

Consumer Choice of Purchasing Private-Label Drugs: An Empirical Study in China

This research investigates factors influencing Chinese consumers' purchase choice of private-label drugs over rational brand equivalents. Survey data were collected from 251 Chinese consumers. Results show that their purchase choice of private-label drugs is significantly influenced by drug trust and perceptions of drug quality, but is not influenced by private-label drugs' price advantage. Store trust and perceived drug quality are significant predictors of drug trust. Store trust also positively affects perceived drug quality. Finally, store trust is significantly influenced by product quality and service quality.     

U.S. consumers attitudes toward farm animal cloning

In January 2008, the United States Food and Drug Administration concluded “meat and milk from cattle, swine, and goat clones or their offspring are as safe to eat as food we eat from those species now” (U.S. FDA, 2010). However, cloning remains a very controversial topic. A web-based survey administered by Knowledge Networks was used to determine U.S. consumers’ awareness of and attitudes toward meat and milk from cloned cattle. Findings reveal consumers do not differentiate much between products from cloned animals and products from non-cloned animals. Overall consumers are concerned that animal cloning is an unnatural process and that it will lead to human cloning.     

Consumers' acceptance of innovations in traditional cheese. A comparative study in France and Norway

This study explores consumers’ acceptance of innovations in traditional cheese in France (n = 120) and Norway (n = 119). The respondents were presented with 16 photographs of a traditional cheese from their respective countries, varying according to six factors: pasteurisation, organic production, omega-3, packaging, price and appropriateness. For each of the scenarios the consumers indicated their willingness to buy the cheese on a nine-point scale. Results show that consumers’ willingness to buy traditional cheese is highly driven by price, appropriateness and pasteurisation in both countries. However, on average consumers in the French sample prefer buying raw milk cheese, while consumers in the Norwegian sample prefer buying pasteurised cheese. These general trends are led by a pro-raw milk segment in France and a pro-pasteurised milk segment in Norway. Several interaction effects involving appropriateness are detected, indicating the importance of the consumption context on the acceptance of innovations in traditional cheese. On a general level, the results indicate that well-accepted innovations in traditional cheese are those that reinforce the traditional and authentic character of the product.     

CHANGES IN CONSUMER CONCERNS REGARDING FOOD SAFETY AND TRUST IN NUTRITION EXPERTS' ADVICE

There has been an increasing emphasis on health risk in the public debate about food, and consumers are constantly exposed to conflicting sources of information about food safety and healthy diets. This may create uncertainty among consumers and affect food choice. This study aims to evaluate change in consumers' perception of food safety and in trust in nutrition experts' advice, as well as consumer awareness of health issues regarding food and the degree to which they take health into consideration when choosing food for their everyday meals. This report is based on two cross-sectional, interviewer-administered surveys of nationally representative samples of the Norwegian population over 15 years of age, conducted in 1994 (n=1048) and 1999 (n=999). The data were analyzed with the use of factor analysis, t-tests, ANOVA, and logistic regression. Consumers' uncertainty about food safety increased and trust in expert advice declined. Fewer consumers considered fat-rich foods to be a part of a healthy diet in1999 and fewer reported having health considerations in mind when making everyday food choices. Uncertainty was unrelated to consumer food choice, whereas trust had implications for the degree to which consumers chose what they believed to be a healthy diet. In conclusion, the results have shown that the decline in trust in expert advice may have important implications as to whether or not consumers use their nutritional knowledge in the choice of foods for their everyday meals.     

The effect of health benefit information on consumers health value, attitudes and intentions

This research explored the effect of health benefit information on individuals’ stated health value, attitudes towards functional/enriched foods, expectations, perceptions, and intentions to purchase a new fibre-enriched fish product. The study used a randomized design involving an experimental group receiving fibre and health information on the product and a control group who did not receive such information. The results indicated that consumers in the experimental group scored higher on the average attitudes towards functional/enriched foods than did consumers in the control group. No significant differences were observed for other variables. Following a value–attitude–behaviour approach, the study proposed a model relating consumers’ health value to their attitudes towards functional/enriched foods, attitudes towards the new functional product and intention to purchase the product, and tested how information affected the structural model. Four of the seven relationships in the structural model proved to be moderated by information. For example, the results indicated that information constrained the association between the health value and product-related health perceptions or hedonic expectations, when individuals had negative attitudes towards the functional/enriched food products. Overall, the study advances the existing literature on the effects of information on consumer behaviour by adding insights into how information simultaneously influenced the mean values and the relationships among the health value, attitudinal factors and intention.     

Investigating Greek consumers' attitudes towards low-fat food products: a segmentation study

The present study aims at gaining a first insight into Greek consumers' attitudes towards low-fat food products. Although Greece, and in particular Crete, have enjoyed a great popularity in terms of the Mediterranean diet, there has been an almost complete lack of low-fat-related surveys concerning the Greek food consumer. Using this as a research trigger, the current investigation evolves around the conflict between 'sensory appeal' and 'healthiness' of low-fat products, widely described in the international literature. Other crucial factors examined are consumers' awareness, occasional use and conscious purchase of, and willingness to pay for, food products with the 'low-fat' claim. Overall, the study has the objective to segment the Greek market in terms of users' perceptions of light products and to identify a number of well-described clusters with clear-cut socio-demographic and behavioural profile. Three clusters are identified, comprised of consumers with favourable attitudes towards low-fat foods and willing to pay premiums to purchase them.     

CHANGES IN CONSUMER CONCERNS REGARDING FOOD SAFETY AND TRUST IN NUTRITION EXPERTS’ ADVICE

There has been an increasing emphasis on health risk in the public debate about food, and consumers are constantly exposed to conflicting sources of information about food safety and healthy diets. This may create uncertainty among consumers and affect food choice. This study aims to evaluate change in consumers’ perception of food safety and in trust in nutrition experts’ advice, as well as consumer awareness of health issues regarding food and the degree to which they take health into consideration when choosing food for their everyday meals. This report is based on two cross-sectional, interviewer-administered surveys of nationally representative samples of the Norwegian population over 15 years of age, conducted in 1994 (n=1048) and 1999 (n=999). The data were analyzed with the use of factor analysis, t-tests, ANOVA, and logistic regression. Consumers’ uncertainty about food safety increased and trust in expert advice declined. Fewer consumers considered fat-rich foods to be a part of a healthy diet in1999 and fewer reported having health considerations in mind when making everyday food choices. Uncertainty was unrelated to consumer food choice, whereas trust had implications for the degree to which consumers chose what they believed to be a healthy diet. In conclusion, the results have shown that the decline in trust in expert advice may have important implications as to whether or not consumers use their nutritional knowledge in the choice of foods for their everyday meals.     

Consumers' willingness to buy functional foods. The influence of carrier, benefit and trust

The goal of the present study was to examine factors that influence willingness to buy functional foods. Data were collected from a representative mail survey in Switzerland (n=249). Results suggest that consumers are more inclined to buy functional foods with physiological health claims compared with psychological health claims. Health claims were most positively evaluated when attached to a product with a positive health image. Results further show that participants who have trust in the food industry are more likely to buy functional foods compared with participants who do not have trust in the food industry. Older consumers were more interested in functional foods than younger consumers.     

Pre-Launch Exploration of Consumer Willingness to Purchase Selenium- and Iodine-Biofortified Apples—A Discrete Choice Analysis of Possible Market Settings

Selenium and iodine are essential micronutrients for humans. They are often deficient in food supply due to low phytoavailable concentrations in soil. Agronomic biofortification of food crops is one approach to overcome micronutrient malnutrition. This study focused on a pre-launch exploration of German consumers’ willingness to purchase selenium- and/or iodine-biofortified apples. For this purpose, an online survey was carried out. In this context, consumers were asked to choose their most preferred apple product from a set card of product alternatives in a discrete choice experiment (DCE). The multinomial logit model results demonstrated that German consumers’ have a particular preference for iodine-biofortified apples. Furthermore, apple choice was mainly influenced by price, health claims, and plastic-free packaging material. Viewed individually, selenium did not exert an effect on product choice whereas positive interactions between both micronutrients exist.     

Consumer attitudes towards genetically modified foods

The present study reports attitudes towards genetically modified (GM) foods among Swedish consumers. A random nation-wide sample of 2,000 addressees, aged 18-65 years, were mailed a questionnaire and 786 (39%) responded. Most of these consumers were rather negative about GM foods. However, males, younger respondents and those with higher level of education were more positive than were females, older respondents and those with lower level of education. A majority of the consumers had moral and ethical doubts about eating GM foods and did not perceive attributes like better taste or lower price beneficial enough to persuade them to purchase GM foods. However, tangible benefits, like being better for the environment or healthier, seemed to increase willingness to purchase GM foods.