Beliefs, desire, and volitions to use organic olive oil: comparing consumers from Spain and Sweden
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2019-10-24
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Grigore, Georgiana, Stancu, Alin and Simões, Cláudia
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Olive oil is considered a key element of the Mediterranean Diet. For centuries, it has been included, raw or cooked, in almost every meal. On the contrary, its use was unusual in the Northern European cuisine, but, although still limited, the consumption has increased tenfold in the last 25 years. The penetration of olive oil outside the Mediterranean Basin depends on attitudes and social norms that have been shaping a trend of change in eating and culinary habits. These include beliefs about the healthy properties of this oil, which are increasingly related to more environmental-friendly and sustainable processes of growing olives and extracting oil. In this context, the present paper makes a cross-cultural analysis of the intention to use extra-virgin organic olive oil (EVOOO) as the main edible oil, comparing consumers from the largest olive oil producer in the World – Spain – with those from Sweden, a Nordic country where the consumption increased steeply and where the environmental-friendly claims are most valued. A sample of 800 olive oil consumers was selected in each country to answer a standardised online questionnaire. The model here assessed proposes that intention depends on social norms, on behavioural desire, on the strength of beliefs regarding attributes of EVOOO, and on how consumers consider producers’ environmental-friendly claims. Results from an importance-performance map analysis (SmartPLS) show that beliefs and descriptive norms are stronger in Spain. Regarding the impact on the intention, the descriptive norms are the most important factor in both countries. The beliefs about EVOOO are more important in Spain. Concerning claims, the allegation to be organic as some importance in both countries. Claims such as first cold pressed or carbonneutral have no importance at all in Spain, and a relatively small importance in Sweden. From these results, we derive some suggestions to increase the share of EVOOO in edible oils consumption in both countries.
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Importance-performance analysis , Organic olive oil , Food claims , Attitudes , Intentions