Do Consumers Pay Attention to the Organic Label When Shopping Organic Food in Italy?

Transcription

1 Do Consumers Pay Attenton to the Organc Label When Shoppng Organc Food n Italy? 6 Tzana de Magstrs and Azucena Graca Centro de Investgacón y Tecnología Agroalmentara de Aragón Span 1. Introducton The man objectve of organc agrculture s to produce healthy and qualty food products wthout usng synthetc chemcal products n response to consumers concerns about food safety, human health, anmal welfare and the envronment. The EU s promoton of organc agrculture consttutes an mportant alternatve for socety and for the more margnal agrcultural regons n southern Europe. Frst, organc agrculture provdes consumers some products wth hgher nutrtonal value that are free of chemcal agents. Second, t mproves publc health, and t brngs sgnfcant benefts both to the economy as well as to the socal coheson of rural areas. Organc label s a qualty sgnal for the consumers and an mportant tool to help them to dentfy organc products. Yrdoe et al. (2005) stated that product labels can help buyers to assess product qualty by transformng credence characterstcs nto search attrbutes. On 1 July 2010, the European Unon ntroduced a new organc logo n order to ncrease the transparency and confdence n organc food products for consumers. The dfference from the frst logo, ntroduced n the 1990s, s ts compulsory bass (EU n. 271/2010 of 24 March 2010) for those products n whch at least 95% of the agrcultural ngredents are organcs. Accordng to the European Unon, the applcaton of the new logo and labelng wll lead to a much greater vsblty of organc foods n the market and ncrease the trust among European ctzens, who wll be not only more nformed but also more wllng to purchase these products (Councl Regulaton (EC) No. 834/2007 of 28 June 2007). Therefore, understandng the reason why consumers choose to buy organc products and nvestgatng whether they pay attenton to organc labelng when shoppng are necessary n order to nduce new ndvduals to buy organc food products and to ncrease the level of consumpton among exstng consumers. The am of our chapter s to analyze whether Italan consumers pay attenton to organc labelng when shoppng, and whether they are also affected by other psychologcal varables to make purchase decsons. We carred out a study on the ntenton to purchase organc food products, proposng a model of organc consumpton whch has been developed on the Theory of Planned Behavor by Ajzen (1991), whch extends t wth a new varable related to consumers attenton to organc label whch has not been yet analyzed n Italy. To acheve ths goal, a survey was conducted wth 380 food shoppers durng November- December 2008 n Italy, and three-equaton multvarate probt model s ftted, where

2 110 Organc Food and Agrculture New Trends and Developments n the Socal Scences consumers attenton to organc label, the ntenton to purchase, and organc consumpton are the dependent varables. Fndngs show that payng attenton to organc labelng nfluences the ntenton to purchase organc food products. Moreover, atttudes and lfestyles are the best predctors of organc purchase. However, envronmental atttudes and subjectve norms do not affect the ntenton to purchase them, whle ethcal dmenson s consdered one of man factors drvng organc food purchases. The rest of the chapter s structured as follows. Secton 2 develops the theoretcal framework where the relatonshp among endogenous and exogenous varables of our model are justfed by lterature revew. Secton 3 descrbes an overvew of the European legslaton on organc food labelng; Secton 4 focuses on the data gathered and methodology. Secton 5 shows the man results; and, fnally, Secton 6 concludes wth a dscusson of the marketng and polcy mplcatons. 2. Lterature revew In general, research on the organc purchase ntenton s well documented n the academc lterature (Saba and Messna, 2003; Tarkanen and Sundqvst, 2005; Chen, 2007; Chen, 2008; Thogersen, 2007a; Dean et al., 2008; de Magstrs and Graca, 2009; Aertsen et al., 2009). Some studes analyzed the ntenton to purchase organc food products usng the Theory of Planned Behavor (Ajzen, 1991) where the ntenton s consdered the best predctor of behavor. In accordance wth the TPB, the atttudes toward acton sequence, as well as the relatons among factors on the ntenton have been part of the general approach to atttudes n socal psychology. A major theoretcal poston on atttudes and acton has been formulated by Ajzen (1991) as the Theory of Planned Behavor (TPB), where the behavoural ntenton s bascally determned by three factors: atttudes, subjectve norms and perceved behavoural control. Atttudes are composed of behavoural belefs and outcome evaluatons of the consequences of belefs. Subjectve norms refer to perceved socal pressure to perform or not perform the behavour as perceved by the person. Fnally, perceved behavoural control s the ndvdual s belefs about the amount of control that an ndvdual has to successfully complete hs/her behavour (Ajzen, 1991). Fndngs revealed that consumers atttudes towards organc attrbutes (taste, health, food safety, envronmentally frendly, anmal welfare) and salent belefs (atttudes towards ts purchase, personal moral norms, ethcal motvatons and emotons ) are the most mportant factors that explan consumers decson-makng process for organc food (Magnusson et al, 2001; Thøgersen, 2002; Saba and Messna, 2003; Mllok et al., 2004; Verhoef, 2005; Tarkanen and Sundqvst, 2005; Padel and Foster, 2005; Chryssohods and Krystalls, 2005; Honkanen et al., 2006; Thøgersen and Olander, 2006; Chen, 2007; Chen, 2008; Dean et al., 2008; Arvola et al., 2008; Aertsen et al., 2009; Graca and de Magstrs, 2008; de Magstrs and Graca, 2009; Gudo et al., 2010). The results showed sgnfcant dfferences across the products and countres where the research was carred out. 2.1 Theoretcal model Atttudes Atttudes towards the behavor refer to the degree to whch an ndvdual has a favorable or unfavorable evaluaton of the behavor (Ajzen, 1991). Accordng to Ajzen(1991) the more favorable the atttudes are towards a behavor, the stronger s the persons ntenton to perform the behavor under consderaton. Some studes about organc consumers reported

3 Does Consumers Pay Attenton to the Organc Label When Shoppng Organc Food n Italy? 111 a sgnfcant postve relaton between consumers ntenton to purchase organc food and ther atttudes toward organc food purchase (Saba and Messna, 2003; Mllock et al., 2004; Chryssohods and Krystalls, 2005; Padel and Foster, 2005; Tarkanen and Sundqvst, 2005; Honkanen et al., 2006; Thøgersen, 2007a; Thøgersen, 2007b ; de Magstrs and Graca,2008) Saba and Messna (2003) carred out ther study n Italy, analyzng organc frut and vegetable products. Fndngs showed that Italan consumers showed postve atttudes towards these products, perceved them as healthy, envronmentally frendly, taster and nutrtous than conventonal products. Mllock et al. (2004) clamed that envronmental and anmal welfare atttudes nfluence organc food choce to a lesser extent than atttudes towards taste, freshness and health aspects of organc food. Chryssohods and Krystalls (2005) ndcated that the most mportant motves behnd the purchase of organc products n Greece are healthness and better taste of the organc food. However, envronmental motves nfluence organc food choce to a lesser extent. Padel and Foster (2005) concluded that consumers buy organc food products because they perceved them to be better for ther health. Moreover, they found that the atttude towards envronmental protecton was also a factor that explans organc food buyng decsons. Tarkanen and Sundqvst (2005) analyzed the factors that affected the purchase of organc food n Fnland. The results suggested that consumers ntentons to buy organc food are predcted by ther atttudes and envronmental concerns. Honkanen et al. (2006) studed the motves drvng organc food choce n Norwegan consumers. The fndngs ndcated that ecologcal motves and atttudes towards organc food have a sgnfcant nfluence on the ntenton to purchase organc food. Smlar results were found by Thøgersen (2007b) who stated that health, taste and envronmental consequences were the most mportant factors related to organc consumers atttudes toward buyng organc tomato juce. Along the same lne, de Magstrs and Graca (2008) nvestgated the organc purchase behavor of Italan consumers. They found that consumers atttudes towards organc food, n partcular towards the health attrbutes and towards the envronment are the most mportant factors explanng organc food purchase Subjectve norms Ajzen (1991) dentfed also the role of subjectve norms, whch refer to the perceved socal pressure to perform or not to perform the behavor. In other words, subjectve norm s an ndvdual s convcton that actng n a certan way s rght or wrong regardless of personal or socal consequences. Few studes, however, have examned subjectve norms n relaton to organc food purchases. Sparks and Shepherd (1992) ncluded subjectve norms n ther study of green consumers, but ther explanatory power was relatvely weak, even though sgnfcant. Tarkanen and Sundqvst (2005)) nvestgated the correlaton between subjectve norms and atttudes towards organc food. The authors suggested that the lnk could be explaned by the nformaton that ndvduals have towards socal envronment. However, the authors dd not fnd drect sgnfcant relaton between subjectve norms and the ntenton to buy organc foods. On the other hand, Thøgersen (2007b), and Dean et al. (2008) found a sgnfcant postve relaton between consumers ntenton to purchase organc food and ther subjectve norms. Fnally, Smth and Paladno (2010) n ther study of organc consumers n Australa stated that subjectve norms are sgnfcant factors nfluencng the decson-makng of consumers.

4 112 Organc Food and Agrculture New Trends and Developments n the Socal Scences Perceved behavoural control Perceved control s the percepton of the ease or dffculty of performng the behavor of nterest antcpatng some obstacles (Ajzen, 1991). In the context of organc consumer behavor, prce and avalablty potentally lmt organc purchases. The past research of organc consumpton has shown that the most mportant reasons for not buyng organc food are lack of avalablty and organc food s relatvely hgher prce compared to conventonal food products. (Magnusson et al., 2001; Fotopoulos and Krystalls, 2002; Zanol and Naspett, 2002; Padel and Foster, 2005; Chryssohods and Krystalls, 2005). However, Canavar et al. (2002) found that 30 per cent of consumers are wllng to pay a prce premum drectly to farmers Ethcal dmenson In lterature on organc consumer behavor, major extenson of the TPB s related to the ethcal dmenson, defned by Shaw and Clarke (1999) as the degree to whch consumers prortze ther own ethcal concerns when makng products choces. Some studes used dfferent varables n order to take nto account ethcal dmenson n organc consumer behavor. To llustrate, Mchaeldou and Hassan (2008) used self-dentfy concept defned as the endurng characterstcs that people ascrbe to themselves. The authors found that selfdentty affected the ntenton to buy organc food products. Honkanen et al. (2006) mentoned ethcal values based on envronmental and anmal protecton n order to explan organc behavor, whle Arvola et al. (2008) appled moral norms, defned as an ndvdual s convcton that actng n a certan way s rght or wrong regardless of ther personal or socal consequences, to demonstrate ther strong nfluence on the consumpton of organc food n Italy and n the Unted Kngdom Soco-demographc varables and lfestyles Soco-demographc characterstcs were found to be sgnfcant n explanng the decson to buy organc foods manly n emprcal studes conducted n Europe. Fndngs revealed that only sex, ncome, age, educaton and household sze were sgnfcant (Canavar et al., 2002; Mllock et al. 2003; Locke et al. 2004; and Tsakrdou et al. 2006; Graca and de Magstrs, 2008). To llustrate, older, more educated consumers wth hgh ncome and those lvng n larger households are more lkely to buy organc food products. The concept of food-related lfestyle was developed n the md-1990s as a segmentaton tool, whch s talored to the consumer s role as a food shopper (Grunert and Brunsø, 1997). Lfestyles are mportant exogenous factors n the decson-makng process nfluencng consumer behavour (Gl et al, 2000; Brunsø, Scholderer and Grunert, 2004). Schffersten and Oude Ophus (1998) stated that health behavour, such as addtonal exercse and habts related to food ntake, affects postvely the organc food choce and Chryssohods and Krystalls (2005) stated that most of Greek organc buyers clamed to follow a balanced and healthy det. de Magstrs and Graca (2009) demonstrated that lfestyles represent one of man factor explanng organc food decson-makng. In partcular, organc food products are preferred by those consumers nterested n mantanng a partcular lfestyle assocated wth healthy and eatng habts The extenson of planned behavour model: payng attenton on organc labellng and organc knowledge Academc studes of organc food labels have ncreased substantally n Europe durng the last two decades. Most of the emprcal works have used the hypothetcal approach to assess

5 Does Consumers Pay Attenton to the Organc Label When Shoppng Organc Food n Italy? 113 consumer preferences for organc food labels to calculate consumers Wllngness to Pay (WTP) for the presence of them, mplyng ther ntenton to purchase organc foods, takng nto account the presence of organc label on packagng. Payng attenton to organc labels depends also to the degree of self-knowledge that consumers have towards organc food products when shoppng. Moreover, consumers mght show a certan level of knowledge about the nformaton that organc label provdes to them such as that organc food products, free OGMs, they support the anmal welfare and they content 95% of organc ngredent at least. Hence, organc food label perceved by consumers s an mportant ssue n the organc food market because t represents the only nstrument that consumers have to dfferentate the attrbutes of organc food products from those of conventonal ones, and buld postve atttudes towards organc food (von Alvesleben, 1997). Moreover, Yrdoe et al. (2005), n ther lterature revew, stated that knowledge of organc food products can affect consumers organc buyng decson for two reasons. The frst one, the lack of knowledge of organc labelng s consdered the number one reason why consumers do not buy organc food. The second reason s that consumers who do not consder that organc food products have enough detaled nformaton cannot clearly dfferentate the unque attrbutes of organc from conventonally grown alternatves. Usually, many organc food consumers dentfy organc products based on the organc logos and labels attached to the product. The authors concluded that nformaton about organc food helps to transform the credence characterstc of such products nto search attrbutes, thereby allowng the consumer to better evaluate the qualty before decdng to buy the product. Organc knowledge can be consdered as a part of formaton that consumers acqure from organc food products. Hll and Lynchehaun (2002) found that knowledge represents an mportant factor nfluencng the purchase of organc products. Poelman et al. (2008) analyzed whether nformaton on organc producton and far trade affects the preference for and percepton of pneapples n Brtsh and Dutch ndvduals. The results ndcated a slght postve mpact of organc product nformaton on consumers preference and percepton for pneapple. Graca and de Magstrs (2008) and de Magstrs and Graca (2009) also provded evdence on the postve nfluence of consumers organc knowledge on purchasng behavor. Based on these prevous fndngs, the model of ntenton to purchase organc food products s presented n fgure EU organc labelng legslaton The EU legslaton on organc labelng s lad down n the followng four Regulatons: ) Regulaton (EEC) No 2092/21, ) Commsson Regulaton (EC) No 331/2000, ) Councl Regulaton (EC) No. 834/2007 of 28 June 2007 and, v) Commsson Regulaton (EU) No 271/2010. Regulaton (EEC) n. 2092/91 was adopted n 1992 when organc agrculture receved the offcal recognton from EU members wthn the EU Common Agrcultural Polcy. The man mportance of ths Regulaton s t created the common mnmum standards for the entre European Unon nducng European ctzens to trust organc products comng from other European countres. Even though plant products were regulated, addtonal rules were lad down later. These rules regarded anmal feed, preventon of llness, veternary treatment, anmal protecton, and lvestock breedng. Moreover, the use of genetcally modfed organsms was expressly prohbted whle the mports of organc products from Thrd Countres were allowed after beng recognzed as equvalent by EU.

6 114 Organc Food and Agrculture New Trends and Developments n the Socal Scences Ethcal dmenson Atttudes Subjectve norms Intenton to purchase Purchase Perceved behavor control Soco-demografc and lfestyles Payng attenton on organc food label Knowledge Fg. 3. Model of ntenton to purchase organc food products The frst European organc logo was ntroduced n March 2000 by Commsson Regulaton (EC) No 331/2000 bearng the words Organc Farmng-EC control systems Ths logo had voluntary bass for those producers who satsfed the Regulaton (EEC) No 2092/91. The ndcator that a product was covered by the nspecton scheme had to be shown n the same language or languages as used for the labelng, as shown n fgure 1. Moreover, the Regulaton authorzed the combnaton of two ndcators referrng to the natonal languages, and the mnmum sze for a logo wth a sngle ndcator was 20mm dameter whle for a logo wth a combnaton of two ndcators the mnmum sze was 40mm dameter. Fg. 1. Organc logo ntroduced n Regulaton (EEC) No 2092/91. The Regulaton (EC) n. 834/2007 was lad down on June 2007, and t revses of the Regulaton No 2092/91. The need to revew t was prompted durng a publc conference ttled Is Organc farmng: ready for the next decade? n December 2006, whch represented an opportunty for the 90 stakeholders n attendance to dscuss a possble proposal of revson of the Organc Regulaton at the European level. The man elements of the Regulaton (EC) n. 834/2007 were a new defnton of organc productons; the applcaton of organc producton to aquaculture, seaweeds, wne makng

7 Does Consumers Pay Attenton to the Organc Label When Shoppng Organc Food n Italy? 115 and yeast; the man labelng provsons; new rules on nspecton; mport and labelng, and ts applcablty after January 1, Accordng to the art. 1, organc producton was defned as an overall system of farm management and food producton whose functon was to combne the best envronmental practces, a hgh level of bodversty, the preservaton of natural resources, the applcaton of anmal welfare standards n order to meet consumers demand wth products of hgh qualty. The Regulaton dedcated a complete secton to organc labelng rules. To llustrate, all usual common terms for organc n the dfferent member states and ts dervatves and dmnutves were equally protected n ther use. The term organc was not appled to agrcultural products whch clearly had no connecton wth organc producton and those whch contaned GMOs (Genetc Modfed Organsms). Nevertheless, the organc labelng had to explcate the general lmt of 0.9 % for the accdental presence of GMOs. Secondly, the new European logo became compulsory on packaged European products, even though natonal and prvate logos could stll be used. For the frst tme, the organc logo was compulsory for only those food products wth at least 95% of the organc ngredents whose the raw materals composed the products. The ndcaton had to menton ) EU Agrculture where the agrcultural raw materal had been farmed n the EU., ) non-eu Agrculture, where the agrcultural raw materal came from thrd world countres, and ) EU/ non-eu Agrculture, where the orgn of raw materal was mxed, meanng that t had been farmed both n the UE countres and thrd World countres. Organc ngredents n non-organc food had to be lsted as organc n the lst of ngredents, whle the code number of the control body had to be ndcated n order to guarantee better transparency. Snce the ntroducton of a new logo was supported by all European States, the European Commsson organzed an EU-wde organc logo competton opened to art and desgn students from all EU countres. The competton was won by the German desgn student Dušan Mlenkovć, who receved 63% of the overall votes from the European publc. Hence, European Unon launched a second certfyng symbol n the Regulaton 271/2010 where the organc logo was defntvely mandatory, also called: Euro-leaf whch symbolzed the marrage of Europe (the stars derved from the European flag) and Nature (the stylzed leaf and the green color), as shown n fgure 2. In accordance wth ths last regulaton, there wll be a two year transton perod for allowng ts ntroducton on the packagng. Fg. 2. Organc logo ntroduced n Commsson Regulaton 271/2010 In Italy, the certfcaton bodes, whch carry out the organc certfcaton, are authorzed by the Mnstry of Agrculture. They are prvate enttes and ther man task s to ensure complance wth the mplementaton of regulatons by the organc farms and gve ther own brand labels to be affxed to products sold. To llustrate, certfcaton body has own brand label whch has to be used only by those organc farmers assocated to t n order to avod that one organc farmer acheves organc certfcaton from more than certfcaton enterprse. In general, they do not have to entertan any relatonshp wth organc farms and they carry out nspectons every year. The nspecton conssts n complance wth

8 116 Organc Food and Agrculture New Trends and Developments n the Socal Scences regulatons and collectng some sample for testng at ARPAT or at a laboratory accredted Snal (Sstema Nazonale per l Accredtamento d Laborator). In Italy, there are 17 certfcaton bodes recognzed and ther actvty s constantly under control of the Regon where they are placed. Moreover, 14 certfcaton bodes over 17 are located n the Centre and North of Italy, whereas only two of them carry out ther actvty n Southern Italy. In partcular, BIKO, IMO Gmbh and Q.C. & I. have been recognzed to operate n Bolzano provnce. ABCERT Srl - Cod. Mn. IT BIO 013 BIKO - Kontrollservce Trol (Cod. Mn. IT - BIO BZ) Boagrcert S.r.l. - Cod. Mn. IT BIO (ex BAC) E-mal: nfo@boagrcert.org BIOS S.r.l. - Cod. Mn. IT BIO (ex BSI) BIOZOO - S.r.l. - Cod. Mn. IT BIO (ex BZO) CCPB S.r.l. - Cod. Mn. IT BIO (ex CPB) CODEX S.r.l. - Cod. Mn. IT BIO (ex CDX) EcoGruppo Itala S.r.l. - Cod. Mn. IT BIO (ex ECO) ICEA - Isttuto per la Certfcazone Etca e Ambentale - Cod. Mn. IT BIO (ex ICA) IMC - Isttuto Medterraneo d Certfcazone S.r.l. - Cod. Mn. IT BIO (ex IMC) IMO Gmbh (Cod. Mn. IT - BIO BZ) Q.C. & I. - Gesellschaft für kontrolle und zertfzerung von Qualtätsscherungssystemen GMBH (Cod. Mn. IT - BIO BZ) QC S.r.l.- Cod. Mn. IT BIO 014 Sdel S.p.a - Cod. Mn. IT BIO (ex SDL) Suolo e Salute - Drezone Tecnca e Uffco Estero - Cod. Mn. IT BIO 004 Suolo e Salute srl - (Cod. Mn. IT - ASS Suolo e Salute srl - (Cod. Mn. IT ex ASS) Table 1. Certfcaton bodes recognzed n Italy. Terlano (BZ) Web: INNSBRUCK - Austra Web: Casaleccho d Reno BO Web: Marostca VI Web: Sassar SS Web: Bologna BO Web: Scorda CT Web: Catana CT Web: Bologna Web: Sengalla (AN) Web: Wenfelden Web: Tergartenstr. 32 D Prum Web: Monterggon SI Web: BOLOGNA BO Sdel S.p.a - Cod. Mn. IT BIO (ex SDL) Web: Bologna (BO) Web: Roseto degl Abruzz (TE) Web: Taormna (ME) Web:

9 Does Consumers Pay Attenton to the Organc Label When Shoppng Organc Food n Italy? Materal and methods 4.1 Multvarate probt model The three endogenous varables of the above ntenton to purchase model defned n fgure 3 (organc food purchase, the ntenton to purchase and payng attenton to organc food label) are dscrete varables. The frst equaton n the model s consumers organc food purchase (OP), specfed as follows: OP IP X u (1) Where IP s the varable related to the ntenton to purchase organc food products defned below, X s a vector of exogenous varables related wth the ethcal dmenson of organc 2 purchase, and u s the error term normally dstrbuted N(0, u ). OP s unobserved; what s observed s the purchase of organc food products stated by the ndvdual when shoppng, where OP =3 means that a consumer reports that he usually purchases organc food, IP = 2 means that the consumer sometme buys organc food and IP = 1 means the consumer never has bought them. Observed and latent varables are related as follows: OP 1 f OP OP 2 f OP OP 3 f OP where τ are the unknown threshold parameters to be estmated. The frst threshold parameter s normalzed to zero (τ 1 = 0). The ntenton to purchase organc food products (IP) equaton s defned as follows: _ IP ORG LABEL Y (3) where ORG_LABEL s the varable related to consumers payng attenton to organc labels when shoppng defned below, X s a vector of all exogenous varables (atttudes, subjectve norms, perceved behavoural control, and ethcal dmenson), and ε s the error term 2 u normally dstrbuted N(0, ). IP s an unobserved varable, whch reflects the ntenton to purchase organc food products, stated by the ndvdual when shoppng and defned n 2 levels, as follows: (2) IP 1 f IP 0 IP 0 f IP, 0 The level of payng attenton to organc labels s defned as: (4) _ ORG LABEL Z (5) where, Y represents all the exogenous varables (soco-demographc, lfestyles and, 2 knowledge) and s the normally dstrbuted error term N(0, ). ORG_LABEL s the

10 118 Organc Food and Agrculture New Trends and Developments n the Socal Scences unobserved payng attenton to organc label, and as before, the researchers observe an ordered level of payng attenton, as follows: ORG _ LABEL 1 f ORG _ LABEL ORG _ LABEL 2 f ORG _ LABEL ORG _ LABEL 3 f ORG _ LABEL ORG _ LABEL 4 f ORG _ LABEL ORG _ LABEL 5 f ORG _ LABEL j (6) where I are the unknown threshold parameters to be estmated. The frst threshold parameter s normalzed to zero ( 1 = 0). To estmate the three equatons [1], [3] and [5], we have assumed that the error terms (u, ε and ) may be correlated. The, nstead of estmatng them ndependently, they are consdered to be a multvarate lmted-dependent-varable model, n whch the three error terms (u ε and ) follow a multvarate normal dstrbuton wth mean zero and varance and covarance matrx. The lmted dependent-varable (LDV) model wth correlated error terms are estmated usng Hajvasslou and McFadden s (1998) procedure mplemented n Proc QLIM n the SAS 9.1 statstcal software package. 4.2 Data gatherng and varables defntons Data were collected from a survey conducted n Italy durng November-December The captal Rome was chosen for two reasons. The cty can be consdered a representatve sample of Italy snce ts economc ndcators, such as average expendture on food products (498 ), average household ncome per year (34,000 ) and most demographc characterstcs are very close to the economc ndcators for Italy (ISTAT, 2008). Sample sze was set at 380. As the populaton can be consdered nfnte, ths sample sze results n a samplng error of ±5%, assumng a confdence level of 95.5% (k=2) and p=0.5. A stratfed random sample of consumers was made on the bass of town dstrct and age. A number of representatve grocery stores and supermarkets were selected n each town dstrct, and food shoppers were randomly selected outsde these food outlets. Target respondents were the prmary food buyers n the household, and ntervews were carred out face to face. Intervewers approached the randomly selected ndvduals askng them one screenng queston, whether they were the man household food shopper. The questonnare was desgned to analyze consumers organc food knowledge, atttudes and purchase behavor. The questonnare format was valdated usng a plot survey. The questonnare also contaned questons on soco-demographc characterstcs (.e. sex, famly sze and composton, age, educaton level, ncome) and lfestyles. Summary statstcs for the characterstcs of the full sample are presented n Table 2. The majorty of partcpants are female (58%) and, on average, partcpants are lvng n households of 3 members. In addton, the average age s about 45 years. Moreover, around 15 % belong to hgh ncome groups and about 48% of the subjects have a unversty degree. The frst queston was related to ther knowledge of organc food products. The level of selfreported knowledge was measured askng respondent ther self-reported level of knowledge from 1 to 3, where 3 ndcate the hghest level of knowledge (KNOW). Objectve

11 Does Consumers Pay Attenton to the Organc Label When Shoppng Organc Food n Italy? 119 knowledge was measured by four dummy varables (GMOs, NATURAL, ANIMAL WELFARE and, 95_INGREDIENTS) whch take 1 value f respondent states that organc food products are GMOs free, natural, they support the anmal welfare and, they content 95% of organc ngredents at least, and 0 otherwse (see table 3) Varable defnton Name (type) Value % Gender Male Female FEMALE (dummy) Household Sze HSIZE (contnuous) 2.9 Age of respondent (average) AGE 45 Educaton of respondent Elementary Secondary Unversty Household Income: Net ncome lower than 1,500 /month Net ncome between 1,500 and 2,500 /month Net ncome hgher than 2,500 /month UNIVERSITY (dummy) LW_INC (dummy) Table 2. Sample characterstcs Self-reported knowledge on organc foods Hgh (3) Medum (2) Low (1) Exogenous varables Name (type) Value KNOW Objectve knowledge on organc foods They are free GMOs (dummy) GMOs 78% They are natural (dummy) NATURAL 63% They support the anmal welfare (dummy) ANIMAL WELFARE They content 95% of organc ngredents at least (dummy) 95_INGREDIENTS 77% Table 3. Self-reported knowledge and organc knowledge The second set of questons were related to organc food consumpton (consumpton level, ntenton to purchase, frequency of purchase, perceved qualty, place of purchase, etc.). Fnally, several questons about consumers atttudes towards organc food products and envronmental aspects were ncluded. Table 4 presents the defnton of the endogenous varables. More than 50% of consumers declare to be an habtual buyer of organc food products; and 82% of them are wllngness 72%

12 120 Organc Food and Agrculture New Trends and Developments n the Socal Scences to buy them (82%). Moreover, around 59% of Italan consumers state that probably yes or defntely yes they pay attenton to organc label when shoppng organc food products. Varable defnton Endogenous varables Purchase organc food products Habtual=3 Occason=2 Never=1 Intenton to purchase organc food products Yes =1 No=0 Chen (2008) Chen (2008) Sources Name (type) Value OP IP Do you pay attenton on organc label when shoppng? Defntely no (1) Probably No (2) Indfferent (3) Probably Yes (4) Defntely yes (5) Table 4. Endogenous varables defnton Chen (2008) ORG_LABEL The defnton of the psychologcal varables used n the model has been done based on prevous emprcal papers (Table 5). Respondents were asked to ndcate ther agreement or dsagreement wth the statements provded usng a fve pont Lkert scale where one ndcates strong dsagreement and fve, strong agreement. The scale tems for the dfferent aspects and the emprcal papers used are shown n table 5, whle lfestyles are showed n table 6. Exogenous varables Source Name(type) Value Atttudes towards organc food products Organc food products are healther HEALTH 3.7 Organc food products have superor QUALITY 4.1 qualty Organc food products are safer SAFETY 3.9 Mchaeldou and Organc food products seem to be Hassan (2010) FRESH 3.5 fresher than conventonal ones Gl et al. (2000) Organc food products are the same as Chen (2007) SAME 2.9 conventonal ones Organc food products are more EXPENSIVE 3.9 expensve Organc food products are ENVIRON 3.8 envronmental frendly Organc food products are n fashon FASHION 3.0

13 Does Consumers Pay Attenton to the Organc Label When Shoppng Organc Food n Italy? 121 Exogenous varables Source Name(type) Value Atttudes towards organc food purchase I beleve that buyng organc food Chen (2007) GOOD 3.9 products s good Chen (2008) I really support organc purchase SUPPORT 4.1 Subjectve norm Most people who are mportant for me thnk that I should buy organc food products Perceved behavoral control Bredahl (2001) Chen (2007) Chen (2008) Whether I wll eventually buy organc food products s entrely up to me Bredahl (2001) If organc food products were avalable n the shops, I do not thnk I would ever be able to do so Ethcal dmenson I feel I ought to choose organc food products I fell oblgaton to choose organc food products I feel I should choose organc food products Table 5. Psychologcal varable defnton Chen (2007) Chen (2008) Arvola et al. (2009) Thøgersen (2002) SNORM 3.6 CONTROL 3.5 DIFFICULTY 2.8 MORAL 3.1 PROMOTION 2.3 FEELSHOULD 2.7 Exogenous varables Name(type) Value Lfestyles Consumer do exercse EXCISE 51.6 Consumer avod snakng durng 3.17 NOSNACK between lunch and dnner Consumer avod to be stressed STRESS 3.43 Table 6. Lfestyles 5. Results The estmated parameters for the model defned by [1], [3] and [5] equatons, usng varables n table 2,3,4,5,and 6 are presented n table 7. Only exogenous varables statstcally dfferent from zero, at a sgnfcant level of 0.05, have been fnally ncluded. Results show that correlatons between equatons are sgnfcant at 5% level. It means that errors for all equatons are correlated. Therefore, we can conclude that the equatons are not ndependent and that the smultaneous estmaton of both equatons n the model s the approprate approach to obtan consstent parameter estmates.

14 122 Organc Food and Agrculture New Trends and Developments n the Socal Scences The organc label equaton (ORG_LABEL) ncludes soco-demographc characterstcs, selfreported knowledge, objectve knowledge, and lfestyles (FEMALE, LW_INC, KNOW, GMOs, NOSNACK and STRESS). FEMALE has a postve sgnfcant effect on payng attenton to organc label, whle LW_INC s negatve. Fndngs are n accordance wth Canavar et al. (2002); Mllock et al. (2003); Locke et al. (2004), Tsakrdou et al.( 2006); Graca and de Magstrs (2008). Moreover, the postve and statstcally sgnfcant estmated coeffcent for the varable KNOW ndcates that, f consumers show a hgh degree of selfreported organc knowledge, they are more lkely to pay attenton on organc label when shoppng. However, only the varable GMOs related wth organc knowledge has been found wth a postve sgn and t s statstcally sgnfcant. On the other hand, as we expected from other studes (Schffersten and Oude Ophus, 1998; Chryssohods and Krystalls, 2005; de Magstrs and Graca, 2009) varables related to lfestyles (NOSNACK and STRESS) are statstcally sgnfcant, meanng that those consumers who usually do not have snack and they try not to stress are more lkely to pay attenton on organc label when shoppng. To pay attenton to organc food label (ORG_LABEL) has been statstcally sgnfcant on the ntenton to purchase (IP) equaton. The postve coeffcent assocated wth the ORG_LABEL varable n the ntenton to purchase equaton ndcates that the consumers who pay attenton to the organc labels are more lkely to buy organc food products. As we expected there s a sgnfcant relaton between the ntenton to purchase organc food products (IP) and other varables related wth atttudes towards purchase (GOOD). In addton, the postve and statstcally sgnfcant estmate coeffcents for the HEALTH and FRESH varables ndcate that the more consumers beleve that organc foods are healther and fresher than conventonal food ones, the more lkely they are to buy organc food products. Fnally, there s a postve and sgnfcant relaton between the ntenton to purchase organc food products and the perceved behavor control (DIFFICULTY). These fndngs are consstent wth those reported n Magnusson et al. (2001), Fotopoulos and Krystalls ( 2002), Zanol and Naspett (2002), Padel and Foster (2005) Chryssohods and Krystalls (2005), Tarkanen and Sundqvst (2005), Honkanen et al. (2006) and, Thogersen (2007). However, subjectve norms (SNORM) and moral norms (MORAL) have not found statstcally sgnfcant from zero. Fnally, the ntenton to purchase organc food (IP) estmated parameter s postve and statstcally sgnfcant n fnal organc purchase decson (OP). Ths means that as Ajzen postulates, the ntenton to purchase s the best predctor of fnal behavor, n our case organc food purchase. Only one addtonal varable, moral norm (MORAL) postvely nfluences the fnal purchase decson. We calculated the margnal effects to assess the effects of the exogenous varables on ORG_LABEL, IP, and OP varables (ordnal varables). In ths specfc case, and for the contnuous exogenous varables, effects are calculated by means of the partal dervatves of the probabltes wth respect to a gven exogenous varable. In the case of dummy varables, the margnal effects are calculated takng the dfference between the predcted probabltes n the respectve varables of nterest, changng from 0 to 1 and holdng the rest constant. The change n predcted probabltes gves a more accurate descrpton of the margnal effect of a dummy varable on event probablty, than predctng the probablty at the mean level of the dummy varable. The margnal effects for the contnuous varables and for the dummy varables are shown n Tables 8, 9 and 10.

15 Does Consumers Pay Attenton to the Organc Label When Shoppng Organc Food n Italy? 123 ORG_LABEL IP OP Coeffcents Estmates t-rato Estmates t-rato Estmates t-rato Intercept FEMALE LW_INC KNOW GMOs NOSNACK STRESS ORG_LABEL GOOD HEALTH FRESH DIFFICULTY IP MORAL N 380 Log Lkelhood Correlatons Organc label payng attenton Intenton to purchase () () denotes statstcal sgnfcance at the 1 (5) (10) per cent sgnfcance levels Table 7. Results of Multvarate probt model Wth respect to the margnal effects on consumers pay attenton to organc label when shoppng (table 8), results ndcate that female consumers have a hgher probablty to pay attenton to organc label. Moreover, as we expected, there s a negatve relatonshp between low ncome and payng attenton to organc label. One of possble explcaton of these results s that people wth low ncome are more lkely to have a lower attenton to organc labelng when shoppng because of the hgher prce of the products. The margnal effects of self-reported and objectve knowledge are as expected. Those consumers who beleve that organc food label s GMOs free, and they state a hgher selfreported knowledge of these products are more lkely to state a hgher probablty to pay

16 124 Organc Food and Agrculture New Trends and Developments n the Socal Scences attenton to organc label when shoppng. Fnally, those consumers who strongly agree wth not snakng and avodng stress lfe are more lkely to pay attenton to organc food labels. Regardng the ntenton to purchase organc food products, the results ndcate that consumers wth hgher probablty to pay attenton to organc labels (ORG_LABEL) are more lkely to be wllng to buy organc food products (table 9). As consumers present more postve atttudes towards the purchase (GOOD) they are more lkely to buy them. Moreover, the more subjects consder dffcult to fnd organc food products where they usually shop, the less lkely to be wllng to buy them. As we expected, those consumers beleve that organc food products are fresher and healther (FRESH, HEALTH) than conventonal ones, they are more lkely to purchase them. Fnally, wth respect to the fnal purchase of organc food (table 10), fndngs suggest, as expected, that consumer who strongly agree that t s moral to buy organc food products (MORAL) they are more lkely to purchase them. Fnally, as we expected the margnal effects of the ntenton to purchase organc food products are postve. Those consumers who strongly state the ntenton to purchase organc food products are more lkely to fnally purchase them. Prob ORG_LABEL =1 Prob ORG_LABEL =2 Prob ORG_LABEL =3 Prob ORG_LABEL =4 Prob ORG_LABEL =5 Varable FEMALE LW_INC KNOW GMOs NOSNACK STRESS Table 8. Margnal effects of payng attenton to organc labelng Prob Intenton to purchase=1 Varable ORG_LABEL GOOD HEALTH FRESH DIFFICULTY Table 9. Margnal effects of the ntenton to purchase organc food products Prob OP=1 Prob OP=2 Prob OP=3 Varable IP MORAL Table 10. Margnal effects of organc food purchase

17 Does Consumers Pay Attenton to the Organc Label When Shoppng Organc Food n Italy? Fnal remarks In 2010 a new organc labellng was ntroduced n the European Unon n order to ncrease the trust among European consumers towards organc food products and communcate them more envronmental sgnals. The new label s compulsory and used only n those products whch contan at least 95% of the organc agrcultural ngredents. The man am of new logo s to allow ctzens to be more nformed and then ncrease organc consumers purchase wth related postve economc effects on margnalzed and rural areas. Hence, ths paper has nvestgated the effects of payng attenton to organc labellng on the ntenton to buy organc food products n Italy and how the ntenton drves to the fnal purchase. Moreover, t has also provded addtonal evdence regardng those psychologcal factors affectng the ntenton to purchase organc food products. The results ndcate that those consumers who pay attenton to organc labelng when shoppng are more lkely to be wllngness to buy organc food products. In addton, women and people wth hgh ncomes are those who are more lkely to use organc labelng. And thus, they are to be wllng to buy organc food products. On the other hand, the degree of payng attenton to organc label s strongly and postvely lnked to the degree of knowledge. The results show that ncreasng organc knowledge s of paramount mportance to ncrease the attenton pad by consumers to organc label. As the Theory of Planned Behavor states, fndngs also show that other factors explan the ntenton to purchase organc food products such as atttudes towards ther purchase. Consumers wth postve atttudes towards the purchase are more lkely to be wllng to buy organc food. In partcular, consumers who support buyng organc foods are more lkely to be wllng to purchase them. However, n contrast wth prevous studes, the ntenton to purchase of Italan consumers s not affected by subjectve norms or envronmental atttudes when shoppng. Fnally, ethcal dmenson s consdered one of man factors drvng organc food purchases because Italan consumers who feel the ethcal oblgaton to choose organc food products are the ones that fnally purchase them. These results provde valuable nformaton on consumers purchase behavor of organc food products to help polcy makers at European, Natonal and Regonal level. In partcular, the results are very useful for polcy makers when desgnng ther respectve organc farmng polces for Italy. Frst, polcy makers should take nto account that household ncome stll represents a barrer whch lmts the expanson of organc food products n the Italan market. Therefore, they should strongly support organc farmers by substantal subventons n order to decrease ther costs of certfcatons and lead them to be more compettve n food market. Second, our study confrms the results of prevous studes whch showed that organc knowledge represents a key ssue that organc farmers have to take nto account n order to sell ther products. To llustrate, organc food products should be supported by nvestments n promoton actons whch wll result n easy dentfable by consumers trough new organc labelng provdng consumers more nformaton of other organc food characterstcs, such as the percentage of organc ngredents, anmal welfare and GMOs free. Fnally, snce ethcal aspects n organc food purchase nfluences consumers purchase decsons of organc food, future nformatonal campagns and promoton actons wll also focus on makng consumers more aware of the ethcal dmenson of organc food products. In partcular, they also communcate the economc and envronmental benefts on context where organc farmers operate n terms of the mprovement of farmers ncomes and retanng populaton.

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21 Organc Food and Agrculture - New Trends and Developments n the Socal Scences Edted by Dr Matthew Reed ISBN Hard cover, 216 pages Publsher InTech Publshed onlne 05, January, 2012 Publshed n prnt edton January, 2012 The global phenomenon of organc food and farmng, after three decades of progress, faces new challenges as markets mature and the mpacts of the global recesson start to change consumers and farmers' expectatons. Ths global survey of the organc food and farmng consders how the socal scences have come to understand n what way consumers make ther choces as they shop, and how new natonal markets evolve. It also surveys how establshed organc sectors n North Amerca and Europe are changng n response to the changes, that n part, the organc movement has created. Movng from a wde range of socal scence dscplnes, methodologes and perspectves, ths book represents an excellent startng place for new readers, and offers nnovaton to those already famlar wth the lterature. How to reference In order to correctly reference ths scholarly work, feel free to copy and paste the followng: Tzana de Magstrs and Azucena Graca (2012). Do Consumers Pay Attenton to the Organc Label When Shoppng Organc Food n Italy?, Organc Food and Agrculture - New Trends and Developments n the Socal Scences, Dr Matthew Reed (Ed.), ISBN: , InTech, Avalable from: InTech Europe Unversty Campus STeP R Slavka Krautzeka 83/A Rjeka, Croata Phone: +385 (51) Fax: +385 (51) InTech Chna Unt 405, Offce Block, Hotel Equatoral Shangha No.65, Yan An Road (West), Shangha, , Chna Phone: Fax: