Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
products bought by these consumers (cf. Table 2 for more details). All OF categories are
evenly represented for RC while most non-RC buy mainly fruits (27%) and vegetables
(28.3%).
8.2 Trust orientations
There are three dimensions of trust considered in this research: (i) trust towards the
brand/store, (ii) prior experiences with OF and (iii) organic labels trust. We ran a three t-test
for independent samples to uncover differences/similarities between the RC and non-RC on
the trust dimensions. The results are conclusive for the organic labels trust, and brand and
store trust (cf. Table 3). This means that RC and non-RC perceive differently the organic
labels trust in terms of credibility of organic labels, meaning of “organic”, and lack of trust
in the organic label claims. Moreover, non-RC show a higher degree of uncertainty on all
trust items in comparison to RC. This was somehow expected as non-RC are still unsure
about what organic is.
Trust Dimensions
Consumers
Mean
t-test Significance
Brand and Store
RC
3.533
0.138
Non-RC
3.415
Organic labels trust
RC
2.643
0.000*
Non-RC
3.116
Prior Experiences
RC
3.280
0.219
Non-RC
3.195
Table 3. T-tests for Levels of Trust *sig. at 5%
Moving to trust towards the brands and stores, we notice that even though there isn't any
significant difference between RC and non-RC, both types of consumers score high (5 point
Likert scale). This means that RC and non-RC trust the brands and the store from where
they buy OF products. In addition, it is important to note that all consumers score high on
the trust dimension related to prior experiences. Hence, RC and non-RC have the same -
relatively high - level of trust when it comes to their prior experiences with the store and
organic labels. This is directly related to consumers' loyalty and their habitual purchase
pattern, i.e., a consumer wants to use the same point of sale and same product/organic label
if they are satisfied with their purchase. In order to test this, we explore the relationship
between consumers' satisfaction and their prior experience for building trust. The chi-square
test was conclusive (sig. = 0.000 < 5%) showing that satisfaction determines the type of
consumers, i.e., RC or non-RC. Most of the RC are satisfied (38.3%) or very satisfied (59.7%)
with their previous OF consumption while 52.6% of non-RC are satisfied with their previous
OF consumption (only 25.4% of them are very satisfied). This difference might be based on
the fact that non-RC do not exactly know what to base their satisfaction on as they are not as
well educated as RC about organic food. Lastly, consumers consider that family, friends,
and/or scientific articles are the most important sources of information on OF. Conversely,
when asked to rank the most trusted sources of information, consumers listed small shops
and consumer organizations as being the most reliable sources of information.
8.3 Channels of distribution
In order to understand where OF consumers buy and why they prefer some channels of
distribution over others, we need to determine the most used channels of distribution. We
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