Agric. Econ. - Czech, 2013, 59(7):293-299 | DOI: 10.17221/142/2012-AGRICECON

Consumers' perception of the health aspects of organic foodOriginal Paper

Olga KUTNOHORSKÁ1, Pavel TOM©ÍK2
1 Institute of Chemical Technology, Prague, Czech Republic
2 University of Economics and Management, Prague, Czech Republic

Organic foods are grown using the principles of organic agriculture that are produced, processed and packaged without using chemicals. They have been accepted due to their several perceived benefits over the conventional food. Health aspects of organic food are, in addition to the ethical, environmental, hedonic and "feel good" aspects, the main benefits that the consumers appreciate in organic food. This paper presents the results of a quantitative survey in the Czech organic food market. By using the factor analysis, it showed that the consumer perception of the health benefits of organic food can be viewed from several different angles. There were found three factors that explain 58.42% of variability, which are, based on their relationship with the original items, interpreted as the "knowledge and responsibility", "being aware, but lax" and "health is important, but not related to food". The first factor contains enough knowledge related to the health care, the conviction of the importance of food choice regarding health and the active interest and effort to do something for one's health. The second factor contains enough knowledge related to health care, but is lacking the interest to apply the knowledge and to do something for one's health, and the third factor contains the conviction that health is an important asset, but the perception of the connection between one's health and food is absent.

Keywords: consumer behaviour, factor analysis, marketing mix, quantitative research

Published: July 31, 2013  Show citation

ACS AIP APA ASA Harvard Chicago Chicago Notes IEEE ISO690 MLA NLM Turabian Vancouver
KUTNOHORSKÁ O, TOM©ÍK P. Consumers' perception of the health aspects of organic food. Agric. Econ. - Czech. 2013;59(7):293-299. doi: 10.17221/142/2012-AGRICECON.
Share...
Download citation
  • BibTeX (.bib)
  • Bookends (.ris)
  • EasyBib (.ris)
  • EndNote (.enw)
  • EndNote 8 (.xml)
  • ISI WoS (.isi)
  • Medlars (.medlars)
  • Mendeley (.ris)
  • MODS (.xml)
  • Papers (.ris)
  • RefWorks (.txt)
  • RefManager (.ris)
  • RIS (.ris)
  • MS Word (.xml)
  • Zotero (.ris)
    • Open full article

    References

    1. Aaker D.A., Kumar V., Day G.S. (2003): Marketing Research. John Wiley and Sons, Inc., New York.
    2. Act 242/2000 Coll., On organic farming (2000). (Zákon 242/2000 Sb., O ekologickém zemědělství.) Available at http://www.szpi.gov.cz/docDetail.aspx?docid=1007838&docType=ART∋d=11816
    3. BIO-výzkumná zpráva: Ogilvy (2008). (BIO-Research Report: Ogilvy.) Available at http://www.bio-info.cz/bio-akademie/povedomi-a-nakupni-chovani-spotrebitelu-v-oblasti (accessed 15.10.2009).
    4. Brabenec V., Neąetřilová H. (2007): On application of the factor analysis in the agricultural research. Agricultural Economics - Czech, 53: 441-447. Go to original source...
    5. Červová L. (2009): SPSS Base: Příkazy a moľnosti. (SPSS Base: Commands and Options.) Centrum výuky SPSS, Praha.
    6. Chen M.-F. (2007): Consumer attitudes and purchase intentions in relation to organic foods in Taiwan: Moderating effects of food-related personality trans. Food Quality and Preference, 18: 1008-1021. Go to original source...
    7. Codron J.-M., Siriex L., Reardon T. (2006): Social and environmental attributes of food products in an emerging mass market: Challenges of signaling and consumer perception, with European illustrations. Agriculture and Human Values, 3: 283-297. Go to original source...
    8. Davies A., Titterington,A.J., Cochrane C. (1995): Who buys organic food? A profile of the purchasers of organic food in Northern Ireland. British Food Journal, 97: 17-23. Go to original source...
    9. Gfk Research Report (2006): Potenciál biopotravin na českém trhu. (The Potential of the Czech Organic Food Market.) Gfk Praha a Synergy Marketing, Praha (online). Available at http://eagri.cz/public/eagri/potraviny/biopotraviny/
    10. Harper G.C., Makatouni A. (2002): Consumer perception of organic food production and farm animal welfare. British Food Journal, 104: 287-299. Go to original source...
    11. Loureiro M.L., Hine S. (2001): Discovering niche-markets: A comparison of consumer willingness to pay for a local (Colorado-grown), organic and GMO-free product. In: American Agricultural Economics Association Meetings, Chicago, Illinois, August 5-8, 2001.
    12. Magnusson M.K., Arvola A., Koivisto Hursti U.-K., Åberg L., Sjödén P.-O. (2003): Choice of organic foods is related to perceived consequences for human health and to environmentally friendly behaviour. Appetite, 40: 109-117. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    13. McDonald M., Dunbar I. (2009): Market Segmentation. Elsevier Ltd; ISBN 9780750659819.
    14. Michelsen J., Hamm U., Wynen E., Roth E. (1999): The European Market for Organic Products: Growth and Development. University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart; ISBN 3-933403-06-5.
    15. Midmore P., Naspetti S., Sherwood A-M., Vairo D., Wier M., Zanoli R. (2005): Consumer attitudes to quality and safety of organic and low input foods: a review. University of Wales, Aberystwyth (online). Available at www.qlif. org (accessed 15.6.2009). Go to original source...
    16. Onyango B.M., Hallman W.K., Bellows A.C. (2007): Purchasing organic food in US food systems. British Food Journal, 5: 399-411. Go to original source...
    17. Pecáková I. (2011): Statistika v terénních průzkumech. (Statistics in field surveys.) Professional Publishing, Příbram; ISBN 9788074310393.
    18. Raynolds L.T. (2000): Re-embedding global agriculture: The international organic and fair trade movements. Agriculture and Human Values, 3: 297-309. Go to original source...
    19. Schifferstein H.N.J., Oude Ophuis P.A.M. (1998): Healthrelated determinants of organic food consumption in the Netherlands. Food Quality and Preference, 9: 119-133. Go to original source...
    20. Torjusen H., Lieblein G., Wandel M., Francis Ch.A. (2001): Food system orientation and quality perception among consumers and producers of organic food in Hedmark County, Norway. Food Quality and Preference, 12: 207-216. Go to original source...
    21. Václavík T. (2008): Ročenka český trh s biopotravinami. (Yearbook of the Czech Organic Food Market.) Green marketing, Praha.
    22. Wandel M., Bugge A. (1997): Environmental concern in consumer evaluation of food quality. Food Quality and Preference, 8: 19-26. Go to original source...
    23. Wang Q., Sun J. (2003): Consumer preference and demand for organic food: Evidence from a Vermont survey. In: American Agricultural Economics Association Annual Meeting, Montreal, Canada, July 27-30.
    24. Wedel M., Kamakura W.A. (2000): Market Segmentation: Conceptual and Methodological Foundations. Kluwer, Dordrecht; ISBN 0792386353.
    25. Zakowska-Biemans S. (2011): Polish consumer food choices and beliefs about organic food. British Food Journal, 113: 122-137. Go to original source...
    26. Zanoli R., Naspetti S. (2002): Consumer motivations in the purchase of organic food: A means-end approach. British Food Journal, 104: 643-653. www.biospotrebitel.cz www.bio-info.cz Go to original source...

    This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY NC 4.0), which permits non-comercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original publication is properly cited. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.


    Return to the content