The Significance of Consumer’s Awareness about Organic Food Products in the United Arab Emirates

Safdar Muhammad, Eihab Fathelrahman and Rafi Ullah Tasbih Ullah
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Safdar Muhammad: Department of Agribusiness and Consumer Sciences, College of Food and Agriculture, United Arab Emirates University, P.O. Box 15551 Al Ain, UAE
Rafi Ullah Tasbih Ullah: Department of Agribusiness and Consumer Sciences, College of Food and Agriculture, United Arab Emirates University, P.O. Box 15551 Al Ain, UAE

Sustainability, 2016, vol. 8, issue 9, 1-12

Abstract: Awareness about negative externalities generated by conventional farming is gaining momentum with consumers around the world, opting for alternatively, namely organically, produced food products. Information about consumers’ awareness is an essential element for farmers and marketing agencies to successfully plan production that can capture a greater market share. This study discusses effective factors influencing consumers’ awareness about the benefits of organic food in the United Arab Emirates. Sample data and ordinary least square (OLS) regression techniques are applied to delineate factors influencing consumers’ awareness about organic food. The results from this regression analysis highlight the importance of specific socioeconomic determinants that change awareness about organic food products in United Arab Emirates (UAE) households. This study finds that awareness about organic food is influenced more effective factors such as gender, nationality, and education as well as income, occupation and age. These research findings apply to other economies and societies that have an increasing per capita spending on organic food, but also where people are highly sensitive to information provided about organic food. Therefore, these results are important to these research beneficiaries including food marketing planners, researchers, and agricultural and food policy makers.

Keywords: organic food; consumers’ awareness; effective socioeconomic characteristics; market segmentation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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