British Food Journal

Husic-Mehmedovic, Melika; Arslanagic-Kalajdzic, Maja; Kadic-Maglajlic, Selma; Vajnberger, Zlatan

2017 British Food Journal

doi: 10.1108/BFJ-07-2016-0343

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to disentangle the effect of life equilibrium on organic food purchase intentions through a consideration of the evaluation of intrinsic and extrinsic food quality attributes. Furthermore, the study examines the role of health consciousness in achieving life equilibrium.Design/methodology/approachThe conceptual framework was developed based on previous research and tested through a quantitative study with end consumers. The hypothesized relationships were tested using structural equation modelling.FindingsThe results obtained from this study show that the perceived quality associated with the intrinsic attributes of organic food mediates a positive influence of life equilibrium on consumers’ organic food purchase intentions. The study also confirms that life equilibrium mediates the effects of health consciousness on the evaluation of intrinsic and extrinsic food quality attributes.Research limitations/implicationsThe theoretical contributions of the paper lie in uncovering the complex relationships that exist among health consciousness, life equilibrium, perceived organic food quality dimensions and purchase intentions and providing new evidence showing which perceived intrinsic organic food quality dimensions are relevant in shaping consumers’ purchase intentions.Practical implicationsThe research results suggest that organic food managers should focus on developing stronger value propositions that are based more on intrinsic food quality characteristics and less on extrinsic ones.Originality/valueThis study recognizes the relevance of life equilibrium as a specific consumer lifestyle form, which drives organic food consumption through extrinsic and intrinsic food quality attributes.

Tleis, Malak; Callieris, Roberta; Roma, Rocco

2017 British Food Journal

doi: 10.1108/BFJ-08-2016-0354

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to discover profiles of organic food consumers in Lebanon by performing a market segmentation based on lifestyle and attitude variables and thus be able to propose appropriate marketing strategies for each market segment.Design/methodology/approachA survey, based on the use of closed-ended questionnaire, was addressed to 320 organic food consumers in the capital Beirut, in February and March 2014. Descriptive analysis, principal component analysis and cluster analysis (k-means method) were performed upon collected data.FindingsFour clusters were obtained and labelled based on psychographic characteristics and willingness to pay for the most purchased organic products. “Localist” and “Health conscious” clusters were the largest proportion of the selected sample, thus these were the most critical to be addressed by specific marketing strategies, emphasising the combination of local and organic food and the healthy properties of organic products. “Rational” and “Irregular” cluster were relatively small groups, addressed by pricing and promotional strategies.Originality/valueThis is the first study attempting to segment organic food consumers into different categories in a developing country as Lebanon.

Li, Yongtao; Zhong, Changbiao

2017 British Food Journal

doi: 10.1108/BFJ-10-2016-0456

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the factors that influence consumers’ consumption behavior with regard to green aquatic products from a social cognitive theory perspective.Design/methodology/approachA web survey was used to collect the data. The survey subjects were citizens of Ningbo City in Zhejiang Province. A total of 403 subjects were obtained through the sampling service, and 337 subjects were retained after strict examination. The data were used to construct a partial least squares structural equation model.FindingsThe cognition of green aquatic products significantly positively affects outcome expectancy, self-efficacy, perception of others’ behavior, and socio-structural conditions. Self-efficacy and outcome expectancy significantly positively influence consumption intention. Self-efficacy, perception of others’ behavior, and consumption intention significantly positively affect consumption behavior.Practical implicationsThe concept, connotations and benefits of green aquatic products should be widely publicized through diversified channels to increase people’s knowledge of these products and to encourage people to distinguish them from regular aquatic products and to believe in their benefits. In addition, measures should be taken to guarantee that only genuine green aquatic products can enter the market because the false claims of some products have damaged consumers’ belief in these products.Originality/valueTo test the effect of the cognition of green aquatic products, the construct “the cognition of green aquatic products” was added to the model based on social cognitive theory. This paper contributes to the existing literature by further exploring how cognitive aspects affect consumption behavior with regard to green food.

Baba, Yasmina; Kallas, Zein; Realini, Carolina

2017 British Food Journal

doi: 10.1108/BFJ-06-2016-0261

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to analyse the appropriateness of the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) to measure consumers’ acceptance and preference for eggs enriched with omega-3 (n-3) fatty acids as a health claim and to compare its results with the traditional nine-point hedonic scale.Design/methodology/approachThe AHP was used as a multi-criteria decision analysis. Data were obtained from a face-to-face questionnaire completed by 122 consumers in a controlled environment in Cataluña (Spain).FindingsResults showed the capacity of the AHP to analyse consumers’ acceptance and preferences. An agreement between the AHP and the nine-point scale was found showing that n-3 enriched eggs had lower flavour acceptance, conventional eggs had higher yolk colour acceptance, and conventional and the free-range eggs had similar and higher odour acceptance than the other egg types. The most important attributes that determine preferences for egg purchase were the type and the egg price followed by the origin and the egg size.Research limitations/implicationsThe AHP approach seems to be a reliable tool to evaluate consumers’ hedonic preferences. However, further testing on other food products with larger sample size is needed.Originality/valueThe AHP methodology has been widely used in many fields in the last decades, but to the knowledge, not in the sensory field. In the Spanish market, studies that analyse consumers’ preferences and acceptance of eggs are scarce, and new insights are needed particularly regarding n-3 enriched eggs.

Pilone, Vittoria; Stasi, Antonio; Baselice, Antonio

2017 British Food Journal

doi: 10.1108/BFJ-09-2016-0419

PurposeIn Europe fresh-cut fruit and vegetables, is one of the major growing segments in agro-food sector. Current literature reports a limited number of studies about consumers’ preferences towards these products. In particular, it lacks of studies focussed on fresh-cut salads and based on market data. In this paper, a study on consumer preferences towards the main attributes of Italian fresh-cut salads is proposed. More specifically the investigation is focussed on attributes assessable by consumers before purchase such as assortment, tenderness, product preparation and vegetable variety together with brand, size and type of packaging, presence of organic certification, promotion and product price. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate how much Italian consumers pay for those attributes with the aim to understand how much profitable could be different strategies in the sector.Design/methodology/approachThe analysis is based on IRI-Infoscan scanner data, consisting of 881 fresh-cut products. The impact of each attributes on pricing is measured by means of a hedonic price model.FindingsMain results show that, in Italy, fresh-cut salad price is greatly affected by tenderness, product preparation, assortment, brand, presence of organic certification, packaging attributes and vegetable variety.Practical implicationsFindings offer to producers the possibility to set up products by composing the mix of attributes that gives back the highest price. In addition, they provide some insights to define manufacturer’s strategies.Originality/valueThis paper represents a novelty in economic literature because it can be considered an example of consumer preferences analysis towards the different attributes of fresh-cut vegetables based on real market data.

Hsu, Jane Lu; Shiue, Charlene W.; Hung, Kelsey J.-R.

2017 British Food Journal

doi: 10.1108/BFJ-06-2016-0286

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to reveal influential information used in vegetable purchasing decisions of household primary food shoppers in China and in Taiwan.Design/methodology/approachTwo in-person surveys were administrated separately in Shanghai, China and in Taipei, Taiwan, the two most populous metropolitan areas in China and in Taiwan, respectively.FindingsResults reveal that about 32 per cent of respondents in Taipei purchase vegetables once in every two to three days. The majority of respondents in Shanghai (81 per cent) purchase vegetables on a daily basis. Results of factor analysis reveal the four dimensions, origin labelling, promotion, selection, and quality, influence purchasing decisions of respondents in Taipei and in Shanghai. For household primary food shoppers in Taipei, origin labelling and selection help food shoppers in Taipei in vegetable purchasing decisions, but not promotion. For those food shoppers in Shanghai who purchase large volume of vegetables, quality is the most important factor in purchasing decisions.Originality/valueThis study provides new insights into vegetable purchasing decisions in two populous cities in China and Taiwan. The contributions of this study are to provide valuable information in vegetable purchasing decisions for effective information communication in retailing; and to fill in the gap of research in vegetable purchasing decisions in consumer behaviour studies in Chinese societies.

Rodier, Francine; Durif, Fabien; Ertz, Myriam

2017 British Food Journal

doi: 10.1108/BFJ-09-2016-0407

PurposePrevious research has extensively examined “food deserts,” where access to healthy food is limited. However, little is known of the buying behavior at the individual household level in terms of buying habits and consumption in these areas. The purpose of this paper is to determine to what extent other factors than access can account for the purchase of healthy food products, namely, fruits and vegetables.Design/methodology/approachThis paper proposes to partially fill this gap through a qualitative (n=55) and quantitative (n=512) study of those people who are in charge of their household purchases in two food deserts in the city of Montreal.FindingsResults show that geographical access to supermarkets is not the main factor fostering the purchase of healthy foods (fruits and vegetables). Indeed, food education (e.g. information, simple recipes, cooking classes), associated with a changing mediation process through product diversification (e.g. availability of local products in bulk) and supply (e.g. farmers) seems to be more significant.Research limitations/implicationsFuture studies could compare the results obtained through this study in different socio-demographic contexts. Longitudinal analyses could also increase the understanding of the social and commercial challenges.Originality/valueIn contrast to previous studies, the results show that geographical access to supermarkets is not the main factor fostering the purchase of fruits and vegetables. Indeed, food education (e.g. information, simple recipes, cooking classes), associated with a changing mediation process through product diversification (e.g. products in bulk) and supply (e.g. farmers) seem to be more significant.

Calvo-Porral, Cristina; Lévy-Mangin, Jean-Pierre

2017 British Food Journal

doi: 10.1108/BFJ-11-2016-0567

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to address the following issue: “Does the products’ perceived quality influences the consumer behaviour in the specialty retailing setting?”Design/methodology/approachFor this purpose, the authors propose and empirically test a conceptual model on the creation of consumer satisfaction and loyalty in specialty retailing, to examine the influence of products’ quality perception and its potential moderating role. Data were analysed through structural equation modelling on a sample of 592 consumersFindingsThe findings show that the store-based attributes have different influence on customer satisfaction and loyalty, according to the quality perception of products, and suggest the moderating role of products’ perceived quality.Practical implicationsRetailing managers may use the product’s perceived quality as a segmentation variable in the specialty food retailing context.Originality/valueThe major contribution of this paper is the empirical analysis of one subjective customer-based variable in the specialty retailing setting.

Skunca, Dubravka; Tomasevic, Igor; Zdolec, Nevijo; Kolaj, Rezear; Aleksiev, Georgi; Djekic, Ilija

2017 British Food Journal

doi: 10.1108/BFJ-11-2016-0547

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to analyse consumer perception of quality characteristics of chicken meat and chicken meat products in Southeast European countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, FYR of Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia).Design/methodology/approachResults were collected from a field survey by using data obtained from a questionnaire directed at 2,368 consumers during 2015.FindingsThis study identified four consumer segments: “typical”, “selective”, “chicken meat preparers” and “uninterested” chicken meat consumers.Originality/valueOlder consumers (50 years) have higher interest in chicken meat quality characteristics, while women are “chicken meat preparers”. Chicken meat consumers who prefer particular chicken parts and consume chicken meat because it is nutritious are found among the working population, while the most number of consumers “uninterested” in chicken meat come from Serbia.

Lategan, Benjamin Wilhelm; Pentz, Chris D.; du Preez, Ronel

2017 British Food Journal

doi: 10.1108/BFJ-09-2016-0420

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to: determine the relative importance that Generation Y consumers indicate for 13 wine attributes in their selection of wine; determine if these wine attributes are significantly distinct in importance in the mind of the consumer; and compare the wine attribute importance findings with the US findings of Chrysochou et al. (2012).Design/methodology/approachQuantitative data were gathered from a convenience student sample (n=429) to which the Best-Worst Scaling method was applied for 13 pre-determined wine attributes in a Balanced Incomplete Block Design. Data analysis included descriptive statistics, reliability analysis, t-tests and mixed model repeated measure ANOVA.FindingsRespondents were able to differentiate between the importance of wine attributes. Taste was the most important wine attribute followed by someone recommended it. Alcohol level below 13 per cent was least important. Firm controlled information such as information on back label was of little importance. South African Generation Y consumers seem to select wine similarly to those in the USA.Originality/valueFindings contribute to generation-based research in wine marketing and increase the understanding of the wine selection behaviour of Generation Y consumers in South Africa. More effective marketing strategies to Generation Y consumers can result to grow wine consumption in this significant segment.