Organic Food Consumption: The Relevance of the Health Attribute

Giuseppina Rizzo, Massimiliano Borrello, Giovanni Dara Guccione, Giorgio Schifani () and Luigi Cembalo
Additional contact information
Giuseppina Rizzo: Department of Agricultural, Food and Forest Sciences, University of Palermo, 90128 Palermo, Italy
Massimiliano Borrello: Department of Agricultural Sciences, Agricultural Economics and Policy Group, University of Naples Federico II, 80055 Portici (Naples), Italy
Giovanni Dara Guccione: CREA Research Centre for Agricultural Policies and Bioeconomy, 90143 Palermo, Italy
Luigi Cembalo: Department of Agricultural Sciences, Agricultural Economics and Policy Group, University of Naples Federico II, 80055 Portici (Naples), Italy

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 2, 1-12

Abstract: During the last decades, organic food products have become the main sustainable alternative to conventional food consumption. Among the several organic food attributes that consumers recognize in organic food, healthiness has been reported as the primary motivation to buy products certified as organic. The objective of the current study is to assess the relative weight of the health attribute among other recognized organic food attributes. To achieve this aim, a multiple price list (MPL) methodology is adopted to elicit consumers’ Willingness to Pay (WTP) for organic extra virgin olive oil (EVOO). Findings show that the contribution of the health attribute to determine the average premium price for organic EVOO is 78.9% of its total premium price. The study generates managerial implications to promote further expansion of the organic food market.

Keywords: health concern; sustainable food; organic food; extra virgin olive oil; organic attributes; health attribute; consumer behavior (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (22)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/2/595/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/2/595/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:2:p:595-:d:308357

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().