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Original scientic paper
PROFILE OF ORGANIC FOOD CONSUMERS
EP 2017 (64) 2 (497-514)
Economics of Agriculture 2/2017
UDC: 366-058:631.147
PROFILE OF ORGANIC FOOD CONSUMERS
Mirjana Kranjac1, Jelena Vapa-Tankosić2, Milena Knežević3
Summary
The aim of this study is to prove that prole of organic food consumers is dependent on
their socio-demographic characteristics as well as to shape universal organic food consumer
prole. The survey included 398 consumers in Serbia. Results indicate existence of typical
consumer’s prole. The ndings could be generalized proving that socio-demographic
proles in a larger population are strictly related to the decision to utilize organic food. The
study nally contributes to the stakeholders in general, since the knowledge of the attributes
can help all of them to play more active role in this supply chain. It should stimulate the
personalized approach to the particular groups of consumers based on sociodemographic
characteristics in order to intensify consumption of organic food and to create different
marketing plans dependent on the particular countries or areas.
Key words: organic food, consumer prole, socio-demographic characteristics, supply chain.
JEL: E21, D12, Q13.
Introduction
Organic has become a way of living. The organic sector in the EU has been rapidly developing
during the past decades. According to Eurostat data, the EU-28 had in 2015 a total area of
11.1 million hectares cultivated as organic. During the last decade, organic area in the EU
increased by about 500 000 hectares per year. The whole organic area represents only 6.2%
of total utilized agricultural area in Europe. The organic area is cultivated by almost 185
000 farms across Europe. Around 306 500 organic operators (producers, processors and
importers) were registered in the EU-28 in 2015. Most of the organic land (78%) and of
organic farms (81%) are situated in the EU Member States having joined the EU before 2004
(the so called EU-15), in which national and European legislation stimulated the development
1 Mirjana Kranjac Ph.D., Associate Professor, University Novi Sad, Faculty of Technical Sciences,
Dositeja Obradovia Square no. 6, 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia, Phone: +381 62 633 590, E-mail:
mirjana.kranjac@uns.ac.rs.
2 Jelena Vapa-Tankosi Ph.D., Associate Professor, University Business Academy, Serbia, Cvearska
Street no. 2, 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia Phone: +381 63 460 585, E-mail: jelena.vapa@mek.edu.rs
3 Milena Kneževi Ph.D., University of Defence in Belgrade, Serbia, Pavla Jurišia Šturma Street
no. 1, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia, E-mail: milena.knezevic@mod.gov.rs
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of this sector. The New member States which are lagging behind in almost all aspects of
development of the “old” EU member states, has represented an additional challenge to the
makers of the EU agricultural policy (Vapa-Tankosi, Stojsavljevi, 2014).
The European countries having joined the EU since 2004 are quickly expanding the organic
sector as well. They registered a 12% yearly growth rate in their organic area for from 2002
to 2015. Statistical information on organic agriculture is now available in 172 countries (DG
Agriculture and Rural Development, Unit Economic Analysis of EU Agriculture, 2016).
In 2014, the European organic market grew by approximately 7.6 percent and has reached
value of more than 26 billion euros. Consumers in the European Union spent 23.9 billion
euros on organic food. This is shown by the latest data provided by the Research Institute
of Organic Agriculture (FiBL) and the Agricultural Market Information Company (AMI) in
association with IFOAM EU. Germany is the biggest organic market in Europe with a share
of 30% of retail sales. It is followed by France (18%), the United Kingdom (9%) and Italy
(8%) (Heinze, 2016).
Denition of organic food provided by the USDA National Organic Program (NOP) is
as follows:“Organic food is produced by farmers who emphasize the use of renewable
resources and the conservation of soil and water to enhance environmental quality for
future generations. Organic meat, poultry, eggs, and dairy products come from animals
that are given no antibiotics or growth hormones. Organic food is produced without
using most conventional pesticides; fertilizers made with synthetic ingredients or sewage
sludge; bioengineering; or ionizing radiation. Before a product can be labeled “organic,”
a Government-approved certier inspects the farm where the food is grown to make
sure the farmer is following all the rules necessary to meet USDA organic standards.
Companies that handle or process organic food before it gets to your local supermarket
or restaurant must be certied, too.” (What does organic mean?, 2016). In the present
when agricultural production are dying out due to diseases and weaknesses, poisoning,
pesticides, climate changes and presence of extreme temperatures, droughts and oods,
transfer to organic production secures the highest quality and absolute health safety with
protection of the environment (Simeunovi , 2016).
As organic food is being more popular there is increasing demand for academic research
on prole, habits and attitudes of consumers towards organic food (Shepherd et al.,
2005). Structure of consumers and their behavior considered to be essential which have
to be studied in sectors such as economy, marketing, management and psychology. It
is important to understand consumer prole and behavior and to create personalized
approach. A study conducted in 2002 by the Brazilian Environmental Ministry (Hoppe
et al., 2013) identied that 73% of the Brazilian consumers show interest in purchasing
organic products for consumption and that 81% seem to be motivated to buy it when the
label informs that it was produced following the organic product’s regulations and it is
environmental friendly.
Consumer behavior is dened as the behavior that consumers project in searching for, using,
purchasing, evaluating, and disposing of products and services that they assume will satisfy
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their needs (Nicolae, Pelau, 2011). Researching consumer behavior studies the manners
in which consumers actually use the products and services they buy how many different
brands they use, how often and where they make purchases and why they buy and use them
and what they buy. The factors that affect consumer behavior can be divided into two major
groups: external and internal factors. External factors include demographic, sociological,
economic and geographical factors. Internal factors consist of the characteristics of
personality as are features and mental conditions. They are strongly inuenced by external
factors and affect the formation of attitudes, opinions, teachings and motives of consumers
(Novakovi-Raji, 2005). The analysis of factors shaping consumers prole and affecting
consumer behavior is a very complex process and of great signicance to every market-
oriented company for it’s positioning at the market (Vladisavljevi, 2016).
There is a growing interest in consumer behavior, not only in the eld of marketing but from
the social sciences in general. Spread of consumer culture via marketing is not always well
received by social critics and consumers. Consumption can be regarded as playing such
an important role in social, psychological, economic, political and cultural lives and it has
become the ‘vanguard of history’ (Solomon et al., 2006).
Motivated by this expressive growth of the organic market, several studies concerning
consumer behavior towards organic food have been conducted in many countries (Baker et
al., 2004, Willer, Klicher, 2009), Such studies contain a focus of analysis whose emphasis is
given to the values, motivations and beliefs of this consumer. Most of them have investigated
how consumers perceive organic products and what are consumers’ attitudes towards them.
In general, the studies conducted in Europe revealed that purchase intentions of organic
foods were linked to health and environmental consciousness but also to safety and quality
issues.
Economic theory has shown some limits related to the assumption of consumer rationality.
Most economic models use prices and income as explanatory facts of consumer behavior.
They treat all other inuences such as social, economic and cultural factor as intangible
variables (Zanoli, Naspetti, 2002).
A consumer prole is describing consumers so that they can be grouped and segmented
for marketing and advertising purposes. They are base for targeted advertising and creation
of specic market segments what makes marketers more successful in selling and increase
prots. By dening the ideal customer, patterns should be noticed that may be useful in
target advertising.
Consumers could be represented by categorical tiers. The rst tier is describing consumers
with their demographics, socioeconomic status, and product usage. The second tier includes
psychographics. Basic denitions of these concepts are provided below:
• Demographic: Attributes related to age, location of residence, gender, ethnicity, and
type of household.
• Socioeconomic: Attributes related to educational level, household income,
occupation, neighborhood, and memberships to any social groups.
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• Brand afnity/Product usage: Attributes associated on the basis of their behavior.
• Psychographics: Attributes related to lifestyles, personality, attitudes, life stage and
opinion (DeVault, 2016).
Some authors have performed socio-demographic analyses for two or more countries. Parallel
research in Germany and Turkey indicates that, organic consumers are from the different
age groups. Gender behavior is different, females are dominant in Germany, on the other
side Turkey has succeeded in reaching also the male in the market. Household structures are
different, German organic consumers are generally singles or couples. In Turkey households
particularly consist of 4 and more members. Similarities between two nations are that
generally organic consumers have high education levels, a full-time job and belonging to
middle income groups (Mutlu, 2007). In a study made in Turkey, most user of organic food
was male, 36-45 years, university graduate and, married. They prefer to buy milk that is
type or organic product. Four factors are important for consumer to motivate buying organic
foods. These are healthy, quality, price and food safety (Ozguven, 2012).
As the main obstacles for the use of organic food in Chez Republic, there are marked
insufciently developed distribution channels and low awareness of the consumers about
high quality organic products. The consequence is that low consumers’ interest does not
motivate the dealers to enlargement of the offer of the organic products (Živělová, 2005).
Socio-demographic characteristics may also inuence consumer choices on organic food
consumption. According to Stolz et al. (2011), higher income is signicantly related to a
consumer’s preference to purchase organic foods and conventional plus (product categorized
as ‘in between’ organic and conventional products, or food products with particular attributes
that also apply to organic products). Gracia and Magistris (2008) indicated that income has
an impact on organic food choice in the south of Italy, as lower-income consumers are less
likely to buy organic foods. Meanwhile, females with children under 18 years of age, and
small household size, are indicated as a signicant factor in explaining consumer choices on
organic product (Loureiro et al., 2001).
The aim of authors is to determine the socio-demographic prole of organic food consumers
in Serbia. Such data are signicant for creating marketing strategies and programs for the state
administration in spreading organic food market and creating nancial subsidies, as well as
for all organic food producers in Serbia. They are essential as well for all other producers who
have interest to distribute their organic food products on the market of Serbia. In addition,
information is important for planning demand for organic food in short-term and long-term
term for the market of Serbia. This gives weighty data for investments of producers and can
give additional attic towards increase users of organic food products.
Authors performed research in which they wanted to conrm the following hypothesis:
H1) Prole of organic food consumers is dependent on their socio-demographic
characteristics.
H2) An universal organic food consumer prole should be shaped.
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The prole would consist of the following group of characteristics:
H2.1) Demographic features:
a) age
b) gender
c) education
d) urban of rural place of leaving
H2.2) Sociological characteristics:
a) family size
b) income
c) who do they buy for
d) where do they buy
e) what are reasons to buy
f) what are obstacles for buying
H2.3) Human habits:
a) kind of products they use
b) frequency of buying
c) preparedness to pay more
d) positioning of nutrition value
e) healthy eating habits
H2.4) Human psychology:
a) impact of opinions of others on the purchase of organic food.
Material and methods
In researching consumer performances authors applied the quantitative research method.
This enables to carry out statistical analysis which results can be generalized onto broader
population. The survey method was applied. A questionnaire was used for conducting the
survey created for the purpose of this research. A randomly selected sample of consumers in
Serbia was tested. Data collection was done through phone calls and via e-mail.
The major socio-demographic characteristics of a sample of organic food consumers are then
differentiated. A questionnaire was elaborated specically for this proposes and contains 17
questions grouped in 6 groups:
1) Basic data: age, gender, level of education, number of family members, level of income
per month per his household, country of living, place of living: urban or rural.
2) Reason:
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What is reason to purchase, whose impact is to purchase, for whom they are buying
3) What and where:
Description on what, where and how often and what product are they buying.
4) Opinion: Nutrition level excepted from buyers.
5) Obstacles to buy: high price, no enough distribution places, poor habit, lack of products
and similar.
6) Willingness to pay more for organic food
7) Inuence of other people concerning decision to buy organic food.
Activities of research were as follows:
• selection of testing sample
• elaboration of an appropriate questionnaire
• testing sample by questionnaire
• using the results of analysis, and identication appropriate marketing approach.
The research sample consisted of 398 randomly selected respondents. Authors used method of
random selection a representative sample. The data were analyzed using SPSS for Windows
20. The methods which were used are: descriptive statistics – frequencies and percentages
and geographic presentation.
Results and discussion
The research was performed during two phases of analysis.
1. Authors analyze gender, age structure, education level, household size and income value
as the most important demographic characteristics of consumers (independent variables)
in relation with their choice for organic food usage, as the rst phase of research.
2. In the second phase they analyzed which facts are important in consumer behavior during
purchases by studying (dependent variables):
• Where do they most often buy organic products
• What do they buy the most
• What is reason to buy
• What are barriers to decide to purchase
• Whose inuence is on purchasing
From 398 examinees, based on the data presented in the Figure 1, we have noticed that 78.1%
(311) respondents use organic products in their nutrition what forms a signicant percentage.
This is almost 4 times more than those who do not consume organic food. Such result is
similar to results of research done in USA which has shown that are about three quarters (73
percent) of U.S. adult consumers, as given in Hartman group report (Hartman Group, 2014).
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Figure 1. Do you utilize organic products in your nutrition?
Source: Authors calculation based on collected data
The data presented in the Figure 2 indicate that the highest percentage of consumers is from
urban surroundings, almost 6 times more than from villages. This is in line with results of the
study about Czech Republic which concluded that organic food is more likely purchased by
younger households from larger cities (Zvěřinová et al., 2011).
Figure 2. Place of living
Source: Authors calculation based on collected data
In the Figure 3 is shown that the most consumers are of the age between 31 and 40, 33.8%
and the least are of the age up to 20 and over 60. Actually, aged population is consuming less
organic products than younger despite they are actually more prone to the health problems.
Young generation adopts new products easier and is more under media inuences. The
situation in USA is slightly different, the average age of organic food consumers 41.5 years
(Hartman Group, 2014).
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Figure 3. Age of organic food consumers
Source: Authors calculation based on collected data
In case of tested sample female are more oriented towards healthy food. About 20% more
female are purchasing organic what could be explained by caring more about their phyisical
appearance, health status and easier spending of money (Figure 4). Similar ndings is in
research of Loureiro and al (2001). Further research could include different groups of female
with their subprols.
Figure 4. Gender of organic food consumers
Source: Authors calculation based on collected data
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The gure 5 presents the dependence of organic food consumers on the level of their
education. It can be seen that as higher education people have, the more they are using
organic nutrition. Within the example of Serbia, organic food users have university degree,
57.2% and 24.8% of people have master degree, that is 82% of all. Education is bringing
knowledge and awareness about change of habbits and turning towards better choice. The
Organic & Natural 2014 report of The Hartman Group presents that 50% organic users are
College graduate or with higher education in USA (Hartman Group, 2014). In Serbia the
segmentation is even stronger, there are no consumers with lower education than high school,
and 82% are graduate consumers.
Our nding is not correlated with some research which states that education and income, in
spite of having, on average, a better discriminating power, in some situations are shown to be
weak segmentation criteria (Marreirosi et al., 2010). This result is in line with some authors’
opinion (Solomon et al., 2006) that in modern societies differences in consumer behaviour
are better explained by constructs such as values and life-styles than by the traditional
demographic criteria.
Figure 5. Education of organic food consumers
Source: Authors calculation based on collected data
The small housholds is indicated as houshold with up to 4 members and consumers in 89.4%
belong to this groups, 10% to the group of avarage size houshold with 5 to 6 members and
only 0.6% are members of big housholds with more than 6 members. Such distribution is
consequence of economical situation within big families.
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Figure 6. Household size of organic food consumers
Source: Authors calculation based on collected data
What about relation between income and percentage of organic food consumers? As could
be seen in Figure 7 most users have an income of 501 to 1000 eur. In Serbia is average wage
is lower what indicates that higher earning people can afford organic food more and consume
it more intensively.
Figure 7. Average income of organic food consumers
Source: Authors calculation based on collected data
The Hartman Group report (2014) states that while demographic differences are not at the heart
of organic values and behaviors, there are nonetheless some differences in the demographic
characteristics of consumers across the different segments. Organic users are more likely to
have higher incomes and be more educated, younger, be employed full time. The ndings are
completely same as in author’s research despite of big differences between countries.
Figure 8 presents that care about family is a main driver for buying organic food in 74.6% of
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respondents, than the consumers that buy it for themselves (18.7%) which is consistent with
ndings of Kulikovski and Agolli (2010) of organic food consumption in Greece.
Figure 8. For whom the organic food is bought for
Source: Authors calculation based on collected data
What about willingness to pay more for organic food? The most consumers are ready to pay
10 to 20% more than for standard food. Big percentage of them would even like to pay 20 to
30% more. Some authors stated that there is a large share of consumers that are willing to pay
more for organic products, but not willing to pay as much as the market price and are willing
to pay even more, depending of the product type (Millock at al., 2002).
Figure 9. Willingness to pay more for organic food
Source: Authors calculation based on collected data
When discussing frequency of buying, analysis shows that 79.8% are buying once or couple
times a month for organic food. There is a signicant percent (12.9%) of consumers who are
buying it every day which is in line with ndings of Loureiro et al (2001).
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Figure 10. Frequency of buying organic food
Source: Authors calculation based on collected data
From the Figure 11 it can be observed that 92.5% percent of examinees answered that they
consider nutrition quality of organic food to be high, with marks 3 to 5, 21.5% answered gave
the highest mark for organic food nutrition quality.
Figure 11. How consumers evaluate nutrition level of organic food
Source: Authors calculation based on collected data
Later in the research, authors analyzed how some factors have been reected in consumer
behavior during purchases by studying: what they buy, where they buy, what are reasons
and what are barriers for purchasing and whose inuence is dominant in the decision to buy
(dependent variables).
Results of some questions with multiply choice are presented in tables and discussed, follow:
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Table 1. The type of organic product bought and place of buying
Which organic products do you
buy the most often? Frequency Where do you buy organic food
the most? Frequency
Fresh vegetables 225 Market 167
Fresh fruit 220 Big markets 139
Cereal 143 Health food stores 128
Milk and dairy products 129 From producers 123
Dry fruit 42 Specialty shops 46
Organic cotton clothes 37
Meet 4
Honey 2
Nuts 1
Flour 1
Seeds 1
Oil 1
Total 806 Total 603
Source: Authors calculation based on collected data
The most consumed are the organic fresh fruit and vegetables, and in the least nuts, our, seeds
and oil. The users like to buy organic food mostly in markets and in big markets-shopping
centers and at least in specialty shops. From the answers, it can be seen that customers like
to buy organic fruits and vegetables in the marketplaces. Therefore, it is recommended that
small organic farmers should be selling their products in such marketplaces. This nding is in
line with the view of Zámková and Blaškov (2013).
Table 2. Reasons for buying organic food
What is your reason for buying
organic food? Frequency Do you have an impact on your
purchase of opinions of others? Frequency
Care for my health 212 I make my decision 179
Health care for children 126 Medical doctors 46
Better taste and quality 113 Family 112
They have less „chemistry“
inside 172 Friends 75
High environmental awareness 40 Media 34
Due to animal welfare 15
Out of curiosity 17
Total 695 Total 446
Source: Authors calculation based on collected data
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When discussing reasons for purchasing organic food, from the Table 2 it can be seen that
customers decide to purchase them to protect their health in mostly cases and because they
believe that such product contain less chemistry. Examinees have high awareness about
personal health and much less towards environmental care and animal welfare (5.8 and 2.2%).
Table 3. Obstacles for buying organic food
Obstacles to the purchase of organic products Frequency
High price 126
Not available sale sites 75
I do not believe into the organic mark 41
Insufcient developed distribution channels 96
Poor offer 87
I do not have enough knowledge and experience 47
Continue in offer 57
Quantity of offer 31
I do not have formed habit 51
Nothing of offered answers 34
Less attractive look 8
I do not see advantages comparing to traditional products 4
Total 657
Source: Authors calculation based on collected data
As it can be seen in the Table 3 the problems that respondents have during process of buying
products are high prices and insufcient developed distribution channels. Additionally, there
is a poor offer with not a lot of available sale sites. The selling network must be improved and
should recognize consumers’ needs. The most users deciding on the purchase based to their
own decision, and then under inuence of family members. This brings us to the conclusion
that decisions about type of food consumption are very personal.
Based on a survey of customers on the territory of Serbia, the customer segment has been
analyzed and derived from this research. It is proved that customers who are willing
to purchase have a typical, universal customer prole with following demographic,
economic, sociological and geographical characteristics: According to the gender
structure of customers women consumers are statistically signicant. By age, the
customers who are dominant in the purchase of organic food are persons from 31 to 40
years. According to the education level, the purchase of organic food is dominated by
people with university degrees. According to the number of members in the household
the small, three-four-member households dominate.
Due to the overall average household income in the purchase of organic food are dominated
by households with an income of 501 to 1000 euro per month. Buyers of organic food are
people who say they use partially healthy food. So these are people who have a distinguished
tendency towards a healthy lifestyle. They prefer buying for the whole family, mostly fresh
fruit and vegetables at markets, directly from producers and then from the health food shops.
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Consumer trust is higher in local farmers than shopping centers and this requests direct
marketing from local supplier to consumer.
The motives for the purchase of organic food are that it is healthy and with less chemistry.
The most users are buying once or couple times a month and are willing to pay mostly 10 to
20% more that for standard food. The obstacles they are confronting with are high price and
underdeveloped supply chain. The nutrition value which they accept is average, scored with
3. Decisions to enter new market segment of organic food are made very personally, under
their selves’ decisions and under inuence of family only.
Conclusion
Based on a survey of customers on the territory of Serbia, authors conrmed set
hypothesis that: prole of organic food consumers is dependent on their sociodemographic
characteristics and according to the second hypothesis they shaped an universal organic
food consumer prole for the territory of Serbia which should be in focus during marketing
activities. The decision to buy is decision of buyers, there is non external inuence. This
requests a complex personalized approach to consumers, very personal. The doctors,
nutritionists, psychologists should be part of marketers’ strategies. On the other side other
categories of people should be differently treated to become more intensive organic food
consumers, mostly by raising awareness and trust. The social networks and social organic
food marketing should be developed.
The authors suggest that marketers should use the study ndings to develop specic strategies
for the positioning, communication, pricing and distribution of organic food products. Dened
consumers prole affects the promotion in order to improve sales, in order to increase the
consumption of products and ultimately bring higher production. Increased consumption
would be a stimulus for the organic production which protects environment and indirectly
improves the health of people and reduces health system costs. The study is acknowledged
as exploratory and a useful foundation for further research that should be extended to other
provinces to nd broader dependences and specics.
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Mirjana Kranjac, Jelena Vapa-Tankosi, Milena Kneževi
EP 2017 (64) 2 (497-514)
PROFIL POTROŠAČA ORGANSKE HRANE
Mirjana Kranjac4, Jelena Vapa-Tankosić5, Milena Knežević6
Apstrakt
Cilj ove studije je da se dokaže da prol organskih potrošača hrane zavisi od njihove socio-
demografskih karakteristika kao i da oblikuje univerzalni prol potrošača organske hrane.
Istraživanje je bilo obuhvaćeno 398 potrošača u Srbiji. Podaci prikupljeni su analizirani
pomoću softvera SPSS 16. Rezultati ukazuju na postojanje prola tipičnih potrošača.
Rezultat ukazuju da je sociodemografski prol kod većinskog stanovništva povezan sa
odlukom o korišenju organske hrane. Ovaj rad doprinosi svim zainteresovanim učesnicima,
jer poznavanje odlika organskih potrošača može doprineti njihovoj aktivnijoj ulozi u ovom
lancu snabdevanja. To bi trebalo da podstakne personalizovanu pristup izrađen na osnovu
socio-demografskih karakteristika i usmeren ka određenim grupama potrošača u cilju
intenziviranja potrošnje organske hrane i stvaranja različitih marketinških planova zavisno
od pojedinih zemalja ili područja.
Kljune rei: organska hrana, prol potrošača, socio-demografske karakteristike, lanac
snabdevanja.
4 Vanredni profesor, dr Mirjana Kranjac, Univerzitet u Novom Sadu, Novi Sad, Fakultet tehnikih
nauka, Trg Dositeja Obradovia br. 6, 21000 Novi Sad, Srbija, Telefon: +381 62 633 590, E-mail:
mirjana.kranjac@uns.ac.rs.
5 Vanredni profesor, dr Jelena Vapa-Tankosi, Univerzitet Privredna akademija, Cvearska ulica br.
2, 21000 Novi Sad, Srbija, Telefon: +381 63 460 585, E-mail: jelena.vapa@mek.edu.rs
6 Dr Milena Kneževi, Univerzitet odbrane u Beogradu, Pavla Jurišia Šturma br. 1, 11000Beograd,
Srbija, E-mail: milena.knezevic@mod.gov.rs