The Importance of Food Attributes and Motivational Factors for Purchasing Local Food Products: Segmentation of Young Local Food Consumers in Hungary
Sustainability
; 14(6):3224, 2022.
Article
in English
| ProQuest Central | ID: covidwho-1765864
ABSTRACT
Future trends in sustainable food consumption include the emergence of short food supply chains and growing interest in local food products. Among the drivers are the more urgent sustainability expectations, the emphasis on environmental and social responsibility, and the changing consumer needs, of which the desire for healthy and quality products, curiosity, uniqueness, and experience are the most prominent drivers. Today’s customers are becoming more aware and open to culinary discoveries and exotic delights. In this study, we investigated the importance of product attributes related to local products, and the motivational factors that determine purchase intentions. The significance of our work lies in the fact that we have studied young consumers’ intrinsic and extrinsic motivational factors. A quantitative consumer survey was conducted using a hybrid data collection method on a sample of 1756 respondents aged between 18 and 45 years. The questionnaire focused on product features, intrinsic and extrinsic motivational elements, and demographic characteristics. The results of our study provide strong evidence that the features associated with local products include but are not limited to the following freshness, high quality, nutritional value, reliability, safety, evoking domestic flavours, naturalness, being healthy, environmentally friendly, etc. The motivational elements were grouped into four factors hedonism, curiosity, nutritional value, and tradition. The main reasons for young respondents purchasing local food were taste and curiosity. Based on the results of the cluster analysis, we formed three groups having different features and different motivations for purchasing local products. Moreover, we had the opportunity to understand the attitudes and perceptions of young people towards buying local products. A key result of our study is that the “value-creators” segment considers local products to be healthy and nutritious.
Environmental Studies; local; locavore; Hungary; consumer motivation; young consumers; consumer segments; Food supply; Food products; Sustainability; Food consumption; Segmentation; Consumer surveys; Flavors; Local economy; Young adults; Nutritive value; COVID-19; Farmers; Food; Product specifications; Cluster analysis; Consumers; Food chains; Pandemics; Farms; Data collection; Consumption; Supply chains; Social responsibility; Literature reviews; Cultural heritage; Vegetarianism; Spain
Full text:
Available
Collection:
Databases of international organizations
Database:
ProQuest Central
Language:
English
Journal:
Sustainability
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
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