The number of consumers following a vegan diet has notably increased in many industrialised countries and it is likely that their influence on the food sector will continue to grow. The aim of the ...present study was to identify different segments of consumers according to their motivation for following a vegan diet. Another objective was to analyse the attitudes of these consumers towards animal agriculture. The main focus was to determine whether all consumers following a vegan diet oppose animal agriculture in general or if some of these consumers accept certain forms of animal agriculture. The 2014 study, conducted at seven vegan supermarkets in Germany, was based on face-to-face interviews with 329 consumers following a vegan diet. The open question on consumer motivations for adopting a vegan diet revealed three main motives: Animal-related motives (mentioned by 89.7% of the respondents), motives related to personal well-being and/or health (69.3%), and environment-related motives (46.8%). The two-step cluster analysis identified five consumer segments with different motivations for following a vegan diet. The vast majority of respondents (81.8%) mentioned more than one motive. We conclude that making a dichotomous segmentation into ethical versus self-oriented consumers, as previous authors have done, disregards the fact that many consumers following a vegan diet are driven by more than one motive. The consumer segments had significantly different attitudes towards animal agriculture. We identified consumers following a vegan diet (about one third of the sample) who might be open to forms of animal agriculture guaranteeing animal welfare standards going beyond current practices. The present study has interesting implications for the food sector and the agricultural sector.
Research has shown that the economic and ecological optimum productive life of dairy cows is between six and seven lactations, but the current average length in Switzerland, and many other countries, ...is approximately half that figure. Reasons for culling can be unplanned, such as illness, or planned, such as to achieve breeding goals, but the reasons for the sub-optimal length of productive life are not fully understood. The aim of this study is to investigate systemic barriers to, and enablers of, the extension of the length of productive life of dairy cows in Switzerland. To address this aim, we focused on the power of actor groups in the incumbent system to induce change. We analysed the content of 29 interviews with industry experts, including practising vets, agricultural advisors, breeders' organisations, farmers' organisations, dairies and retailers, government officials, and agricultural educators. The results indicate that vets, advisors, and breeders' organisations have key resources, which could potentially be mobilized to achieve an optimal length of productive life. These resources include their relationships to farmers (human resource), their knowledge, information/data, and strategy (mental resources), and the breeding value (artefactual resource). However, the incumbent system is inflexible, which hinders individual industry actors to facilitate change. Collaborative reflection at industry level, led by breeders' associations, vets, and advisors, may create the conditions to create change and enable an optimization of the productive life of dairy cows in Switzerland.
•Swiss dairy farmers act against their own interests by culling their cows too early.•System level changes are needed to extend the average productive life of dairy cows.•System level changes are difficult in the stable, and inflexible, Swiss dairy system.•Vets, advisors, and breeder's organisations could motivate reflection and change.
Political decision-makers in the European Union (EU) are currently discussing the introduction of a mandatory uniform labelling scheme for meat and milk that provides information on husbandry systems ...similar to the already existent labelling scheme in the EU egg market. The objective of this paper was to assess whether such information is relevant to consumers when buying meat and milk. The paper was based on a systematic synthesis of 53 scientific journal articles on empirical consumer studies. The review revealed that consumers perceived the aspects of outdoor access, stocking density and floor type as important factors influencing animal welfare. On average, consumers not only had a positive attitude towards more animal welfare-friendly husbandry systems with outdoor access and space allowance but were also willing to pay a price premium for products from such systems. All studies on consumer segmentation identified at least one consumer segment that placed great importance on animal welfare-friendly husbandry systems. Interestingly, many studies identified one or more other segments who still had a significant preference for animal welfare-friendly products even though other product attributes were more important to them. Based on the findings, the paper presents conclusions regarding the labelling of husbandry systems for meat and milk.
There is a knowledge gap regarding the visual information search for prices of organic food during shopping. This study aimed to give insights on this subject and thus measured the visual information ...search using mobile eye-tracking glasses in a laboratory test market with 148 consumers. Study participants had to decide for one among six unfamiliar brands in each of two product categories. Consumers were grouped according to their choices in the test market into consumers of conventional food, regular consumers of organic food and occasional consumers of organic food. These groups were investigated regarding their visual search for package and price information of organic compared to conventional products. The results showed that 97.2% of consumers of conventional and 97.0% of regular consumers of organic food noticed most prices of organic food. Further, approximately three-quarters of price tags were reexamined after a first look. There was no difference between regular organic, occasional organic and conventional consumers in the amount of visual attention allocated to prices of organic food; however, of the time that participants spent looking at organic alternatives, conventional consumers gazed significantly longer at prices of organic food than regular and occasional organic consumers. The fixation durations on packages of organic and prices and packages of conventional products were significant predictors of the choice of organic and conventional products. The results imply that the precondition for price comparisons and evaluations, i.e. noticing prices, is met for most products in all consumer groups. Regular and occasional organic consumers pay attention to prices of organic and conventional products despite their organic ‘predisposition’. Even though conventional consumers are more focused on prices, many of them chose a conventional product which was higher priced than an organic alternative. Hence, other motivations also play a determining role for their choices.
•Review of consumer behaviour research regarding organic food prices.•Majority of studies on willingness-to-pay for organic food.•Very few studies on price learning and price knowledge of consumers ...are existent.•No studies on affective processes of consumer behaviour regarding price.•Results of studies on price elasticity and on willingness-to-pay are contradictory.
This article reviews research on consumer behaviour regarding the price of organic food published from January 2000 to December 2013, in order to identify the current state of research and research gaps. The publications were classified into stimulus–response or stimulus–organism–response paradigm based studies. Organism-internal processes were further divided into ‘affective’, ‘cognitive’ and ‘intentional’ processes. Moreover, for a systematic review the categories ‘price elasticity’, ‘price perception and evaluation’, ‘price knowledge’, and ‘willingness-to-pay’ were built. The majority of studies were based on a stimulus–organism–response paradigm. 20 studies in the sample analysed the price elasticity of demand and reported partly contradictory results. There were no studies on affective processes in the sample. A solid body of knowledge exists on the cognitive processes ‘price perception and evaluation’ while very few studies investigate ‘price knowledge’. The majority of studies were concerned with the willingness-to-pay for organic food and yielded mixed and contradictory results. The explanatory power and conclusiveness of research is impaired by weak sampling techniques (e.g., convenience sampling, sampling at few locations) and data collection methods. The improvement of sampling techniques, the increase of comparability of results and the deepening of analyses is recommended.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to gain insights into organic consumers’ price sensitivity by investigating price knowledge, willingness-to-pay and real purchase decision.
...Design/methodology/approach
Organic food consumers’ price knowledge, willingness-to-pay and real purchase decision were examined in a comprehensive field study with 642 respondents. An innovative method was used to collect data for products that were truly relevant to the respondents: before entering the shop, respondents were asked about the items on their shopping list, the prices they expected to find and the maximum prices they were willing to pay. If respondents stated a willingness-to-pay value below the actual store price, they were approached again after shopping to verify their purchase decision.
Findings
The great majority of respondents failed to estimate the correct store price. The deviation between the estimated price and the actual store price was on average 19.9 per cent. The respondents were willing to pay on average 52.7 per cent above store prices. It was revealed that in 67.0 per cent of the cases, respondents bought a product even though the store price was higher than the willingness-to-pay they stated upon entering the store.
Practical implications
Category-specific insights into price knowledge and willingness-to-pay of organic consumers might be used for price differentiation strategies.
Originality/value
To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to investigate organic consumers’ item- and store-specific price knowledge, willingness-to-pay and real purchase decision in a single-source approach.
Weltweit bringen humanökologische Gesellschaften interdisziplinäres Arbeiten voran. Die Deutsche Gesellschaft für Humanökologie inten siviert die bestehenden internationalen Kontakte und stärkt damit ...auch die Humanökologie im deutschsprachigen Raum. Ein Vorhaben ist der Aufbau eines europäischen Kollegs nach amerikanischem Vorbild.
