Classification of data collection methods (= Deliverable 3.1 of the OrganicDataNetwork project - Report on collection methods)

In this report, a number of evaluation and quality criteria for data collection and compilation methods were defined. The results of an online survey on all existing organic market data collection methods in Europe were compiled and assessed. Subsequently the quality of existing data collection and processing approaches was evaluated using the following data quality dimensions: relevance, accuracy, comparability, coherence, accessibility and clarity, and timeliness and punctuality. The quality assessment was carried out exemplary to determine some good examples of data collection and processing. These cases were chosen because they delivered a very holistic and comprehensive presentation of their approaches regarding data collection methods, analyses, quality checks, and publication

Farmer Consumer Partnerships: Information search and decision making - the case of ethical values of organic products

The CORE Organic pilot project ‘Farmer Consumer Partnerships’ aims at analysing and testing innovative communication strategies of organic companies with respect to ethical values as a means of reconnecting organic farmers and consumers against the varying cultural and behavioural backgrounds of consumers in five European countries (AT, CH, DE, IT UK). The previous work packages (WP1 and WP2) provided a selection of the most promising communication arguments with respect to ethical values of organic food based on literature review and on the farmers’ or farmers’ initiatives point of view. Based on this, the task is to narrow down the wide range of existing arguments related to ethical values in organic food production. Therefore, the arguments were categorised in a pragmatic way, taking into consideration the likely beneficiaries of these ethical activities and the expert rating of research partners. The final selection included the three major categories of economic, social and environmental concerns and, additionally, animal welfare as well as cultural issues. Finally, 14 ethical arguments belonging to the following sub-dimensions were chosen: biodiversity, animal welfare, regional production, fairness in relation to the farmer, care farming, social aspects of production, and the preservation of cultural features. The aim of this work package was to confront consumers with these ethical concerns and to identify the most promising communication attributes for further analyses within the next work packages. It was to be determined which ethical information is most interesting for consumers in the partner countries with respect to the purchase decision on organic food. Chapter 2 concentrates on the theoretical perspective of information search within consumer behaviour. Factors influencing extensiveness and content of information search are presented. Chapter 3 is dedicated to the description of the methodological approach of the research within this research step. For the analyses within this research, it was decided to use the Information Display Matrix (IDM). The IDM is a process tracing method aiming at monitoring the cognitive processes underlying information search, judgement and choice. The IDM was used to analyse the depth of information search regarding ethical values of organic food and to identify those ethical attributes most relevant for decision making. The two-dimensional matrix lists alternative product stimuli in columns, while product attributes are listed in rows. Each cell contains concealed information about a product-related attribute, which has to be accessed one after another by the subject in order to obtain the information (Jacoby et al. 1987, Mühlbacher and Kirchler 2003). The ethical attributes were tested with the product organic milk. The IDM was accompanied by a questionnaire aiming at the validation of the results obtained by the IDM, at an explanation of the information acquisition behaviour and at giving answers on the ‘real life’ information behaviour concerning organic food. 240 organic milk buyers were interviewed face-to-face, in a computer assisted manner in the five study countries. Subject of chapter 4 is the description of the sample regarding socio-demographic indicators of participants and ‘real life’ information and purchasing behaviour. Concerning the sources of information on organic food, the results show that ‘articles in newspapers etc.’ are preferred, followed by ‘conversation with family and friends’ and ‘product packaging’. ‘Information by sales personnel’ was frequently mentioned in Italy but rarely in Switzerland and in the UK. ‘Reports on radio or TV’ seem to be less important in Italy than in all other countries. When asked for the kind of information they had actively been looking for within the last two months, ‘product origin’ was mentioned most often, followed by information on ‘ingredients’. In Switzerland and Germany, on the other hand, information on ‘organic certification’ and ‘production and processing methods’ was ranked higher than information on ‘ingredients’. In Italy, information on ‘product quality’ was more frequently asked for than on ‘ingredients’ whereas in the UK, information on ‘food miles’ is more important. Information on ‘prices’ seems to be much more important in Austria than in all the other countries. Chapter 5 concentrates on the depth and content of information search for ethical values of organic food obtained by means of the IDM. On average, respondents spent 4:28 minutes for information search and opened 34 information fields within the IDM. There are marked differences between the countries. Besides socio-demographic factors like age and the level of education, attitudes regarding organic food consumption could be identified to have an impact on the amount of information looked for preceding the product choice. The importance of different attributes for the choice of the organic product was analysed via the share that each attribute has in all firstly accessed attributes and via the frequency of accession of each attribute. According to these indicators, the most important attributes are ‘animal welfare’, ‘regional production’ and ‘fair prices for farmers‘. These attributes were followed by ‘product price’, indicating that consumers tend to prefer cheaper products over ethical products with attributes like ‘care farming’, ‘social criteria of production’, ‘protection of biodiversity’ and ‘cultural aspects’. There are only minor differences between the countries in the order of the most important attributes. Only in Italy ‘product price’ seems to be more important than ‘fair prices’ and ‘animal welfare’. Factors impacting on the preferred ethical concern are age, gender, level of education and motives for organic consumption. Expected relationships between attitudes towards organic consumption and the preferred ethical concern proved to be weak. The choice decision shows that the cheaper organic product without any additional ethical values was preferred by 6% of the respondents only. While in Germany 3% decided in favour of the cheaper product, 9% of the Austrian respondents chose the cheaper one. This result allows the conclusion that a large share of consumers of organic food would be willing to pay a price premium for ethical products. The report is completed by some concluding remarks (Chapter 6) pointing at the appropriateness of the IDM for the task fulfilled but also its methodological limitations. The central result of the analyses of work package 3 for the whole project is the identification of the most important ethical values from the consumers’ point of view. However, there are still some open research questions, particularly as for the joint effect of different variables on the respondents’ information behaviour. The corresponding analyses will take place during the next months and will be published in scientific journals

Consumer perception of different organic certification schemes in five European countries

With the introduction of the new mandatory EU logo for organic food and farming, the various existing organic certification schemes in the European market face a challenge: Producers and retailers might only continue to display the existing organic logos on product packages if the underlying certification schemes offer consumers an added value compared to the mandatory EU logo and its scheme. The present study aims to identify potential added values that organic certification schemes could incorporate to differentiate themselves from the mandatory EU logo. The study explores consumer awareness and perception of different organic certification schemes and the corresponding logos, about which little is known to date. The qualitative approach with focus group discussions in the five European countries Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Italy and United Kingdom revealed that consumer knowledge of organic certification schemes is generally low. In Italy and the United Kingdom, the great majority of participants was not aware of any differences between the schemes that were discussed. In the Czech Republic, Denmark and Germany, several participants preferred a particular organic certification scheme over others. The following aspects could be identified as potential added values for certification schemes to differentiate themselves from the EU logo and the underlying scheme: Stricter production standards, stricter control, domestic origin, and fair prices for farmers

Communication of ethical values in organic farming

Due to globalisation and growing anonymity of trade with organic products, farmers in Europe are under pressure to lower their production standards in order to keep up with world-wide competition. On the other hand consumers increasingly criticise food products which were produced under unsatisfactory social and environmental conditions. A literature review indicates that consumers are willing to pay an additional premium for ethical values in organic production regarding social, environmental and economic concerns. This creates possibilities to differentiate from the organic mass markets by providing and communicating ethical values. So far, not much is known about which ethical values and arguments are comprehensible and important to organic consumers and how to communicate them most effectively. This contribution discusses some hypotheses on the communication of additional ethical values in the organic market and points at existing research deficits

Consumer preferences and willingness-to-pay for organic certification logos: Recommendations for actors in the organic sector. Report of the CERTCOST project

In many European countries, a variety of different organic certification logos and schemes is found in the market. In the countries of the European Union (EU), the new mandatory EU logo for organic food was introduced in July 2010, so that other organic logos can only be used in addition to the mandatory EU logo. Within the CERTCOST project, consumer perceptions, preferences and willingness-to-pay (WTP) regarding different organic certification logos were investigated. The seven study countries were Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Turkey and United Kingdom. The overall objective was to give recommendations for actors in the organic sector regarding the use and promotion of organic certification logos. Firstly, an inventory study was conducted in shops with an organic food range in autumn 2008 to get insights into the spectrum of different organic certification logos in the market and the extent of price differences among products with different organic logos. The analysis showed that the importance of different kinds of logos differed considerably between the study countries. Only a few significant price differences between products with and without certain organic logos were found. Secondly, consumer perceptions, preferences and WTP regarding different organic logos as well as consumer views on a mandatory EU logo were investigated by a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods of consumer research (focus group discussions conducted in spring 2009, choice experiments and structured interviews conducted in early 2010). The results revealed that consumers had a low level of factual knowledge about organic production standards and the organic control system. Nevertheless, consumers clearly preferred certain organic logos more than others. Different kinds of organic logos were preferred across the countries. In Denmark and the Czech Republic, consumers were willing to pay a considerably higher price premium for the governmental logo than for the other tested logos. In Germany, a high WTP was recorded for the logo of the farmers’ association Demeter and the governmental logo. In Italy, the old EU logo reached the highest WTP. In Switzerland, the logo of the farmers’ umbrella organisation Bio Suisse was clearly preferred. In Turkey, consumers were willing to pay the highest price premium for the logo of the certification body Ecocert. In the UK, the WTP was the highest for the logos of the Soil Association and the certification body ‘Organic Farmers & Growers’. In all countries, products without a logo just labelled with the prefix ‘organic’ were not trusted. The introduction of a mandatory EU logo was generally welcomed by the participants. However, trust in the underlying standards and the control system was not very pronounced except in Italy. The report briefly outlines the methods and results, while the focus lies on recommendations for different actors in the organic sector with regard to the use and promotion of organic certification logos. To increase consumer trust in the new mandatory EU logo, it is recommended that promotion campaigns should be carried out explaining what the logo indicates. Regarding the investigated governmental logos, it is recommended that their use should be continued, at least in a transition period, since a high level of consumer trust in the logos was recorded. For organic certification logos of private organisations it is recommended that their use should only be continued for logos that offer a clear ‘added value’ compared to the EU logo

Identifying the gap between stated and actual buying behaviour on organic products based on consumer panel data

Evaluating the German demand for organic food in the majority of cases has been done by interviews, which are restricted by massive overestimation of consumers themselves. By using consumer panels, it is possible to survey actual consumer behaviour in combination with consumer attitudes and socio-demographic data and also by additionally requested consumers’ stated buying behaviour. Such methodology enables exposure and quantification of the gap between stated and actual buying frequency. Also the dimension of conventional products bought by mistake, while intending to get organics, can be identified. These results may give considerations for prospective survey design and adjustment of marketing policy

Determinants of Choice Regarding Food with Nutrition and Health Claims

Health is an increasingly important topic in the food market. The regulation (EC) No 1924/2006 on nutrition and health claims is meant to facilitate healthy food choices of consumers. However, research studies about claim perception and choice behaviour are scarce in Europe up to this point, especially those focusing on revealed preferences or a close-to-realistic study design. This contribution reports findings of realistically designed choice-tests accompanied by video-observation and followed by a face-to-face questionnaire. Logistic regression analysis was applied in order to determine the influencing factors on purchase behaviour of food products with claims. Perception of relative healthiness of the product with a claim, credibility of the claim and extent of information acquisition were found to influence choice positively, while claim format and product category were of no importance.Consumer behaviour, health claims, choice tests, Consumer/Household Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

Applicability of analysis techniques to determine consumer behaviour

To explain consumers’ actual buying behaviour, a choice experiment and a standardised interview shall be combined in a twofold methodological approach. While the choice experiment provides information about consumers’ buying behaviour, the interview shall examine backgrounds and reasons for the choice decision by investigating the internal factors consisting of consumer attitudes, motivations and emotions, as well as the external factors, which are socio-demographic characteristics. The data provided by this twofold methodological approach need to be linked in the analysis procedure. Thus, the aim of this paper is to discuss the applicability of single multivariate analysis techniques and their ability to explain consumer behaviour. To identify causalities between the observed behaviour and factors influencing the buying behaviour, two successive techniques are favoured. To reduce the large set of variables collected in the interview, a factor analysis is suggested. To link the variables of experiment and interview, both multiple regression analysis and ANOVA are applicable to explain causalities. Multiple regression analysis is suggested as it is more flexible towards the measurement level of the independent variable if only a small number of non-metric variables have to be transformed into dummy variables