In this work, we examine the factors predicting the perception of three distinct risks, namely “Algae growth”, “Chemical pollution” and “Changes to ecosystems”, to the water environment of each ...European Union Member State. We utilize a novel dataset that combines a Europe-wide Eurobarometer poll on water-related issues and a database of water quality indicators, water stressors and impacts compiled for the European Environment Agency (EEA) under the Water Information System for Europe (WISE). We utilize a three-level logistic regression model with the 2nd and 3rd levels being the region and the country in which the respondent lives. We find that perceived risks generally reflect the actual state of the environment at both the regional and national level, with the national level being stronger. Perceived risks are also related to socio-demographics, information and knowledge, pro-environmental activity and consumer practices. The influence of unobserved factors, captured in the model by random effects, was large at the national level, reflecting differences in cultural and institutional structures”. Results support higher levels of water policy devolution and more focused and targeted policy communication.
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•Public perception of threats to water reflects real impairment in local water bodies.•Water environment risk perception is heightened for women and the educated.•Perceived water environment risks are higher among environmentally engaged citizens.•Water policy can be efficiently communicated if it targets specific social segments.
PurposeProtected designation of origin (PDO) and protected geographical indication (PGI) products form the core of the European Union (EU) quality food policy. Low and fragmented logo recognition ...perils the entire plan. This work aims to provide a “classification” of European consumers as regards logo awareness based on generic demographic and socio-economic characteristics and to test hypotheses relating PDO awareness with the purchasing behaviour of consumers.Design/methodology/approachThe work utilises publicly available pan-European databases collected from Eurobarometer in four rolling surveys from 2012 to 2017. The statistical analysis exploits the spatially nested nature of the data.FindingsThe “logo aware” consumer is distinctively different from the average representative European consumer. A range of demographic, human capital and socio-economic characteristics and behavioural and attitudinal traits differentiate the consumers who are aware of the logo. Country and region effects are vital.Research limitations/implicationsBenefits of large and representative samples accrue by utilising available Eurobarometer surveys. This comes at a cost. The individual researcher has no control over the questions included in the questionnaire.Practical implicationsConsumer classification forms the basis of awareness-raising strategies. It reveals the numerous segments of aware and non-aware consumers and opens a discussion about tools and methods to reach out to the European consumer.Originality/valueThis analysis holds an exact pan-European perspective and incorporates consumers' characteristics, behaviour, attitudes and country and region effects.
The income elasticity of Willingness-To-Pay (WTP) is ambiguous and results from meta-analyses are disparate. This may be because the environmental good or service to be valued is very broadly defined ...or because the income measured in individual studies suffers from extensive non-reporting or miss reporting. The present study carries out a meta-analysis of WTP to restore Good Ecological Status (GES) under the Water Framework Directive (WFD). This environmental service is narrowly defined and its aims and objectives are commonly understood among the members of the scientific community. Besides income reported by the individual studies, wealth and income indicators collected by Eurostat for the geographic entities covered by the individual studies are used. Meta-regression analyses show that income is statistically significant, explains a substantial proportion of WTP variability and its elasticity is considerable in magnitude ranging from 0.6 to almost 1.7. Results are robust to variations in the sample of the individual studies participating in the meta-analysis, the econometric approach and the function form of the meta-regression. The choice of wealth or income measure is not that important as it is whether this measure is Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) adjusted among the individual studies.
•A meta-analysis of WTP to restore Good Ecological Status (GES) under the Water Framework Directive (WFD) is performed.•Restoring water bodies to GES is a narrowly defined and commonly understood environmental service.•Income measures reported by the individual studies is complemented by wealth and income indicators collected by Eurostat.•Meta-regression analyses show that income as an independent variable explains a substantial proportion of WTP variability.•Income elasticity of WTP is statistically significant ranging from 0.6 to almost 1.7 and is very robust in many respects.
Purpose – The purpose of this work is to examine the range of information consumers seek on labels of quality products and construct an indicative check‐list of various types of informational ...labeling as well as to examine whether quality of information demanded segregates the market‐creating segments to be targeted by firms.Design/methodology/approach – An extensive interdisciplinary literature review based on findings in marketing, economics, geography and sociology reveals the often neglected range of factors forcing consumers to place importance on regionally denominated food and drink. The European Union (EU) has responded to growing consumer trends towards regional and traditional food and established special schemes regulating the production of such food and drink. A survey of 640 consumers of quality wine carried out within the framework of an EU‐funded program provides the empirical material of this work.Findings – The study records the range of informational labeling sought by consumers as well as critical factors influencing their consuming behavior. Informational labeling linking product to place ranks top among a wide set of information sought on labels. A Poisson count data model reveals that consumers’ willingness to acquire information from labels is influenced by various socio‐economic characteristics and, in general, high demand for information is associated with higher expenditures for wine.Originality/value – Informational labeling is a significant step for place revalorization and cultural relocalization and provides significant prospects to enterprises marketing local culture. Research should be extended to the examination of other products and the comparative assessment of the findings.
This data article provides a data description on all subsamples related to the research article entitled “Don’t change my towels please: Factors influencing participation in towel reuse programs” (E. ...Dimara, E. Manganari, D. Skuras, 2017) 1. The dataset was compiled from a field questionnaire survey of 1304 tourists in Greece that captured key demographic, behavioral and psychographic characteristics. The dataset is split into distinct sub-samples that differ depending on whether tourists chose to respond to certain parts of the questionnaire or not. We provide descriptive statistics for the entire sample and all sub-samples as well the questionnaire׳s version in English and the econometric procedures to analyze this complex dataset. This dataset will allow researchers to include the study׳s results in future elaborated meta-analyses and/or gain a better insight to the study׳s major conclusions.
Recent studies have demonstrated that projected climate change will likely enhance nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) loss from farms and farmland, with the potential to worsen freshwater ...eutrophication. Here, we investigate the relative importance of the climate and land use drivers of nutrient loss in nine study catchments in Europe and a neighboring country (Turkey), ranging in area from 50 to 12,000 km2. The aim was to quantify whether planned large-scale, land use change aimed at N and P loss reduction would be effective given projected climate change. To this end, catchment-scale biophysical models were applied within a common framework to quantify the integrated effects of projected changes in climate, land use (including wastewater inputs), N deposition, and water use on river and lake water quantity and quality for the mid-21st century. The proposed land use changes were derived from catchment stakeholder workshops, and the assessment quantified changes in mean annual N and P concentrations and loads. At most of the sites, the projected effects of climate change alone on nutrient concentrations and loads were small, whilst land use changes had a larger effect and were of sufficient magnitude that, overall, a move to more environmentally focused farming achieved a reduction in N and P concentrations and loads despite projected climate change. However, at Beyşehir lake in Turkey, increased temperatures and lower precipitation reduced water flows considerably, making climate change, rather than more intensive nutrient usage, the greatest threat to the freshwater ecosystem. Individual site responses did however vary and were dependent on the balance of diffuse and point source inputs. Simulated lake chlorophyll-a changes were not generally proportional to changes in nutrient loading. Further work is required to accurately simulate the flow and water quality extremes and determine how reductions in freshwater N and P translate into an aquatic ecosystem response.
Towel reuse is the flagship of hotel environmental practices. This paper examines the effects of consumer demographic, psychographic and behavioral characteristics influencing a two-stage decision ...making process including participation and support to a towel reuse program. A meta-analysis shows that 53% of customers are willing to financially support green hotels. A survey of 1304 Greek and foreign hotel customers in tourism hot spots in Greece reveals that 72% of hotel customers would adopt a towel reuse program while 44.1% are willing to pay extra an average of 2.15 euros per day to support it. Younger customers and customers that book high-priced hotels or with higher length of stay exhibit higher willingness to pay extra for towel reuse programs. As rising water and energy shortages in specific tourism hotspots bring hotels' environmental integration under increased scrutiny, the focal findings hold significant implications for hotel managers and tourism policy makers.
•We examine consumers' willingness to participate and pay premium for towel reuse.•A meta-analysis and a survey are conducted.•The role of demographic, psychographic and behavioral factors is highlighted.•The majority of hotel customers are willing to reuse their towels.•A significant customer segment is willing to pay extra for towel reuse programs.
Skuras D., Dimara E. and Petrou A (2006) Rural tourism and visitors' expenditures for local food products, Regional Studies
40, 769-779. European rural development policy has supported the production ...of local and regionally denominated food as a means to differentiate agricultural production, and rural tourism as a means to diversify rural employment. The aim of the present work is to address tourists' decision to buy local food products while visiting lagging rural areas and the amount of money spent over these products. The findings should be of particular interest to practitioners of rural development as they point out to possible market segmentation and communication potentials, and reflect on differences between accessible and less accessible rural areas.
Skuras D., Dimara E. et Petrou A (2006) Le tourisme rural et les dépenses des visiteurs pour les produits alimentaires du pays, Regional Studies
40, 769-779. La politique européenne en faveur du développement rural a favorisé les produits alimentaires d'origine contrôlée comme moyen de différencier la production, et le tourisme rural comme moyen de diversifier l'emploi rural. Cet article cherche à aborder la décision des touristes d'acheter les produits alimentaires du pays au moment de leur visite aux zones rurales en perte de vitesse et le montant d'argent dépensé pour ces produits. Les conclusions tirées devraient être d'un intérêt particulier pour les spécialistes en développement rural parce qu'elles indiquent un potentiel éventuel quant à la segmentation du marché et à la communication, et reflètent des différences entre les zones rurales accessibles et moins accessibles.
Tourisme rural Produits alimentaires du pays Développement rural Dépenses des visiteurs
Skuras D., Dimara E. und Petrou A (2006) Tourismus auf dem Lande und Ausgaben der Feriengäste für am Orte erzeugte Nahrungsmittel, Regional Studies
40, 769-779. Die Europapolitik für ländliche Entwicklung hat die Erzeugung von als örtlich und regional klassifizierten Nahrungsmitteln als Mittel der Unterscheidung zwischen landwirtschaftlicher Produktion und den Tourismus auf dem Lande als Mittel zur Diversifikation der Erwerbstätigkeit auf dem Lande unterstützt. Mit der vorliegenden Arbeit soll untersucht werden, unter welchen Umständen Touristen in wirtschaftlich unterentwickelten ländlichen Gebieten vor Ort erzeugte Nahrungsmittel kaufen und wie viel Geld sie für solche Erzeugnisse ausgeben. Die Befunde dieser Arbeit sollten besonders diejenigen interessieren, die in der Entwicklung ländlicher Gebiete tätig sind, da sie auf etwaige Segmentierung des Marktes und Ausbau der Verbindungen hinweisen, und Überlegungen bezüglich Unterschieden zwischen leicht und weniger leicht zugänglichen ländlichen Gebieten anstellen.
Tourismus auf dem Lande Örtlich erzeugte Nahrungsmittel Ländliche Entwicklung Ausgaben der Feriengäste
Skuras D., Dimara E. y Petrou A (2006) Turismo rural y gastos de los visitantes en alimentos locales, Regional Studies
40, 769-779. La política europea de desarrollo rural ha respaldado la producción de alimentos locales y regionales como método para diferenciar la producción agrícola y el turismo rural, y para diversificar el empleo rural. El objetivo del presente trabajo es considerar la decisión de los turistas de comprar productos alimentarios locales cuando visitan zonas rurales retrasadas y la cantidad de dinero que se gastan en estos productos. Los resultados de este trabajo deberían ser especialmente interesantes para los expertos en el desarrollo rural puesto que señalan la potencial división del mercado y la posible comunicación y reflejan las diferencias entre zonas rurales accesibles y menos accesibles.
Turismo rural Alimentos locales Desarrollo rural Gastos de visitantes
Stakeholders argue that the information barrier is the major obstacle restricting firms from adopting Energy Efficiency Technologies (EETs) in Europe. The present work examines the processes of ...information gathering as regards to EETs and explores the factors affecting the level of acquired information by EET adopters. Empirical evidence is provided by a data set of Greek manufacturing firms which have adopted EETs. In conclusion, we propose appropriate policy measures able to promote the adoption of EETs by overcoming the information barrier.
Recent empirical research has questioned the ability of agglomeration economies to stimulate profitability and healthy financial performance in firms. We devise a cross‐sectional sample of ...approximately 410,000 firms that were active in all subsectors of the manufacturing industry and that were located across 191 NUTS 2 regions of 15 European Union member states in 2005. For each firm, we calculate two profitability indicators and a labour efficiency indicator. We find that the part of the variance of the profitability and labour efficiency indicators that is attributed to regions is very small. Furthermore, fitted multilevel models show that the quantitative effect of regional specialisation, despite being statistically significant, is very small. The results are robust across more refined geographical scales and subsectors. However, the NUTS 2 level remains the major spatial scale of the design and implementation of European Union regional policy. Our results benefit from the power and safety of a large sample and challenge conventional approaches to agglomeration research and cluster policy.
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