Consumer motivations in the purchase of organic food. A means-end approach

Zanoli, Raffaele and Naspetti, Simona (2002): Consumer motivations in the purchase of organic food. A means-end approach. Published in: British Food Journal , Vol. 104, No. 8 (2002): pp. 643-653.

Abstract

The paper presents partial results from an Italian study on consumer perception and knowledge of organic food and related behaviour. Uses the means-end chain model to link attributes of products to the needs of consumers. In order to provide insights into consumer motivation in purchasing organic products, 60 respondents were interviewed using ``hard’’ laddering approach to the measurement of means-end chains. The results (ladders) of these semi-qualitative interviews are coded, aggregated and presented in a set of hierarchical structured value maps. Even if organic products are perceived as difficult to find and expensive, most consumers judge them positively. All consumers associate organic products with health at different levels of abstraction and want good, tasty and nourishing products, because pleasure and wellbeing are their most important values. Results show that differences exist between groups of consumers with respect to their frequency of use (experience) of organic products and level of information (expertise). Reports and discusses results on consumer cognitive structures at different level of experience.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Organic food, Consumer behaviour, Italy, Means-End Chain, Laddering
• Subjects: Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics ; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q1 - Agriculture > Q13 - Agricultural Markets and Marketing ; Cooperatives ; Agribusiness; M - Business Administration and Business Economics ; Marketing ; Accounting ; Personnel Economics > M3 - Marketing and Advertising > M30 - General

References

Celsi, R.L. and Olson, J.C. (1988), The role of involvement in attention and comprehension processes’, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 15, pp. 210-24.

Deaton, A. and Muellbauer, J. (1980), Economics and Consumer Behaviour, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Gengler, C.E. and Reynolds, T.J. (1995), Consumer understanding and advertising strategy: analysis and strategic translation of laddering data, Journal of Advertising Research, July/August.

Gengler, C.E. and Reynolds, T.J. (1993), LADDERMAP: A Software Tool to Analyze Laddering Data, Mimeo.

Grunert, K.G. and Grunert, S.C. (1993), A comparative analysis of the influence of economic culture on East and West German consumers’ subjective product meaning, MAPP working paper no. 15, The Aarhus School of Business, Aarhus.

Grunert, K.G. and Grunert, S.G. (1995), Measuring subjective meaning structures by laddering method: theoretical considerations and methodological problems, International Journal of Research inMarketing, Vol. 12, pp. 209-225.

Grunert, S.C. and Juhl, H.J. (1995), Values, environmental attitudes, and buying of organic foods, Journal of Economic Psychology, Vol. 16, pp. 39-62.

Gutman, J. (1982), A means-end chain model based on consumer categorization processes, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 46 No. 1, pp. 60-72.

Houston, M.B. and Walker, B.A. (1996), ``Self-relevance and purchase goals: mapping consumer decision’’, Journal ofAcademy of Marketing Science, Vol. 24 No. 3, pp. 232-45.

Kassarjian, H.H. (1977), Content analysis in consumer research, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 4, pp. 8-18.

Naspetti, S. (2001), L’analisi motivazionale nel marketing ecologico: il caso dei prodotti biologici, unpublished PhD thesis, University of Ancona, Ancona.

Pauri, V. and Zanoli, R. (1996), Indagine sul consumo di prodotti biologici nella provincia di Ancona, Bioagricoltura, Vol. 38, pp. 32-6.

Perrault, W.M. and Leigh, L.E. (1989), Reliability of nominal data based on qualitative judgements, Journal of Marketing Research, Vol. 26, pp. 135-48.

Peter, J.P., Olson, J.C. and Grunert, K. (1999), Consumer Behaviour and Marketing Strategy, European Edition, McGraw-Hill, London.

Reynolds, T.J. and Gutman, J. (1988), Laddering theory, method, analysis and interpretation, Journal of Advertising Research, Vol. 28 No. 1, pp. 11-31.

Reynolds, T.J. and Whitlark, D.B. (1995), Applying laddering data to communications strategy and advertising practice, Journal of Advertising Research, July/August, pp. 9-17.

Schwartz, S.H. (1992), Universals in the content and structure of values: theoretical advances and empirical tests in 20 countries, Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, Vol. 25, Academic Press, San Diego, CA.

Smith, S.M. and Swinyard, W.R. (1999), Introduction to Marketing Models, available at: http://marketing.byu.edu/htmlpage . . . ses/693r/modelsbook/chapter5.html

Soerensen, E., Grunert, K.G. and Nielsen, N.A. (1996), The impact of product experience, product involvement and verbal processing style on consumer’s cognitive structures with regard to fresh fish, MAPP working paper no. 42, The Aarhus School of Business, Aarhus.

Walker, B.A. and Olson, J.C. (1991), Means-end chains: connecting products with self, Journal of Business Research, Vol. 22 No. 2, pp. 111-19.

Wier, M. and Smed, S. (2000), Consumer Preferences for Organic Foods – The Case of Consumption of Dairy Products in Denmark,Mimeo