1. Determinants of OF consumption: Case study on Czech consumers Jan Urban, Milan Ščasny, Iva Zvěřinová Charles University Environment Center 8th International Conference of the European Society for Ecological Economics University of Ljubljana, Slovenia 30 June 2009

2. Outline of the presentation Organic food consumption in the Czech Republic The model and method Hypotheses The survey Results Conclusions

3. Organic food consumption in the Czech Republic

4. Source: BÖLW 2009 Organic food turnover per capita in the European Union in 2007 (€)

5. P/C expenditures in the CZ on OF (€) Source: Václavík, 2008 200520062007

6. Knowledge and purchase of organic food in the Czech Republic 5% of households purchase organic food regularly 28% of households purchase organic food occasionally 54% of households know organic food but do not purchase 13% of households have not heard about organic food Source: Shopping Monitor (2008)

7. Reasons of organic food preference Source: Póč 2006

8. The model and method

9. Theory of planned behavior Perceived Behavioral Control Behavioral Beliefs Attitudes toward the Behavior IntentionBehavior Control Beliefs Normative Beliefs Subjective Norms Real Control over Behavior Background variables - Socio- demographics - General attitudes etc. Ajzen (1991)

10. Critique of TPB Social influences are adressed insuficiently in TBP (only as perceived social pressures from significant others) – Social values, altruism TPB does not address habitualisation

11. Method Structural equation modelling (SEM) – Testing of assumed theoretical matrices of interrelationships (variance-covariance matrix) against its empirical counterpart – Advantages Can be used to test substantive theories (TPB model) Alows us to work with latent variables Explicitly takes into account measurment errors – Disadvantages Theoretically sound model is needed Risk of data-mining Difficult to model discrete choice data

12. Survey and results

13. Data collection and corroboration Original survey conducted in 2008 Adult population of Prague and Znojmo region in the Czech Republic Structured interviews Prague (N=333), Znojmo region (N=355) Quota sampling (age, education, gender and size of the place) Samples representative of the two regions Merged data file (N=688)

14. Characteristics of the samples and target populations Prague (%)Znojmo region (%) Gender male47 49 female53 51 Education elementary11 27 high school without leaving examination30 43 high school33 22 college6633 university20 66 Age 18-3941 44 40-5939 36 60-7920 19

15. Reasons of organic food purchase % Healthier than conventional food59 Taste better than conventional food22 I like testing new things19 Environmentally friendlier production9 Organic food is „in“2 Other reasons7 100%=92 respondents (bought organic food in last 2 weeks), multinominal choice,  ≠100%

16. Purchase of OF by the household Did you buy OF this year? Did you buy OF over the last 2 week? 29 % # 13 % # Expenditures/ 14 days Average all 1.37€ # Average buyers 10.96 #

17. Structure of organic food expenditures Household bought organic food this year (%) Household bought organic food in last two weeks (%) Average organic food expenditures in last two weeks /€/ beef40,710 poultry416 milk8689 cheese953 yoghurts16104 butter323 eggs422 fruit and vegetables 8 bread6 pastries and rise12 100%=688 respondents (the whole sample), multinominal choice, tj.  ≠100%

18. Model of TPB Perceived Behavioral Control Behavioral Beliefs Attitudes toward the Behavior Intention Behavior Control Beliefs Normative Beliefs Subjective Norms Real Control over Behavior Background variables - Socio- demographics - General values etc. (Ajzen 1991)

19. Tested model Background variables - Socio- demographics - General values etc. (Ajzen 1991) Perceived Behavioral Control Behavioral Beliefs Attitudes toward the Behavior Intention Behavior Control Beliefs Normative Beliefs Subjective Norms Real Control over Behavior Habitualisation

20. MODEL 1

22. MODEL 2

24. MODEL 3

26. MODEL 4

28. Fit of the models dfchi-squareP (chi-test)NFI RMSEA LOWP(RMSEA) AIC (default) AIC (saturated) model 12.552.759.999.000.94636.55240.000 model 22.591.744.999.000.94250.59154.000 model 3149885.527.000.856.079.0001005.527418.000 model 4166987.490.000.849.080.0001115.490460.000 „Simple“ model based on TPB fits the data reasonably well Including habitualization in the model does not worsen its fit  habitualization plays an important role in the model of OF consumption The model with latent variables provides some exploratory insights into mechanism driving organic food consumption However, this model fits the data rather poorly

29. Conclusions /1/ Conceptual model of TPB is a usefull tool for exporing organic food consumption – Attitudes seem to have highest impact on intent – Perceived barriers seem to have lowest impact both on intent and behavior – Only relatively small proportion of variability of behavior is explained (cca 18%)

30. Conclusions /2/ Including habitualisation in the model is sound Habitualisation increases proportion of explained varibility of intent by as much as explain 20% Habitualisation has minimal effect on behavior (which we would expect)

31. Conclusions /3/ TBP elaborated… Attitudes – Health-related attitudes by far the most important; envi-att. play a secondary role Social norms – Social norms related to partner and friends have the highest effect – Social norms related to parents and kids are relatively secondary Perceived barriers – Most important: insufficient availability of OF in grocery stores and supermarket – Price is a secondary barrier

32. Acknowledgement This research has been supported by National Czech Foundation GAČR No. 403/08/1694, Application of the model of environmentally significant behavior in the Czech Republic. We also gratefully acknowledge support from the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic, Grant No. 2D06029 "Distributional and social effects of structural policies" funded within National Research Program II. Also this support is gratefully acknowledged.

33. Thank you for your attention Jan Urban E-mail: jan.uban@czp.cuni.cz