Revealing the lifestyles of local food consumers (original) (raw)
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Exploring consumer constructions of local food: meanings and influences
European Journal of Marketing
Purpose This study aims to focus on local food consumption and specifically seeks to explore how consumers construct the meaning of local food and the nature of relationships between key influences on the local food purchase intention. Design/methodology/approach A two-stage qualitative methodology was adopted consisting of five focus group discussions and 25 semi-structured interviews with consumers in Northern Ireland. Focus groups explored consumer meanings of local food. Semi-structured interviews sought to explore in more depth the inter-relationships between the influences on the purchase intention and the role of moral norms. Findings Five key influences on the purchase intention are identified (quality attributes, experience and familiarity, emotional attributes, the setting, support for the local economy). These influences are connected with a range of self-interest, altruistic and moral factors. Research limitations/implications This study was undertaken in a specific geog...
Local Food Consumers: How Motivations and Perceptions Translate to Buying Behavior
2010
Emerging market demand for local foods represents an interesting phenomenon, as small-scale direct markets operate side by side in communities with much larger competitors, such as food supercenters, which also seek to procure locally grown produce. Moreover, the wide spread differentiation of food offerings and venues has allowed consumers to more carefully search out attributes that are important to them. These attributes may include any labels or information on private-such as quality, safety, and health-and public, such as social fairness and sustainability-assurances, some of which may be more closely associated with local foods by consumers. In this article, we explore the underlying factors that motivate consumers to choose local food and how motivations vary among buyers in different market venues, based on a national survey administered in late 2008.
Sustainability
Access to healthy food and the introduction of sustainable nutrition practices are two important issues today. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought new challenges to food security but it has also provided opportunities for local food production. The discussion on local food has been gaining attention in recent years, but there is still a lack of clear understanding of the term ‘local food’ in the literature. The relationship between local food and sustainability issues is still unclear and has various connotations. This discordance leads to further discussions on whether buying local food should be considered a sustainable behavior and whether consumer preference for local food can be perceived as a sustainable practice. A scoping literature review was conducted in order to fill this gap and to shed light on the main tendencies of the scientific literature regarding this topic. The outcomes of the research revealed three dimensions of ‘local food’ definitions in the literature: geograp...
Evaluating the urban consumer with regard to sourcing local food: a Heart of England study
International Journal of Consumer Studies, 2010
This paper critically explores consumer perceptions and trends regarding purchasing locally produced food. Until recently, much of the research in this area largely focused on regional consumers where rural consumers had reasonable access to locally produced food and were usually in close proximity to the producers within, or close to, their immediate community. Here, the objectives of the primary research focused instead on urban attitudes and perceptions of local food within the Greater Birmingham conurbation in the West Midlands region of the UK. Birmingham is by far the most highly populated urban area of the region, and with ample opportunities to promote local food. Consumers, based mainly in Birmingham and Wolverhampton, were questioned on their locally produced food-buying habits and attitudes in order to determine any differences in urban perceptions and buying attitudes compared with rural counterparts, and also to identify any new and potential opportunities for local food producers. Originally, 1000 questionnaires were obtained from across Greater Birmingham and Wolverhampton. However, for the purposes of this paper, it was decided to focus on two urban city centres-Birmingham and Wolverhampton, with 148 questionnaires. The results indicate that urban consumers are generally confused about what the term 'local' food means. The reasons for purchasing local food, while generally consistent with national patterns, differed in that supporting the local producers was not regarded as important. Barriers to purchase were largely unsurprising for an urban area, as the top choices were 'too expensive' followed by 'not readily available' and 'no time to find it'. Understanding, information, availability and access to local food emerge as the biggest challenges to urban consumers in buying local food. 'local', and also very few definitions in relation to the marketing, or retail, of local food. The various stakeholders have their own definitions and guidelines. For example, FLAIR (2002), as cited by Kneafsey et al. (2003, p. 19), tells us that. .. local means the shortest and simplest route from field to plate. In some cases a set distance defines this. In all cases, a self contained local trading area, with close contact between all parties and few middlemen.. .. The National Association of Farmers' Markets encourages its members to be as local as possible, and as a guide on the use of the term 'local', recommends a radius within 30-50 mi of the farmers' markets and/or a county boundary (Food Standards Agency et al., 2003). Thus, local food can be seen as arising from such a system (Kneafsey et al., 2003, p. 19). However, DEFRA (2004) does make a clear distinction between regional food and local food. The former is defined as 'quality food with a specific geographical provenance which could be
Drivers of local food consumption: a comparative study
British Food Journal, 2015
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to empirically explore antecedents of local food purchase intention in two food producing countries with different cultural backgrounds. Design/methodology/approach – An online survey was employed to collect data from consumers located in Chile (n=283) and Australia (n=300). A proposed model is tested with structural equation modelling. Findings – Attitude towards consuming local food is a strong and direct driver of intentions to purchase local food in both countries. Attitude towards supporting local agri-businesses and consumer ethnocentrism are found to positively impact attitude towards consuming local food in both countries. Attitude towards local agri-businesses also has a direct effect on intentions to purchase local food in Australia, but not in Chile. Interestingly, subjective norms are not found to affect intentions to consume local food in either country. Research limitations/implications – The paper examines factors affecting the a...
Purpose This study investigates how attributes associated with local food (intrinsic product quality; local support) motivate purchase behaviour. Previous research assumes heterogeneity in consumer motivation, but this has never been formally assessed. As such, the influence of local food attributes in motivating product use is integrated into a model in which consumer values and personal characteristics/situational variables are specified as moderators. Design/methodology/approach Eight hypotheses are tested using data collected from a quota sample of respondents recruited via an online panel of 1223 shoppers. A three-stage analysis is employed using structural equation modelling (SEM). Moderation effects are tested using both latent interactions and multiple-group analysis. Findings Shoppers purchase local food more frequently as a consequence of local support rather than intrinsic product quality. Unpicking these relationships reveal that local support has an amplified effect when local identity is higher, and when the shopper is female or of an older age (55yrs+). Surprisingly, the influence of intrinsic product quality is equivalent by gender, age and location (rural/urban). Practical implications Marketers promoting locally produced foods should focus on both the intrinsic attributes of local food as well as the role it plays within the local community. The latter is more likely to be successful with communications aimed at women and older consumers. Originality/value With previous studies focusing on how local food attributes influence favourable consumer behaviours, the current study unpicks these relationships by examining heterogeneity in responses. This is the first study to concurrently use attributes, values and personal characteristics/situational variables in explaining shopping behaviour for local food.
Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics, 2016
Local food is a popular subject among consumers, as well as food producers, distributors, policymakers and researchers in many countries. Previous research has identified that the definition of local food varies by context, and from country to country. The literature also suggested that environmental sustainability is one of the goals for many of the local food movements. While there is a substantial body of literature on local food internationally, limited research has been undertaken in New Zealand. This paper aims to understand how consumers define local food, what attributes they associate with local food, and the extent to which life cycle-based environmental aspects are represented in these attributes. Primary research employed quantitative methodology. This study identified that a majority of the respondents considered that local food may be defined as food that was produced in New Zealand and that support for community was the most important attribute associated with local food. Reduced GHG emission, conserving the landscape, and organic production were the life cycle-based environmental attributes that were associated with local food. This study provides a basis for further research into understandings of local food in New Zealand and how to improve communication among different social actors with respect to demand and supply of local food.
Sustainability, 2022
Future trends in sustainable food consumption include the emergence of short food supply chains and growing interest in local food products. Among the drivers are the more urgent sustainability expectations, the emphasis on environmental and social responsibility, and the changing consumer needs, of which the desire for healthy and quality products, curiosity, uniqueness, and experience are the most prominent drivers. Today’s customers are becoming more aware and open to culinary discoveries and exotic delights. In this study, we investigated the importance of product attributes related to local products, and the motivational factors that determine purchase intentions. The significance of our work lies in the fact that we have studied young consumers’ intrinsic and extrinsic motivational factors. A quantitative consumer survey was conducted using a hybrid data collection method on a sample of 1756 respondents aged between 18 and 45 years. The questionnaire focused on product feature...