Agriculture Reference
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and Gracia (2008) conclude in a study based on a survey in southern Italy that beliefs about
positive outcomes for health and environment are the most important facets of a pro-organic
food attitude and that this attitude is positively impacted by available information on the
organic food market.
The aforementioned studies are just a small sample of the available literature on attitudes
towards organic food. What becomes clear is that pro-organic attitudes are multi-faceted
and many different beliefs contribute. Building on a literature review published by Hughner
et al. (2007) figure 1 summarizes the most important beliefs that have been connected to
organic food in previous studies and that contribute to forming an attitude towards organic
food (e.g., Hughner et al., 2007; Storstad & Bjørkhaug, 2003; Michaelidou & Hassan, 2008;
Onyango et al., 2007; De Magistris & Gracia, 2008; Schifferstein & Ophuis, 1998; Özcelik &
Ucar, 2008; Padel & Foster, 2005).
personal loss
personal benefit
more expensive
healthier/more nutritious
safer, free from chemicals
or contaminations
sensory defects
limited availability
and variability
better taste, higher quality
expresses wealth or a
post-materialistic lifestyle,
is fashionable
conflicts with brand
loyalty to con-
ventional produce
organic food /
organic agriculture
environmentally friendly
animal friendly
lower efficiency
worker friendly
slowing down
technological
progress
supporting local economy
societal loss
societal benefit
Fig. 1. Beliefs connected to organic food
In figure 1 the beliefs that have been previously found have been arranged into four groups:
(a) personal benefits a person ascribes to the consumption of organic food, (b) societal
benefits the person ascribes to organic agriculture, (c) personal losses that a person ascribes
to the consumption of organic food, and (d) societal losses associated with organic
agriculture. All of those aspects are subjective beliefs, which means it is irrelevant if the
assumptions underlying them can be supported by scientific findings or not. Usually,
anticipated personal benefits and losses are more relevant for behavioural choice than
societal benefits and losses, but a strong universalist value orientation (see section 2.1)
makes societal benefits more salient. Furthermore, strongly felt moral obligations to protect
the environment have been shown to reduce the importance of negative beliefs like the ones
subsumed under “personal losses” in figure 1 (Klöckner & Ohms, 2009).
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