Bachelor Degree Project
Consumers’ Attitude Toward Eco-labels Within
the Food Industry: Focus on Generation Y in
Europe.
Authors : Mathilde Valentine, Valentine Stichelbaut, Rahat Hossain Chowdbury
Tutor : Dr. Soniya Billore
Examiner: Dr. Setayesh Sattari
Date: 2014-08-12
Subject: Business
Administration
Abstract
Title: Consumers’ attitude toward Eco-Labels within the Food Industry : Focus on
Generation Y from European nationalities.
Authors: Mathilde Valentin, Valentine Stichelbaut, Rahat Hossain Chowdhury Tutor: Dr. Soniya Billore
Examiner: Dr. Setayesh Sattari
Level/Course: First Level/Bachelor Thesis 15hp in Business Administration, (2FE10E)
Strategic Marketing Programme, Linnaeus University Växjö, Spring Semester 2014
Background: Eco-labels have become an important tool in products’ promotion,
especially in the food industry, where it is used to promote products with ecological, ethical and/or sustainability attributes that consumers are looking for. Even though researches have demonstrated that consumers develop a positive attitude towards green products, some remain skeptical about green claims from marketers which are sometimes considered as ambiguous.
Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to understand consumers’ attitude towards
eco-labels and the impact of trust on their intention to buy eco-labelled products, focusing on Generation Y from Europe and on eco-labels from the food industry.
Methodology: The research is based on a quantitative study with a cross-sectional
design. The data are collected thanks to secondary data and an online survey.
Conclusion: The findings show that the Generation Y is well aware of eco-labels and
has a positive environmental motivation, both impacting the intention to buy eco-labelled food products. Trust has also a small indirect impact on the intention to buy, since it affects the consumers’ environmental motivation.
Key words: Eco-labels, Generation Y, Attitude, Awareness, Environmental Motivation,
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank every person involved in this Bachelor Thesis, without whom we could not have conducted successfully this research.
We would like to thank first all the individuals that took time to respond to the questionnaire and allow us to concretize the study with empirical data.
We are also thankful for the help of our tutor Soniya Billore and examiner Setayesh Sattari at Linnaeus University Växjö who provide us with constructive feedbacks and were always available to support us from the beginning to the end of the writing.
Växjö 20th of August 2014
Contents 1 Introduction ... 1 1.1 Background ... 1 1.2 Problem Discussion ... 3 1.3 Purpose ... 5 1.4 Delimiations ... 5 2 Theory ... 6
2.1 Eco-label, general definition ... 6
2.1.1 Eco-label, source of approval ... 7
2.1.2 Eco-label and information claims issues ... 8
2.2 Consumer trust and signalling ... 9
2.3 Attitude ... 11
2.3.1 Consumers’ general attitude towards eco-labels ... 13
2.3.2 Generation Y’s attitude: focus on their shopping behaviour ... 14
2.4 Generation Y and environmental issues ... 15
2.5 Research gap ... 15 2.6 Hypothesis ... 16 2.7 Research model ... 17 3 Methodology ... 18 3.1 Research strategies ... 18 3.2 Research designs ... 20 3.3 Data Collection ... 21
3.3.1 Primary data research method ... 21
3.3.2 Primary data sampling ... 23
3.4 Operationalization ... 25 3.5 Questionnaire design ... 28 3.6 Data analysis ... 30 3.7 Ethical considerations ... 30 3.8 Quality criteria ... 31 4 Analysis ... 32
4.1 Defining generation Y attitude through variables ... 33
4.2 Testing the hypothesis ... 35
Table 7, own elaboration, 2014. Correlation analysis ... 36
1 Introduction
The first chapter of this bachelor thesis introduces the eco-label system and the ambiguity that sometimes comes with it. The problem discussion will derive from this background and lead to a clear purpose and research questions that the authors will answer afterwards.
1.1 Background
The context of environmental protection and sustainable economic growth has become an important concern in discussion by governments, business and academics. This is true especially in Europe where environmental consciousness is developing notably comparing to the other places of the world (European Commission, 2010). In addition, there is in countries such as Sweden, the Netherlands or Germany a certain social pressure to behave in a more environmentally responsible manner (European Commission, 2010) leading to an increase in demand for more environmentally friendly products and services (McDonagh and Clark, 1995). Consumers are more and more concerned, not only about the purchase and the consumption process, but also about production processes and scarce resources allocated, along with product disposal issues such as recycling (Zinkhan and Les Carlson, 1995). This growing green movement has given birth to the ‘green consumer’, which is considered seriously by companies as it turns out to be a large and profitable market segment (Zinkhan and Les Carlson, 1995). This increasing tendency challenges thereby the business world, which has to re-think their strategies to respond to the need for switch to green products and services (Charter and Polonsky, 1999; Sandeep et al., 2011). In the pursuit of sustainability fundamental changes within companies are required, particularly inside marketing practices among other business functions (Shrivastava, 1994).
environmental fulfilment (Ottman 1999). Green marketing is therefore a broad concept that does not only concern the promotion or advertising of eco-friendly products but also refers to consumer goods, industrial goods and services themselves (Polonsky, 1994).
Among the green marketing practices, labelling has been of particular importance in terms of promotion and logistics (Peattie and Charter, 1994). As a promotional appeal, eco-labels provide consumers with a simple and trustworthy signal of a product’s social and environmental certifications. From a logistics perspective, labelling is relevant in providing consumers with information supporting responsible behaviour (Peattie and Charter, 1994). In this way, according to Case and Scott (2004), marketers may resort to green labels with the aim to furnish consumers with pertinent, precise and meaningful information; allowing consumers to integrate human health and environmental consideration as part of their everyday purchasing decision.
Eco-labels exist for a variety of products such as textile, paper, wood or agriculture and food products and are nowadays widespread in most OECD Countries (Abderrazak and Youssef, 2009). Within the global food industry, there is a great variety of eco-labels providing some ecological, ethical or sustainability characteristics on various products. Most of eco-labels in the food industry are intended for organic product, produced in accordance with the most sustainable form of agriculture (Organic Monitor, 2013). Europe represents the biggest sales of eco-labelled food and drink products with North America (Organic Monitor, 2013).
1.2 Problem Discussion
The growing awareness of consumers about environmental issues has influenced their lifestyle, consumption patterns and purchasing habits towards alternatives more respectful for the environment (Purohit, 2012). Thus there is an increasing number of consumers - so called green consumers - purchasing green products, which has encouraged marketers to differentiate their products and services as green (Iyer and Banerjee, 1993; McEachern and Warnaby, 2004; French and Showers, 2008; Hartmann and Apaolaza-Ibanez, 2009). The integration of environmentally friendly features and attributes on products has become a common selling point (French and Showers, 2008) responding to the green movement of today and giving birth to a new marketing concept so called ‘green marketing’ (Peattie and Charter 1994; Lacy et al., 2010).
However many consumers remain sceptical about the honesty of green claims from marketers and wonder if the so-called green products offer significant environmental improvements compared to the non-green ones (Bonini et al., 2008; Kalafatis and Pollards, 1999; Peattie, 2010).
In a large body of research there is an overall assumption stating that green consumers remain sceptical about green advertisements in particular, which is a central matter in green marketing (Bickart and Ruth, 2012; Do Paço et al, 2012; Fowler and Close, 2012; Sheehan and Atkinson 2012, p.6). The principal argument to this assumption is the dominance of misleading green assertions, generalized under the term of greenwashing (Vermeir and Verbeke, 2006; Carlson et al., 1996; Easterling et al., 1996; Kangun et al., 1991). According to Delmas and Burbano (2011), greenwashing is defined as ‘the intersection of two firms behaviours: poor environmental performance and positive communication about environmental performance’ (p.65). Since more and more companies engage in greenwashing as green market happens to be a profitable market, there is a negative impact on consumers’ confidence (Delmas and Burbano, 2011). Indeed consumers considered green marketing communications practices as ambiguous, confusing or lack of evidence showing a positive impact on the environment (Chang, 2011; Cone, 2011, Mintel Report, 2011).
party - meaning by an independent organisation - such as government entity (Arquitt and Cornwell, 2007) so as to provide consumers with cues concerning the product's performance such as environmental characteristic and impact (Bickart and Ruth, 2012). Researches have demonstrated that having recourse to a third party consent, affects consumers positively in their comprehension and perception of products quality (Beltramini and Stafford, 1993; Dean and Biswas, 2001). They perceived indeed third party endorsement as being rather independent and impartial compared to some others (Dean and Biswas, 2001).
Yet, in the midst of labels, a high degree of confusion and scepticism among consumers has raised along with the exponential growth of eco-label programs (Delmas et al., 2013). It is particularly the case within the global food industry, which concentrates a great variety of Eco-labels (Organic Monitor, 2013). Besides, consumers purchasing eco or Fairtrade labelled products are rarely convinced whether their actions are actually good for the environment and the society (Sörbom, 2002, 2004; Halkier, 2001, 2004). According to the findings of Sörbom (2002, 2004) a broad group of people gathering different generations feels concerned about environmental issues and sees in their consumption a real opportunity to act responsibly and express their political opinion toward the protection of the environment. However they remain uncertain about the real consequences of their actions since they seem to struggle in the understanding of what is true and what is false in the description of environmental problems and what are the relevant solutions to actually overcome them (Sörbom, 2002, 2004). Thus consumers make the choice to rely on signals such as eco-labels as they cannot verify the green attributes of a product directly (Atkinson and Rosenthal, 2014). Yet, Kalafatis et al. (1999) states that the existing literatures lack of information concerning the factors of intention to buy green products.
on consumers’ attitude, particularly on trust and product attitude.
Moreover, when looking through literature reviews, there are no specific researches targeting a specific generation and their relation to green marketing, eco-labels or green products; especially as regards the Generation Y or Millennials which is - according to Vermillion and Peart (2010) - the group of consumer the most aware of environmental issues. A consensus between literatures agrees to describe the Generation Y, or Millennials as individuals born between the 1980s and 2000s (Lu et al., 2013). According to Lu et al. (2013), there are few academic researches regarding the Millennials and the consumption of green products, including therefore eco-labelled products in particular those from the food industry.
1.3 Purpose
The purpose of this thesis is to understand consumers’ attitude towards eco-labels and the impact of trust on their intention to buy eco-labelled products, focusing on Generation Y from Europe and on eco-labels from the food industry.
Research Questions:
• What is Generation Y‘s attitude towards eco-labelled food products?
• Is there a significant relation between the attitude towards eco labelled food products and the intention to buy these products within Generation Y?
• Is there a causal relation between trust in eco-labelled food products and the intention to buy these products within Generation Y?
1.4 Delimitations
informed about signals such as eco-labels and specially eco-labels within the food industry as they exist on a broad variety of food products. The authors decided to focus on Eco-labels from the food industry since food products are everyday life products. In this way Generation Y might be more aware of eco-labelled food products than others and may consume them already or will (or not) consume them. Plus, since those products are ingested it might be of greater interest for this generation. Furthermore, the lack of study regarding Generation Y and its attitude towards green labels, including the impact of trust on their intention to buy created an opportunity for a deeper investigation in that particular domain.
2 Theory
This chapter constitutes the theoretical framework of this study. The first part of the chapter gives a general definition of Eco-labels. In detail, it explains what is an eco-label, how it is delivered and by whom and finally how information claims differ according to eco-labels, impacting positively or negatively consumers’ attitude towards these signals. The second part of the chapter is concerned with consumer trust, providing first a definition of trust from a consumer perspective and developing then how trust has an impact on consumers’ attitude, especially when it comes to products with signals such as Eco-labels and particularly within the food industry. The last part of the chapter begins with a general definition of attitude in order to give a clear understanding of the different aspects this terms implies in the field of consumer behaviours. Generation Y’s attitude is then explored focusing particularly on its shopping behaviour, to finish with the relationships this generation have with environmental issues. This chapter provides accurate information as regards consumer’s attitude towards Eco-labels in general as well as regards the concept of trust and its impact on consumers ‘attitude so as to lead the authors in their investigation on Generation Y. Some aspects of Generation Y’s attitude related to their shopping behaviour and environmental issues that were relevant for the study are also developed in order to find out whether they can be connected to Generation Y’s intention to buy eco-labelled products, focusing on the food industry.
2.1 Eco-label, general definition
the environmental qualities of a product or service while assuring consumers of the truthfulness of these claims” (Atkinson and Rosenthal, 2014, p.34). They are described as information tools that “aim to internalize the external effects on the environment of the production, consumption and disposal of products” (Bougherara and Compris, 2009, p.321). Consumers demand more transparency regarding their food, Eco-labels could be an answer since they provide the expected information while allowing the freedom of choice (Thogersen et al., 2009).
Eco-labels have become commonplace in Europe (Atkinson and Rosenthal, 2014) resulting in the multiplication of European eco-labelled on a broad variety of products (Abderrazak and Youssef, 2009). In 2000, the European Parliament defined European eco-labels as “intended to promote products with a reduced environmental impact during their entire life cycle and to provide consumers with accurate, non-deceptive, science-based information on the environmental impact of products” (Council Regulation, 2009). In 2010, the European Council improved the former regulation to make it more efficient. From now on, if a product is eco- labelled, it supposes that it has a weak negative environmental impact including no hazardous substances, a limited consumption of resources and energy coupled with a limited waste generated in its production process. Besides, an eco-labelled product may impact the environment positively through its durability or reusability and even influence social and ethical positive outcomes. Eco- labelled products represent therefore a good “balance between the environmental benefits and burdens, including health and safety aspects, at the various life stages of the products” (Council Regulation, 2009).
2.1.1 Eco-label, source of approval
information delivered by government agencies or an independent testing agency than manufacturers. Atkinson and Rosenthal’s study (2014) demonstrated that -as regards eco-labels - when estimating the trustworthiness of Eco-labels for low involvement products, consumers evaluate government sourced-labels to a greater degree in terms of credibility and respectability than corporate-sourced labels. Consumers have more confidence in government labels than corporate labels, specially when it comes to products for personal health or safety including food products (Atkinson and Rosenthal, 2014). Indeed as the government is responsible for ensuring the food safety, consumers are more disposed to trust this source of information and to be suspicious as regards corporate-sourced eco-labels (Atkinson and Rosenthal, 2014).
2.1.2 Eco-label and information claims issues
Eco-labels differ in terms of information claims (Atkinson and Rosenthal, 2014). Indeed some Eco- labels contain more extensive information claims than others that are much more unspecific (Atkinson and Rosenthal, 2014). As an example, can be found on diverse food products, vague claims promoting these items as “healthy” or “natural” (Atkinson and Rosenthal, 2014).
claims impact positively consumer trust and attitude toward the product and the source of the label. Thus, it can also have a favourable impact on the intention to buy an eco-labelled product since - according to Chaudhuri and Holbrook (2001) - consumers are more inclined to purchase a product when they develop a feeling of trust and a positive attitude toward it (Atkinson and Rosenthal, 2014). Besides, Rosenthal and Atkinson (2014) found out that, when it is about promoting green attributes, consumers prefer greatly detailed and specific information, specifically when it comes to low-involvement products. The explanation to that - according to them - might be as regards the characteristics of the secondary product. Indeed, it is particularly the case with food products as it concerns products that consumers ingest and thus they might pay more intention to their content and ask for more accurate information (Atkinson and Rosenthal, 2014). Even young consumers that tend to have a way of eating considered as unhealthy, are willing to purchase healthier food and buying products provided with effective sources of information such as labels (Van der Merwe et al., 2010).
2.2 Consumer trust and signalling
Trust is a broad concept that has been defined by researches mostly according to their respective disciplinary (McKnight et al., 2002). From a consumer perspective, trust is described as ‘the consumer’s belief that a corporation will perform in a manner consistent with expectations regarding its expertise, integrity and goodwill’ (Park et al., 2014). Park et al. (2014) came up with this definition by combining the factors of trustworthiness developed by Mayer et al. (1995) that include expertise (or ability), integrity and social benevolence with Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives. Thus three trust dimensions have been developed, namely expertise trust, integrity trust and social benevolence trust (Mayer et al., 1995; Park et al., 2014).
implies that consumers believe in the coherence demonstrated by companies between their values and actual behaviour as well as in their adherence to the principle of fairness (Mayer et al., 1995; McKnight et al., 2002). From firms’ perspective, it entails thereby the fulfilment of their legal and ethical responsibilities, involving therefore their obedience to laws and compliance with the appropriate regulations (Park et al., 2014). If a company does not comply with these minimum standards for business conduct and that consumers get to know it, these latter might perceive the company as dishonest - not to be trusted anymore (Park et al., 2014).
Social benevolence trust implies that consumers believe in the companies’ sincere involvement in the preservation and improvement of the society’s welfare (Genesan, 1994; Mayer et al., 1995; McKnight et al., 2002). A company will be considered as trustworthy by consumers when the latter defends causes and engages in social and environmental actions for example (Park et al., 2014).
According to Atkinson and Rosenthal (2014), consumers lack of information and have to evaluate products and services based on information, which are at their disposal and which happens to be sometimes incomplete, misleading, or imperfect. Thus, in this environment with information deficit, consumers rely on signals as a way to assess product quality (Darby and Karni, 1973; Nelson, 1970,1974; Kirmani, 1997; Kirmani and Akshay, 2000). Bloom and Reve (1990) defined a signal as “a marketer-controlled, easy-to-acquire informational cue, extrinsic to the product itself, that consumers use to form inferences about the quality or value of that product” (p.59). A signal can be used by the seller as an action or a strategy in the form of product warranties, advertising, price, brand name, brand equity and brand allies (Nelson, 1970, 1974; Bloom and Reve, 1990; Ford et al., 1990; Boulding and Kirmani, 1993; Erdem and Swait 1998; Rao et al., 1999; Cason and Gangadharan, 2002; Atkinson and Rosenthal, 2014). A signal is considered effective when consumers estimate it as useful and credible (Boulding and Kirmani, 1993; Atkinson and Rosenthal, 2014). In other words, consumers will look for information about products or services providing that the effort or cost engendered does not exceed the marginal expected return (Atkinson and Rosenthal, 2014). Yet, consumers are improbable to rely upon such informational signals if they question their credibility (Boulding and Kirmani, 1993; Atkinson and Rosenthal, 2014).
Signals in the form of Eco-labels or certification can give consumers - to a certain extent of confidence - credibility as regards marketers’ claims and thereby serve consumer trust (Hansen and Kull, 1994; Atkinson and Rosenthal, 2014). In order to improve the credibility of marketers’ environmental claims, these latter can in this way resort to certification seal or Eco-labels since they impact positively consumers’ attitude towards the product and the source of the claim (Erdem and Swait, 1998; Atkinson and Rosenthal, 2014).
2.3 Attitude
Solomon et al., serves to explain the function of attitudes. This model is a hierarchy of three effects that are interacting with each other in different ways, depending of the consumer’s level of motivation regarding a particular attitude object: the Cognition, the Affect and the Behaviour (Solomon et al., 2010). First, in accordance with the previous authors’ definition, the Cognition is concerned with the belief that a consumer has about an attitude object, what he knows about it. Second, the Affect reflects the feeling that a consumer has about an attitude object. At last, the Behaviour expresses the consumer’s intention regarding an attitude object, such as his/her intention to buy. However, the authors specify that an intention does not constantly end with an actual behaviour. As mentioned before, there are different hierarchies of effects: the standard learning hierarchy, the low-involvement hierarchy and the experiential hierarchy (Solomon et al., 2010). According to Solomon et al. (2010), the standard learning hierarchy occurs when a consumer firstly accumulates knowledge about a product, creating the consumer’s beliefs regarding the product’s attributes. The consumer is then able to form feeling about the product, leading to a relevant behaviour.
The second hierarchy introduced by Solomon et al. (2010) is the low-involvement hierarchy. This hierarchy usually applies when the consumer is not willing to put much effort in a product’s purchasing decision. The authors state that the first effect of this hierarchy is also belief. Yet the consumer’s attitude regarding the product will evolve after the purchase, depending on the consumer’s experience with the product.
beliefs nor feelings about the product, yet these latter will manifest after the purchase (Solomon et al., 2010). The social judgement theory supposes that consumers are inclined to search and assimilate information about a product, depending on what they already feel and know about it, in order to strengthen their attitude (Solomon et al., 2010). The balance theory is the perception of relationships between a person, an attitude object and another person or group. This relationship needs once again to be harmonious, for example if a consumer like a product but the other person don’t, the balance is not respected. On the other hand, of they both don’t like the product, the triad is balanced (Solomon et al., 2010).
Since Solomon et al. (2010) precised that the hierarchy of effects would evolve in accordance with the commitment to an attitude, it is important to understand the three levels of involvement with the attitude object. The lowest level of involvement is represented by Compliance, which mean that the attitude is superficial and can easily be changed when another alternative is offered (Solomon et al., 2010). The second level of involvement that Solomon et al. (2010) present is the Identification. The authors explain that the identification takes place when the consumer forms his attitude in order to correspond to a person or a group. The third level of commitment is Internalization, this is the highest level with deep-rooted attitudes that are really difficult to change.
2.3.1 Consumers’ general attitude towards eco-labels
The broad range of labels available on the market has - according to several authors - contributed to consumer confusion, particularly in the distinction between certified Eco-labels from other types of Eco-labels (Timonen et al., 1998; Juhl and Poulsen, 2002; Himmelstrup Dahl and Hjort, 2002; Leire and Thidell, 2005) and emboldened a decrease in credibility in all labels (Leire and Thidell, 2005).
not really distinct green from conventional products as well as the positive impact eco-labelled products might have on the environment (Leire and Thidell, 2005).
2.3.2 Generation Y’s attitude: focus on their shopping behaviour
According to a study of Parment (2013), Generation Y has a great purchasing power encouraging marketers to understand their shopping behaviour. Indeed in order to target this generation successfully through a precise marketing strategy, it is important for marketers to identify its motivations and values (Parment, 2013).
Besides, Generation Y showed a different attitude regarding products demanding a low-involvement or a high-low-involvement purchasing decision (Parment, 2011). Indeed they will not engage any effort, energy or emotions in the purchasing decision of low-involvement products but will for high- low-involvement products (Parment, 2011). This generation is moreover used to a constant flow of information and has the ability to deal with it and to browse easily (Parment, 2013). Consumers from the Generation Y resort to information as a defensive knowledge so as to get the best deal and to avoid being manipulated by marketers (Pruter, 1998). Parment (2013) clarifies then in his research that “Generation Y wants to decide when, where and how companies communicate with them” (p. 192). This group of consumers is also described as being independent in its decision-making. They do not appreciate that someone might dictate their behaviour and lifestyle, even though it comes from a person close to them such as their friends or family; yet they still have an important influence (Parment, 2013). In addition, Noble (2009) states that there are several variables completing these socialization issues, such as the need for freedom and finding oneself. Generation Y needs more separation with their parents than other cohorts. Consumers from the Generation Y will thereby consume brands that reflect the most their own personality. They will indeed search for brands that they trust, presenting values that are meaningful to them, brands they feel comfortable with, offering products that they will consider as fashion, while giving importance to the impact of the product on blend them in or stand them out in the society (Noble et al., 2009).
change the perception of the social environment on the consumer. Thus, consumers from the Generation Y will be willing to pay more if the product can change positively the way the society sees them (Parment, 2013).
2.4 Generation Y and environmental issues
Consumers from the Generation Y are concerned about environmental issues (Hill and Lee, 2012). They have the capability and the willingness to make purchase decisions by taking into account sustainability (Bhaduri and Ha-Brookshire, 2011). The broad sources of information at their disposal are on one hand exploited to increase the awareness of environmental issues, but in the other hand increase their scepticism as regards the green-claims from marketers and companies. They will then respond better if investments in favour of the environment seem authentic to them (Bhaduri and Ha- Brookshire, 2011; Kagawa, 2007). “However, despite their general awareness and willingness to take action, Generation Y consumers’ specific knowledge of the elements of sustainability is low” (Hill and Lee, 2012, p. 479) (Bhaduri and Ha-Brookshire, 2011; Gam, 2011; Kagawa, 2007; Wilhelm, 2009). The effort and the perception of this effort by the consumer to have a respectful behavior towards the environment will depend on each individual and his own belief (McDonald and Oates, 2006; Straughan and Roberts, 1999).
The findings of Hill and Lee (2012), highlights that educating consumers from Generation Y regarding sustainability would be beneficial for a better understanding of what sustainability means. The same knowledge would also be required by firms and especially in their green-communication toward these consumers (Furlow and Knott, 2009). Thus, “a perception of being environmentally friendly is a key factor in attracting the interest of the Millennials” (Henrichs, 2008 cited in Smith and Brower, 2012, p.537).
2.5 Research gap
towards environmental issues - hypothesis can be deduced to find out about Generation Y’s attitude towards eco-labels and its intention to buy eco-labelled products. Eco- labelled products are limited to products from the food industry as explained beforehand. The concept of trust has been developed in the theoretical review and has been revealed to have a powerful impact on consumers’ attitude and behaviours. Yet, there is not specific research in relation to trust in eco- labels and its impact on intention to buy co-labelled food products. Thus, the authors - through the theoretical review - confirmed the opportunity for a deeper investigation as regards Generation Y’s attitude towards eco-labels existing on various products from the food industry and its impact on their intention to buy eco-labelled food products, and particularly the influence of trust on their intention to buy those products.
2.6 Hypothesis
H1a: There is a positive relationship between environmental motivation and the intention to buy eco- labelled food products.
H1b: There is a strong direct causal relationship between environmental motivation and the intention to buy eco-labelled food products.
H2a: There is a positive relationship between the awareness of eco-labels and the intention to buy eco- labelled food products.
H2b: There is a strong direct causal relationship between the awareness of eco-labels and the intention to buy eco-labelled food products.
H3a: There is positive relationship between trust in eco-labelled food products and intention to buy eco-labelled food products.
H3b: There is a direct causal relationship between trust in eco-labelled food products and intention to buy eco-labelled food products.
H3c: There is an indirect causal relationship between trust in eco-labelled food products and intention to buy eco-labelled food products.
H4a: There is a positive relationship between awareness of labels and trust in eco-labelled food products.
eco-labelled food products.
H5a: There is a positive relationship between environmental motivation and trust in eco-labelled food products.
H5b: There is a direct causal relationship between environmental motivation and trust in eco-labelled food products.
H6a: There is a positive relationship between environmental motivation and awareness of eco-labels.
H6b: There is a direct causal relationship between environmental motivation and awareness of eco- labels.
2.7 Research model
Figure 4 – Own elaboration, 2014
3 Methodology
This chapter exposes step by step the research methodology of the authors. Different research methods are described and discussed in order to find out the most adapted one for this study, based on relevant arguments. The first step is concerned with research strategies and the choice for following a deductive approach and conducting a quantitative research. The second step regards the different research designs and the choice for a cross sectional design to frame the data collection and analysis. The last important step includes the way data will be collected and the choice for doing an e-survey. The description of the selected sample and of the questionnaire design based on the theoretical framework will then provide the reader with concrete information as regards the data collection. Finally, the authors will explain how their study respects ethical considerations and meet quality criteria.
3.1 Research strategies
According to Bryman and Bell (2011), the relationship between the theory and the result of the research can be presented through two opposite approaches: the deductive and the inductive. The two authors explain that researches can be deduced from clear hypothesis in order to test a theory and guide the process of data collection; or it can be inducted to build a theory with the findings. In short, with the deductive approach, the data are collected to test new theories when with the inductive approach, data are collected to build the theories. Usually, deductive approach is linked to quantitative research and the inductive to qualitative research (Bryman and Bell, 2011).
The second position is the interpretivism one. Unlike positivism, interpretivism understands the differences between people and the objects of natural sciences. With this position, the researcher uses his norms and values and adopts a subjective point of view on his study (Bryman and Bell, 2011).
Bryman and Bell (2011) in their book develop the concept of ontological considerations that are concerned with how the social entities must be seen in the research. Either entities are considered as external factors, or entities are constructed by the perception and action of social actors. Here again, two positions answer this interrogation (Bryman and Bell, 2011). The objectivist position affirms that social phenomenon and their meanings are independent of social actors. The constructionist position claims that those social actors are building the phenomenon and what they mean (Bryman and Bell, 2011).
3.2 Research designs
According to Bryman and Bell (2011), there is five main types of research designs: experimental, cross-sectional, longitudinal, case study and comparative design. These designs are made to actually start the research by providing the framework for data collection and analysis. In order to choose the perfect research design for this particular thesis, it is important to understand the others.
The previous authors introduce first, the experimental design that is a field experiment. It is rather rare in business and management research considering that, even if it has strong external validity, it is difficult to manipulate. Secondly, the cross-sectional design, or also-called the social survey design, involves more than one case to collect quantitative data in connection with several variables. This design is used to discover patterns of association (Bryman and Bell, 2011). In accordance with the same authors, the third design is the longitudinal design. It can be seen as an extension of the social survey research demanding more time and being more expensive, since the survey is examined several times. This is why it is less frequently used. The case study design is the fourth design defined and is popular among researchers. Unlike the two previous design, it studies with intensity one case only. Finally, the comparative design studies two similar cases that can be contrasted (Bryman and bell, 2011).
Obs 1 Obs 2 Obs 3 ... Obs n Case 1 Case 2 Case 3 ... Case n
(Table 1, Bryman and Bell p.57, 2011)
3.3 Data Collection
To answer the research problem, the authors used secondary data and primary data. Secondary data are other researchers’ data already collected and that correspond to the authors’ study interest (Bryman and Bell, 2011). In this thesis, secondary data consist of scientific articles presented and explained in the theory chapter.
On the other hand, primary data are the data that are recently collected by researchers for a particular investigation (Rabianski and Josef, 2003). Primary data will be used to support, complete or refute the secondary data.
3.3.1 Primary data research method
actual respondents are made with a computer (Jansen et al., 2007).
Kalantari (2011), exposes different methods to do an e-survey, the most well-known are with a personal computer or by the network systems. However, doing a survey with a particular software demand for the participants to have the same software. A more approachable manner is then to use network systems (Kalantari et al., 2011). The most common use of e-survey by the network system was by e-mail, but recently the utilisation of web-based e-survey receives a lot of interest from the researchers (Kalantari et al., 2011; Jansen et al., 2007). The definition of a web-based survey given by Jansen (2007) is an ‘instruments that physically reside on a network server (connected to either an organization’s intranet or the Internet) and that can be accessed only through a Web browser’ (p. 8). Indeed, since the survey resides on a network server, it is easier of access for potential respondents, it is also simpler to modify the questions if needed, and the data collected are directly connected to a database where information are stored (Jansen et al, 2007). The issues of reliability, validity and sampling are not greater with an e-survey than with traditional survey methods, as pencil-and-paper. Nevertheless, it could bring some security, privacy and ethical issues, since the researcher cannot always control who is answering the survey and the procedures are not always communicated successfully to the participants (Jansen et al., 2007).
Benefits and drawbacks of web-based approach are summarized in this table:
Benefits Drawbacks
Turnaround time (quick delivery and easy return
Easy of reaching large number of potential respondents
Can use multiple questions formats
Ease of ensuring confidentiality
Can capture data directly in database
Possibility for repairing some guidelines, hyperlinks or
Potential for limited access within target population
Potential for technology problems to decrease return rate
Security issues may threaten validity or decrease return rate
Lack of control over sample
Potential for bias in sample
Need to make sure the program works well
pictures for leading the samples
Less possibility for answer avoidance
Possibility for employing more complicated designs
Simplicity, visual attraction and homogeneity in answering and fastness
Not requiring papery resources
High motivation for responding because of interaction
Not requiring the knowledge of computer programming
Some answers are not trustworthy because of making mistakes in answering, carelessness, or premeditated wrong answer and the result will be weak or futile
Table 2, Schmidt et al., 1996 cited in Kalantari et al., 2011, p. 938; Jansen et al., 2007, p.4
3.3.2 Primary data sampling
Selecting individuals who will be potentially involved in the survey is a delicate task that needs to be done correctly in order to avoid bias results (Bryman and Bell, 2011). Three sources of bias that could lead to sampling error are identified by Bryman and Bell (2011): a non-probability or non-random sampling, an inadequate frame of sampling, and the sample’s refusal to participate. To avoid bias results, researchers need then a probability sample, which is the use of a random selection process, and have to decide the just sample size by taking into account the possibility of non-response and the heterogeneity or homogeneity of the population (Bryman and Bell, 2011). However, obtaining a probability sample is very difficult, almost impossible, and a lot of studies result in having non- probability samples, which is defined as “making some members of the population more likely to be selected than others” (p. 177, Bryman and Bell, 2011).
Generation Y, born between 1980 and early 2000 (Lu et al., 2013). By publishing the survey on the Internet, while precising the representative sample needed, the authors ensure a random sampling. However, the authors published the questionnaire on a network system, therefore the survey is presented to people that are connected in some ways to the authors, resulting in a non-random sampling. According to Bryman and Bell (2011), there are three types of non-random sampling: the quota sampling where the researcher divides the population in categories and decides a number of responses needed within each category, the convenience sampling where the respondents are easily accessible for the researcher and the snowball sampling where the researcher uses an appropriate small group of potential respondents that will contact others (Bryman and Bell, 2011). This study applies then a convenience sampling, since the authors know somehow the potential respondents, and a snowball sampling, since some potential respondents have also reached others to answer the questionnaire. Moreover, there is still a possibility that participants answered the survey while not being in accordance with the representative sample demanded, leading to sampling errors. The authors are then counting on the population goodwill and carefulness.
The questionnaire was accessible online for a one-month period and received 82 responses, all from people between 18 and 35 years old and from 16 different nationalities, conform to the study needs. The average time to complete the questionnaire was 4’30 min.
Table 3, own elaboration, 2014. Frequencies
3.4 Operationalization
Construct Construct Operational
Definition Measurement/Indicator Characteri stics Research Questions Attitude Awareness Capacity to feel, to perceive, to be conscious of something without necessarily understanding it. I am aware of eco-labels… On food products When I shop Regulation Eco-labels catch my intention…
Raising awareness on eco-labels is important to me
I feel that have enough information on eco-labels 5 points Likert scale What is Generation Y’s attitude toward eco-labelled food products existing in the food industry? Environmental motivation A reason, which is protecting the environment, for acting or behaving in a way that cares about the environment. To me protecting the environment is… essential/not essential To me eco-labels… have a positive/negative impact on the environment
have to be promoted
I believe that by consuming eco labelled food products…
Trust Belief that an entity will perform in a manner consistent with consumers’ expectations regarding its expertise, integrity and goodwill
I believe that eco-labels are reliable/not reliable
I believe that regulations on eco-labes are reliable/not reliable I trust… Manufacturers government entities 5 points Likert scale What is Generation Y’s attitude toward eco-labelled food products existing in the food industry? Is there a causal relation between Gen Y ‘s trust in eco-labelled food products and the intention to buy these products? Intention to buy Intention to buy To plan to purchase a specific good or service in the future
I purchase eco-labelled food products…
I prefer eco-labelled food products to regular ones..
I intend to buy eco-labelled food products…
I would consider buying…
I am convinced that
eco-5 points Likert scale
Is there a
labelled food products are…
More expensive
Affordable
Table 4, own elaboration, 2014. Operationalization
3.5 Questionnaire design
The questionnaire, which is an online questionnaire, has been designed in accordance with the theoretical framework serving this study. It is accessible via an hypertext, link, opening first on a presentation page introducing the purpose of the questionnaire. A definition of eco-labels and some visual examples of existing eco-eco-labels are given to make sure that the respondents get a clear understanding of what is an eco-label. It is also specified that respondents should be between 18 and 35 years old to answer the questionnaire and also originated from an European country in order to limit sampling errors.
The questionnaire is constituted with five main parts. The first part of the questionnaire is made of three questions referring to the respondents’ demographic characters, which are the age, the gender and the nationality. The second part of the questionnaire gathering 17 questions is concerned with Generation Y’s attitude. It is divided into three subsections: Generation Y’s awareness of eco-labels, Generation Y’s environmental motivation and trust in eco-labels. The first subsection ‘Generation Y’s awareness’ made of 6 questions, stresses in particular Generation Y’s awareness of eco-labels as well as their feel as regards the given information about eco-labels. The second subsection ‘Generation Y’s environmental motivation’, made of 7 questions, tests Generation Y’s feel, beliefs and convictions as regards the protection of the environment and the impact of eco-labelled food products on the earth. The third subsection ‘Generation Y’s trust in eco-labels’, which is an important variable for the study, comprises 5 questions concerning how this generation consider eco-labels and sources of eco-labels approval as trustworthy. The last part of the questionnaire is composed of six questions connected to Generation Y’s intention to buy eco-labelled food products as well as its relation to prices on eco- labelled products.
form of given statements. Respondents are asked to rank from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree) each statement of the questionnaire. Besides, these latter are cautiously formulated to be consistent with the theories exposed in the theoretical chapter (Part 2). Thus, the collected data can be latter linked to the theoretical framework of this thesis.
In order to get accurate results, the statements belonging to a specific part are formulated from different perspectives. For example, in the awareness subsection, the first statement is an overall question so as to measure respondents’ general awareness on Eco-labels on food products. In detail, the following statements test respondents’ awareness on eco-labels when they shop, respondents’ awareness on European involvement in the regulation of eco-labels and the importance they give in raising people's awareness of eco-labels. The same logic of computing several statements to measure one factor/one variable (information, environmental motivation, trust and intention to buy) is applied throughout the questionnaire in order to get valid results.
In order ensure a proper understanding of the questionnaire and its validity, a pre-testing has been run before the final online publication. Thus, the authors separately asked 7 individuals who met the sample criteria, namely individuals between 18 and 35 years old and having an European nationality, to test the questionnaire and to give their feedbacks. As their remarks were given, the authors adapted the questionnaire by removing or adding some questions to suit the variables, correcting some spelling mistakes and by rephrasing few questions.
Questions Type of
measure
Measure Scale Purpose
1,2,3 Direct measurement Demographic characteristics Continuous metrics scale Answer research questions 4,5,6,7,8,9, 17,18 Derived measurement Awareness on eco-labelled food products
15,16 measurement motivation research questions 20,21,22,23,24 Derived
measurement
Trust Likert Scale Answer
research questions 25,26,27,28,29,30 Derived
measurement
Intention to buy Likert Scale Making implications
Table 5, own elaboration
3.6 Data analysis
In order to analyse the collected data, SPSS Statistic will be used. It will allow the authors to manipulate variables determined beforehand quickly and with a reliable tool. Thus different manipulations will be run to test the hypothesis and answer the research questions. To estimate the reliability of the questionnaire, the Cronbach’s alpha coefficient is first used to measure the internal consistency. The first hypothesis will be verified with descriptive statistics, showing the means and standard deviation of each variable that the authors previously computed. To answer the others variables, a correlation analysis will measure the association between variables and their intensity before proceeding to simple linear regression and multilinear regression depending of the hypothesis. These have a different approach than a simple correlation, since a dependent variable and one or several independent variables are observed. The dependent variable represents an effect and independent variables act as explanatory variables. The last analysis for the hypothesis is a causal analysis that will prove direct but also indirect impacts on the dependent variable, which does not appear with linear regressions.
3.7 Ethical considerations
enough information about the survey and its purpose are given to respondents to avoid their deception about it. A pilot test was also done to avoid miscomprehension and to estimate the time needed to answer the questionnaire in order to prepare the respondents.
3.8 Quality criteria
The quality of a research depends on different criteria such as reliability, replication and validity, which are introduced upon below (Bryman and Bell, 2011).
Reliability
According to Bryman and Bell (2011), reliability - in general term - demonstrates whether a study is repeatable or not. More precisely, reliability is concerned with the consistency of the measures of business concepts and is divided into three factors (Bryman and Bell, 2011). The first factor, called stability, is related to individuals’ attitude towards a phenomenon, along with the different situations and time (Bryman and Bell, 2011). The researchers have to pay attention to possible variations of the responses, yet measuring the stability is complicated (Bryman and Bell, 2011). When using multiple- indicators measures, such as Likert scale, Bryman and Bell (2011) explain that the coherence between the answers given is determined by the second factor, internal reliability. Thus, in this thesis, the correlation is tested with Cronbach’s alpha. The last factor, clarified by Bryman and Bell (2011), is the inter-observer consistency. Indeed in accordance with the say of Bryman and Bell (2011), subjective judgments could interfere with the consistency of the study, this is why a quantitative research should avoid open-ended questions. The advantage of an online questionnaire using the Likert scale is that the problem of open-ended question does not exist anymore. Besides the researcher does not influence the participants, since they do not interact with him. The researcher cannot change the responses when recording, staying objective.
Replication
Validity
In Bryman and Bell (2011) opinion, validity, since it is concerned with the findings integrity, is the most important criterion of a research. Bryman and Bell (2011) enumerate four main types of validity, including measurement validity - or construct validity - that is related to the adequacy of measures and evaluates whether these measures represent accurately the concepts, which they are supposed to exploit. In order to have a right measurement validity, Bryman and Bell (2011), invite the researchers to deduce hypothesis from theories relevant with the investigation, therefore the authors of the thesis used other researches to create a questionnaire and hypothesis. Internal validity, which is the second type of validity, is concerned with the causes and effects of the variables and their causal relationship (Bryman and Bell, 2011). The study using a cross-sectional design, it is easier to assume which variable causes another, by using common sense (Bryman and Bell, 2011). Then, the external validity, described by Bryman and Bell (2011), is related to the generalization of the findings, which implies that the findings can exist beyond the specific context of the study. This is why it is important to have a representative sample. Finally, the ecological validity, answers the question whether the findings can occur in the everyday life or not (Bryman and Bell, 2011). The authors have to be careful since answering a questionnaire can be seen as unnatural and then lead to a limited ecological validity.
4 Analysis
This chapter investigates the answers of the online questionnaire and measures the variables and their connection in order to answer the research questions. Thanks to the software SPSS, the authors will use different tools, such as descriptive analysis, correlation analysis, regression analysis and causal analysis to better understand the Generation Y’s attitude towards eco-labels existing on various products from the food industry and how it impacts Generation Y’s intention to buy.
4.1 Defining generation Y attitude through variables
In order to respond successfully to the research questions, the authors defined four variables by combining several related-statements: Awareness, Environmental motivation, Trust and Intention to buy. Awareness, Environmental motivation and Trust variables constitute Generation Y’s attitude towards eco-labels that will be later connected to Generation Y’s intention to buy Eco-labelled food products.
X31: Awareness = (X4+X5+X6+X7+X8+X9+X17+X18) / 8
X32: Environmental Motivation = (X10+X11+X12+X13+X14+X15+X16) / 7 X33: Trust = (X20+X21+X22+X23+X24) / 5
X34: Intention to Buy = (X25+X26+X27+X28) / 4
To verify the consistency of the four above variables, the cronbach’s alpha coefficient was used. A value above 0,7 is considered as adequate, yet a value above 0,9 is preferable.
Awareness Environmental Motivation Trust Intention to buy
0,676 0,810 0,839 0,872
Table 6, own elaboration, 2014. Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient
All the variables have a reliable internal consistency and thus can be used for further analysis. The participants had to answer 26 questions with a 5 points Likert Scale from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (5). The mean computed corresponds to the average of the responses for each variable and the standard deviation show the dispersion of the responses. When the standard deviation is high, the responses are really different from the average, on the contrary a low standard deviation implies that the responses are close to the mean.
Variable Mean Standard Deviation
Awareness 3,25 0,65
Environmental Motivation 3,54 0,96
Trust 2,81 0,84
Intention to Buy 3,17 0,99
This table indicates that the awareness on eco-labelled food products’ variable is average and with a medium standard deviation, meaning that the sample gave approximately the same answer during the questionnaire. The environmental motivation’s variable is higher than the other variables, meaning that participants showed a particular interest in the protection of the environment. Yet, the standards deviation of the environmental motivation variable is really high, since the responses varied a lot depending on the participants. The trust variable has the lowest mean, implying that the majority of respondents do not trust the eco-label system, but in the same way, the standard deviation is high, since the answers differed. Finally, the mean of the intention to buy eco-labelled variable is average and its standard deviation is considerable implying disparate responses.
Awareness
According to the results collected through the questionnaire, Generation Y within Europe is in general aware of the existence of Eco-labels existing on food products. However even though they are aware of the sustainable dimension implied by these informative tools, it is not considered as an essential purchase criterion when they choose food products by half of them. They feel that eco-labels on food products are in average informative, yet they feel that they need more concrete and detailed information on these green products. For the most part, Generation Y is conscious of eco-labelled food products when they shop, this generation knows what an eco-label means and implies, yet it is not taken as the most important thing in their buying decision.
Environmental Motivation:
Trust
As regards Generation Y’s confidence in eco-labels on food products, results are more ambiguous. Indeed, individuals from this generation generally trust eco-labels on food products even though they are divided by the reliability of every of them. Besides, they would better trust – to a certain extent - eco-labels delivered by government entities than by manufacturers, yet results are disparate according to individuals reflecting the complexity of this matter.
Intention to buy
As regards Generation Y’s intention to buy eco-labelled food products results are even more disparate. Results show that - in average – individuals from Generation Y purchase eco-labelled food products and that they prefer buying those products to other regular ones. In the same way, more than the average intends to consume eco-labelled products in the future. Yet, even though there is a clear tendency for consuming eco-labelled food products in the future for the majority of individuals, responses are broadly divided, highlighting an important disparity within Generation Y according to individuals. However, there is one point where this Generation seems to agree on: the price of eco- labelled products. Indeed the majority is convinced that those products are more expensive than other regular ones, yet the average still believes that they remain affordable.
4.2 Testing the hypothesis
Correlation analysis
Reminder: a correlation analysis measures the association between two variables and the intensity of the co-variation.
Awareness Environmental Motivation
Table 7, own elaboration, 2014. Correlation analysis
If they all have a positive correlation, this table shows that some variables have stronger connection between them than with others. The highest correlation is between awareness and intention to buy (0,689), followed by environmental motivation with intention to buy (0,642) and awareness and environmental motivation (0,611). A correlation analysis does not take into account a cause-effect relationship between variables. In order to understand these connections and to be able of accepting or rejecting the hypothesis, linear regressions analysis will be used.
4.3 Results
As a first step, the multilinear regression analysis explains one dependent variable variations, here the intention to buy, depending on several independent variables. As said previously, the three dependent variables that defined attitude are “environmental motivation”, “awareness” and “trust”.
H1a: There is a positive relationship between environmental motivation and the intention to buy eco-labelled food products.
H2a: There is a positive relationship between the awareness of eco-labels and the intention to buy eco-labelled food products.
H3a: There is positive relationship between trust in eco-labelled food products and intention to buy eco-labelled food products.
A multiple regression analysis is used with the dependent variable “Intention to buy” and the independent variables “Trust”, “Environmental motivation” and “Awareness”.
Model R R Square Adjusted
R Square
Std. Error of the Estimate
The relation between the three variables and the Intention to Buy is quite strong and accounted for 55,2% of the explained variability in the intention to buy eco-labelled food product.
Variables t Sig
Environmental Motivation 3,38 0,286
Trust 0,108 0,914
Awareness 4,94 0,000
This table shows that the relation between environmental motivation and intention to buy, and awareness and intention to buy are significative, when the relation between trust and intention to buy is not.
To precise the multilinear regression analysis, each independent variable will be analysed separately with a simple linear regression analysis.
H1a: There is a positive relationship between environmental motivation and the intention to buy eco-labelled food products.
A simple linear regression analysis is used with the independent variable “Environmental motivation” and the dependent variable “Intention to buy”.
Model R R Square Adjusted
R Square
Std. Error of the Estimate
1 0,642 0,412 0,405 0,76
Model B Std. Error Beta t Sig
Environmental motivation 0,658 0,088 0,642 7,486 0,000
The sig = 0,000 show a positive relationship between the two variables.
H1a:: ACCEPTED
H2a: There is a positive relationship between the awareness of eco-labels and the intention to buy eco-labelled food products.
A simple linear regression analysis is used with the independent variable “Awareness” and the dependent variable “Intention to buy”.
Model R R Square Adjusted
R Square
Std. Error of the Estimate
1 0,689 0,474 0,468 0,719
R Square shows how much “Awareness” impacts “Intention to buy”. A R Square of 0,474 means that environmental motivation could explain 47,4% of the intention to buy variability.
Model B Std. Error Beta t Sig
Awareness 1,05 0,124 0,689 8,496 0,000
The sig = 0,000 show a positive relationship between the two variables.
H2a: ACCEPTED
A simple linear regression analysis is used with the independent variable “Trust” and the dependent variable “Intention to buy”.
Model R R Square Adjusted
R Square
Std. Error of the Estimate
1 0,270 0,073 0,061 0,956
R Square shows how much “Trust ” impacts ‘intention to buy”. A R Square of 0,073 means that trust could not explain the intention to buy variability.
H3a: REJECTED
If the relation between Generation Y attitude and its intention to buy eco-labelled food is clearer, it is also important to apprehend the connections between the different attitude’s variables. Indeed one of the purposes of this study is to understand the role of trust in Generation Y’s attitude toward eco-labelled food product.
H4a: There is a positive relationship between awareness of labels and trust in eco-labelled food products.
To determine if the awareness impacts the trust variable, a simple linear regression analysis is used with the independent variable “Awareness” and the dependent variable “Trust”.
Model R R Square Adjusted
R Square
Std. Error of the Estimate
1 0,233 0,054 0,043 0,819
R Square shows how much “Awareness ” impacts ‘Trust”. A R Square of 0,054 means that awareness do not explain the trust variability.
H5a: There is a positive relationship between environmental motivation and trust in eco-labelled food products.
To determine if the environmental motivation impacts the trust variable, a simple linear regression analysis is used with the independent variable “Environmental Motivation” and the dependent variable “Trust”.
Model R R Square Adjusted
R Square
Std. Error of the Estimate
1 0,431 0,185 0,175 0,761
R Square shows how much “Environmental Motivation” impacts “Trust”. A R Square of 0,185 means that environmental motivation could explain 18,5% of the trust variability.
Model B Std. Error Beta t Sig
Environmental motivation 0,375 0,088 0,431 4,266 0,000
The sig = 0,000 show a positive relationship between the two variables.
H5a: ACCEPTED
H6a: There is a positive relationship between environmental motivation and awareness of eco-labels.
A simple linear regression analysis is used with the independent variable “Environmental motivation” and the dependent variable “Awareness”.
Model R R Square Adjusted
R Square
1 0,611 0,374 0,366 0,515
R Square shows how much “Environmental motivation” impacts “Awareness”. A R Square of 0,374 means that environmental motivation could explain 37,4% of the awareness variability.
Model B Std. Error Beta t Sig
Awareness 0,411 0,059 0,611 6,910 0,000
The sig = 0,000 show a positive relationship between the two variables. H6a: ACCEPTED
Summary of hypothesis a :
H1a: There is a positive relationship between environmental motivation and the intention to buy eco-labelled food products. ACCEPTED
H2a: There is a positive relationship between the awareness of eco-labels and the intention to buy eco-labelled food products. ACCEPTED
H3a: There is positive relationship between trust in eco-labelled food products and intention to buy eco-labelled food products. REJECTED
H4a: There is a positive relationship between awareness of labels and trust in eco-labelled food products. REJECTED
H5a: There is a positive relationship between environmental motivation and trust in eco-labelled food products. ACCEPTED
