Organic Food Perception: Fad, or Healthy and Environmentally Friendly? A Case on Romanian Consumers

Dacinia Crina Petrescu and Ruxandra Malina Petrescu-Mag
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Dacinia Crina Petrescu: Faculty of Business, Babes-Bolyai University, Horea Street, No. 7, Cluj-Napoca 400174, Romania
Ruxandra Malina Petrescu-Mag: Faculty of Environmental Science and Engineering, Babes-Bolyai University, Fantanele Street, No. 30, Cluj-Napoca 400294, Romania

Sustainability, 2015, vol. 7, issue 9, 1-15

Abstract: The main purpose of this paper is to explore consumers’ perceptions of organic food and examine whether organic food products are perceived in the North-West Region of Romania as offering health and environmental benefits or as simply another sine qua non condition to be integrated into the luxurious yuppie lifestyle. The inspiration for our study came from witnessing the stereotypical image of organic food consumers as “stylish, trendy, fancy consumers” in the last three to five years. Scientific evidence on the perceptions of organic food is based on a probabilistic survey. The results indicate an environmental consciousness of organic food consumers in North-Western Region of Romania in terms of organic food: a high percentage of consumers believe that organic food is healthier than conventional food (87%) and that it contributes to environmental protection more than conventional food (75%). A statistically significant difference ( p < 0.05) was observed between people with higher education and those without higher education concerning the following beliefs: belief that most people consume organic products because they are in fashion, and belief that organic food contributes to environmental protection.

Keywords: organic food; consumer; perception; healthy; environmentally friendly; fashion; fad (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (23)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:7:y:2015:i:9:p:12017-12031:d:54961

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