Consumer Behaviour Towards Organic Food and Performance of Certification Standards

Abstract

Predicting consumer behaviour in food markets is a complex task. The traditional demand analysis based on economic factors, i.e. price and household income, is no Jonger the best approach to model consumer behaviour in modern post-industrialised food markets, as food quality aspects now dominate consumer decision-making (Senauer, 2001 ). This food product quality is determined by multiple characteristics (Hooker & Caswell, 1996) or, as Lancaster's (1966) utility theory states, is shaped by a combination of product characteristics (attributes) that determine the good's performance relative to price (utility).