Miroslava Bavorova, Diana Traikova and Juliane Doms
The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors that influence consumers’ shopping behaviour from farm shops.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors that influence consumers’ shopping behaviour from farm shops.
Design/methodology/approach
The study is based on the theory of planned behaviour (TPB). Data were gathered in 2015 and 2016 via a quantitative written survey of 135 pedestrians in a structured questionnaire in Naumburg, East Germany. The authors use the variance-based, partial least squares subfamily of structural equation models for the analysis, allowing the authors to investigate the causes of the formation of attitudes, social norms and perceived behavioural control (PBC) related to buying from farm shops.
Findings
Seen through the TPB prism, the most powerful explanatory construct in the model is PBC. This is followed by favourable attitudes towards buying at the farm gate. Interestingly, the injunctive norms construct is not significant, while the descriptive norms construct is. This means that the observed behaviour of relevant peers is more strongly linked to buying at the farm gate than what significant others want respondents to do.
Originality/value
Farm shops are one of the innovative distribution channels used by farmers to sell regional products directly to consumers. Studies that analyse the factors that have an effect on consumer behaviour when buying food from farm shops are very scarce. This paper fills this gap and the findings have implications for communications to consumers and labelling.
Details
Keywords
Mustapha Yakubu Madaki and Bavorova Miroslava
To investigate the relationship between food safety knowledge, food safety attitudes, the accessibility of sanitation facilities, perceived economic and social constraints and…
Abstract
Purpose
To investigate the relationship between food safety knowledge, food safety attitudes, the accessibility of sanitation facilities, perceived economic and social constraints and food safety practices among food vendors of higher institutions of learning in Bauchi State, Nigeria.
Design/methodology/approach
A purposive sampling method was used to select 6 out of 13 public higher institutions of learning in the state and a random sampling method was used in selecting 181 food vendors from the list of 342 food vendors in the 6 institutions. Face-to-face survey interviews were carried out between June–September 2018 completing a structured questionnaire.
Findings
The result of the structural equation model revealed that food safety knowledge, food safety attitudes and economic and social control affected the food safety behaviour of the food vendors. Inaccessibility to sanitation facilities affected food safety behaviour negatively.
Practical implications
Appropriate measures to improve the food safety behaviour of food vendors in higher institutions of learning could include, for example, food safety training that could increase food safety knowledge and awareness, as well as improved access to sanitation facilities at vending sites.
Originality/value
There is no previous study that investigates the relationship between food safety knowledge, food safety attitudes, social and economic constraints, access to sanitation facilities and the food safety behaviour of food vendors in higher educational institutions in Nigeria.
Details
Keywords
Miroslava Bavorova, Anica Veronika Fietz and Norbert Hirschauer
A whole series of food scandals indicates that misdirected incentives continue to be a source of food risks. Lacking market transparency and the opportunistic use of seemingly…
Abstract
Purpose
A whole series of food scandals indicates that misdirected incentives continue to be a source of food risks. Lacking market transparency and the opportunistic use of seemingly profitable opportunities to break the rules cause negative externalities and failure of markets. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of mandatory transparency schemes on food businesses’ behavioural drivers and thus on compliance.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors use an adopted analytical framework developed by Hirschauer et al. (2012) as the theoretical background. The authors provide an empirical analysis of the effects of a disclosure system on businesses’ behavioural drivers in three urban parts of the German capital Berlin. The authors conducted a pen-and-paper survey among food businesses to collect data and used a generalized ordered logit regression model to analyse them.
Findings
The results show that the higher the businesses assess the possible negative effects of a negative smiley on sales, the higher the probability of compliance. Considering the immaterial behavioural drivers (protective factors) the authors find the statistical significant influence of a feeling of embarrassment in case of disclosure and the feeling of a fair evaluation on compliance. Thus, the study supports the expectation that disclosure policies affect behavioural drivers and have the potential to steer food businesses’ compliance.
Practical implications
The study supports the expectation that hygiene controls’ disclosure positively affects food businesses’ compliance. These findings should be taken into consideration in the ongoing discussion about disclosure. Nowadays, there is no mandatory transparency in Germany due to a strong opposition from businesses and their lobbying groups.
Originality/value
The authors conducted a pen-and-paper survey among food businesses in three urban districts of the German capital Berlin, namely, Pankow, Lichtenberg and Marzahn-Hellersdorf in 2014. The food authorities in these districts were the only ones in Germany that had introduced and run a mandatory disclosure system (smiley-system) for food businesses. The results of the inspections were published on the authorities’ homepages in the internet, and were displayed in businesses. Thus the data mirror the unique experiences of the only German food businesses that participated in a mandatory transparency scheme.
Details
Keywords
Tereza Pilarova, Miroslava Bavorova, Lucie Vokáčová and Sven Gruener
The objective of this explorative study was to analyse the association of socio-economic factors and attitudes towards cooking with the time devoted to home meals cooking in the…
Abstract
Purpose
The objective of this explorative study was to analyse the association of socio-economic factors and attitudes towards cooking with the time devoted to home meals cooking in the Czech Republic. Furthermore, the authors tested and analysed data to see if there is any relationship between the time devoted to cooking by respondents and obesity.
Design/methodology/approach
The sample data consisted of 1,006 inhabitants’ subjects selected using the quota sampling following the structure of the population structure. Ordinary least squares (OLS) regressions were estimated to analyse factors influencing the time spent in the preparation of meals at home. The correlation between time devoted to cooking by respondents and obesity was addressed using the Kruskal–Wallis test and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA).
Findings
The results showed that female gender, higher age, smaller household size and presence of children increased the time spent by respondents in the preparation of home-cooked meals. Home cooking is perceived as a tastier option compared to, for example, chilled ready meals. The time devoted to cooking by respondents and her/his above average weight are correlated in our study.
Originality/value
To the authors’ knowledge, no recent study has comprehensively analysed cooking behaviour and time spent cooking in the post-Soviet countries, including the Czech Republic. The authors’ quota-representative study provided relevant insights into eating behaviour, as the Czech Republic has faced a high increase in the obesity rates in the last decade.
Details
Keywords
Norbert Hirschauer, Miroslava Bavorová and Gaetano Martino
Business malpractice in supply chains raises the food safety risks for downstream buyers, including consumers. This paper aims to analyse the multiplicity of behavioural factors…
Abstract
Purpose
Business malpractice in supply chains raises the food safety risks for downstream buyers, including consumers. This paper aims to analyse the multiplicity of behavioural factors influencing producers' motivation to break the food safety norms intentionally.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper reviews existing disciplinary approaches for the analysis of behavioural risks. Based on this review, an analytical framework is developed which provides a base for an interdisciplinary institutional analysis of behavioural risks in food chains.
Findings
The reviewed approaches on behavioural risk share the view that deviance is the result of multi‐goal and (potentially) opportunistic decision making of bounded rational individuals. The analytical framework presented in this paper integrates these approaches.
Research limitations/implications
The analytical framework provides a rough categorisation of behavioural drivers. It neither details the context‐dependent subcomponents that determine the utility outcome within each category nor the methods that should be used to analyse them.
Originality/value
A behavioural economic analysis based on the framework means opening up the black box of the regulatees' action situation by incorporating the subjectively perceived material incentives in addition to immaterial motivations such as reputation effects, social norms and community pressure into the analysis. Based on an understanding of producers' motivation, proper institutional solutions can be implemented to enhance producers' compliance with food safety norms.