Organic Food and Food

¶ … Purchase of Organic Food in Germany and Italy

Descriptive Statistics

Answering the Research

Understanding the Term Organic

The Impact of Understanding on Purchase Decisions

Education and the Purchase Decision

Education and Attitudes

Culture and the Purchase of Organic Food

Culture and the Attitude to Organic Food

Evaluation

The research was conducted with a sample of 50 respondents; 20 in Germany and 30 in Italy. Only questionnaires which were fully completed included in the findings analysis. All respondents were either solely or jointly responsible for the purchase of groceries was in their household. This binding section starts with a presentation of the descriptive statistics for the samples in both countries, before moving on to an examination of the various questions which guided the research, and a testing of the hypotheses assessing the impact of education on attitudes towards organic food and intention to purchase, and cultural differences between those residing in Germany and Italy

Descriptive Statistics

The research is made up of two samples which will facilitate a comparison between Germany and Italy. The German sample consists of 20 respondents, 60% (N = 12) were female, with 40% (N = 8) male. The mean age of 29.25 years, with a standard deviation of 8.95, and a skewer 2.18. Within this sample 5% (N = 1) had a high school level education, 35% (N = 7) had a Bachelor's degree, and 60% (N = 12) had a Master's degree. The Italian sample was made up of 30 respondents, of which 60% (N = 18) were female and 40% (N = 12) were male. In this sample group the mean age was 49.13 years, the standard deviation of 14.58 years, and a few of -0.31. Within this group 23.3% (N = 7) had a high school education, 26.6% (N = 8) has a Bachelor's degree, 43.3% (N = 13) had a Master's degree, and 6.6% (N = 2) had doctorates.

Answering the Research Questions

Each of the research questions identified to guide methodology is considered in turn, before the results are correlated in order to present an overall finding.

Understanding the Term Organic

Both sample group indicated they believe they had a good understanding of the term organic. The results for the 2 sample groups are shown in table 1 below.

Table 1; Consumers self-perceived understanding of the term organic

Do you understand the term organic

Germany

Italy

Yes

90% (18)

70% (21)

Not sure

10% (2)

26.6% (8)

No

0% (0)

3.3% (1)

When consumers were asked to define the term using a range of discerption, it is notable that while both samples overwhelming stated that organic food was not genetically modified; 80% (N=16) in the German sample and 96.6% (N = 29) in the Italian sample. Almost all both samples identified factors such as the lack of man-made fertilizer and use of pesticides. 45% (N = 9) of the German sample and 53.3% (N = 16) of the Italian sample referred to national certification. However, there were also answers indicating the understanding was not complete, as sown in table two below, where different attributes were also identified.

Table 2; Attributes associated with organic food

Attribute

Germany

Italy

Organic food is more expensive than non-organic produce

60% (12)

73.3% (22)

Organic food not grown on a large scale

10% (2)

33.3% (10)

Organic food tastes better

40% (8)

13.3% (4)

There appear to be some differences in beliefs about organic food in Italy and Germany; more people in Italy believe it is more expensive, and fewer that it tastes better. In Germany there was an insufficient spread of educational levels to fully assess understanding against education, however, in Italy, there did appear to be a greater level of comprehension of the term for those with degrees compared to those with only a high school educational level; those with degrees identified more of the accurate answers.

The Impact of Understanding on Purchase Decisions

The understanding of the term organic appears to be quite high, with almost all the sample having a basic grasp of the concept. The data collected indicates insufficient data from those who display a poor understanding to assess the answer to this question in a meaningful manner. However, due to the small size of the data, and all but 10% (N=3) of the Italian sample, and 5% (n= 1) of the German sample buying at least some organic food, it may be argued this is a potential effect of the bias in the sample towards higher education, or some other type of bias present in the sample that is impacting on results. However, when assessing those who have stated they do not make organic purchases, these are spread though the different educational levels. Overall, there is no evidence which appear to indicate that understanding, or lac k of understanding, of organic produce is impacted by understanding.

However, when looking at some of the misconceptions, such as the assertion that organic food tastes better (discussed later in the paper), there may be some influence to support the purchase or organic food based on misunderstanding.

Education and the Purchase Decision

Assessing educational impact on then purchase decision with these samples is more difficult given the high bias toward a more educated sample. The German sample only has one non-degree respondent, so assessment of this sample is unlikely to yield meaningful results that can be applied to a broader population. However, although the Italian sample is biased, there is a greater cross section, so this is tested using the Italian sample only.

Assessing the educational level against the level of organic food purchases made assessed as never, rarely (less than 25% of purchases), sometimes 25 -- 49% of the time, often 50 -- 25% of the time, frequently, >75% of the time, and always (100% ) of the time, the different categories can be assessed and compared.

Figure 1; Organic Food Pucrases by Education

As this is categorical data, the most viable type of test that is suitable is a chi squared test, which will compare the outcomes observed with those expected (Curwin & Slater, 2006). If it is assumed there would be an even spread of each choice against each educational level, the chi squared statistic may be generated. This question leads directly to one of the hypotheses; so the test may be applied. This data may be used to test whether education levels will impact on intention to purchase organic food

In this case the chi squared test result provided by Excel is 0.00002543044. As the sample is 30, this means there are 29 degrees of freedom. For a certainty of 95%, the critical value is 17.708, as test statistic does not exceed the critical value, it is not possible to reject this hypothesis, so the null hypothesis that education does not have an impact has to be accepted. Therefore, it is possible to state that with a 95% level of certainty that there is no correlation between education level and purchases.

Education and Attitudes

There appear be similar attitudes in both of the sample groups regarding both the reasons to buy and the reasons to refrain from buying organic food, with a number of commonalities which appear to be evenly spread across the different educational groups.

Figure 2; Reasons for the Purchase of Organic Food

The totals equal more than 100% as many respondents gave more than one answer. Just as there was commonalities in the reasons for purchasing organic food, there were also commonalities for reasons not to purchase it, with the most common reason being given as the that it was too expensive, given by 53% of Italians (N = 16) and 70% of Germans. In second place was the statement that the organic food was not always the best quality, with 33.3% (N = 10) for the Italians, and 20% (N= 4) for the German sample. However, if assessing the impact of education a more detailed examination of attitudes is required.

Examining the positive and negative attitudes towards food a number of the statements regarding food were given to the sample, with the sample answering in the context of a Likert scale. To assess the impact the mean of these scores may be compared dividing the samples by educational level. This is assessed using the Italian sample only, due to the heavier bias towards degree holding respondents in the German sample.

Table 3; Attitudes towards Organic food in Italy by Educational Level

Organic food is a marketing gimmick

Organic food is healthier than non-organic food

Organic food is fairly priced

I know how organic food is produced

I was taught about organic food in school

I get confused about organic food and what the term means

PhD

2

3

2

2

1

3.5

Masters

2.38

4.54

2.38

3

1.92

2.39

Bachelor's

2.875

3.62

2.25

3.63

1.38

1.88

High School

1.71

4.14

2.14

2.7

2.14

1.86

To assess whether or not there is any significant the use of a chi squared test may be used. The table of results, assessed against an expected mean of 2.5, is presented below.

Table 4; Chi Squared Results for each of the attitude statements

Chi squared statistic

Organic food is a marketing gimmick

0.937826

Organic food is healthier than non-organic food

0.341807

Organic food is fairly priced

0.980348

I know how organic food is produced

0.866892

I was taught about organic food in school

0.662077

I get confused about organic food and what the term means

0.867914

For each of these tests there are 29 degrees of freedom with a certainty of 95%, the critical value is 17.708. In each case, there is a score below this critical value, so in each case the hypothesis that there is a significant difference in attitude based on education needs to be rejected.

Overall, there is a consistent result across all of the different questions and test; the level of education does not appear to have any significant influence on the way organic food is understood, attitudes towards its benefits or disadvantages, and practice behaviors. The research question fought to ascertain what the differences would be between the different educational levels if there was a difference. However, as the research indicates there is no difference, there is no grounds to try and ascertain any types of differences that are present, as it is already established they are statistically insignificant.

Culture and the Purchase of Organic Food

There is the potential for many influence on the way organic food is purchased and how it is perceived. To assess whether or not there are cultural influences the purchaser patterns and the attitudes of the respondents in Germany and Italy can be compared. By dividing the sample into two groups by nationality there is the ability to compare and contrast the differences. Table 1 indicates there are some differences, with a greater self-perceived level of understanding of the concept of organic food in Germany. However, the next consideration is whether the level of organic food that is purchased by the respondents in each country demonstrates a statistical difference. As the sample sizes are different, the evaluation is made by assessing the percentage of each sample in each group, facilitating a greater level of compatibility. The results of this are shown in figure 3 below.

Figure 3; Comparison of Different Levels of Organic Food Purchasing by Country

An initial visual inspection appears to indicate that while there are more Italians that never purchase organic food compared to Germans, overall, the greater propensity for Italians to purchase large amounts of organic food, with 40% of the sample purchasing 75% or more of their food from organic sources. However, a cursory examination may be indicative, but a more reliable test is that of a chi square test, as again this is categorical data with the dependent variable being the country of origin, the dependent variable being the amount of food purchased which is classified as organic. In this instance, the two countries can be compared in order to determine whether there is a statistically significant difference. Here there are 5 degrees of freedom, the test will be undertaken using a 95% degree of certainty. If both groups are the same, there is no statistical difference, it would be expected that the scores be similar, facilitating a direct comparison. Using this approach, undertaking the chi square test in Excel, the test statistic is 0.0000000000005222.

The critical value for 5 degrees of freedom with a 95% degree of certainty is 11.07. Quite clearly, the test statistic is well below this critical mark, and therefore, while it may appear there are some statistically significant differences by looking at the graph, this is not the case. Even if the level of probability/certainty is decreased, in order to allow for a greater level of error, the result remains the same. Therefore, the hypothesis that there are different purchase practices between the different countries must be rejected, non-hypothesis, which states that there are no differences in the purchase practices of these countries must be accepted. However, there does appear to be a degree of potential volatility in that practice.

Culture and the Attitude to Organic Food

If there are similar purchase patterns it may be expected that there are similar attitudes towards organic food. Therefore, the statements indicating attitudes and influences on organic food can be examined, comparing the mean values for each of the items, this is shown in table 5 below.

Table 5; Comparison of Attitudes towards Organic Food in Germany and Italy.

Organic food is a marketing gimmick

Organic food is healthier than non-organic food

Organic food is fairly priced

I know how organic food is produced

I was taught about organic food in school

I get confused about organic food and what the term means

Germany

2.45

4.20

2.55

3.05

1.90

2.25

Italy

2.33

4.10

2.27

3.03

1.77

2.20

In this case there is a very clear pattern which appear to indicate a high level of alignment between Italy and Germany across all of the areas considered, including options on marketing or organic food, the perceived health of organic food, and even pricing. However, a true assessment requires the testing of the hypothesis with a statistical analysis, again a chi squared test is the most suitable. The chi squared test gives a test statistic of 0.999963031, indicating there is no statistical differences.

The Hypotheses

H1 = Education levels will impact on attitudes towards organic food

This hypothesis has been rejected, with results in tables 3 and 4 showing there is no statistically significant difference towards organic food based on education. With no difference, this means that the next two hypothesis, H2 and H3 do not need to be tested.

H4 = Education levels will impact on intention to purchase organic food

And

H6 = Higher education levels are associated with lower intentions to purchase organic food

Figure 1 and the accompanying tests demonstrate the hypothesis cannot be accepted and there is no statistical difference between the education levels, so these hypothesis are both rejected.

H7 = National culture impacts on attitudes towards organic food

Table 4 and the accompanying chi squared test show that there are no statistical differences in attitudes towards organic food, and the perceptions of the two cultures are highly aligned.

H8 = National culture impacts on intention to purchase organic food

Figure 3 and the accompanying statistical test show that while there may appear to be some differences, these are not statistically significant, and this hypothesis also needs to be rejected.

Evaluation

Examining the sample that is utilized, the first consideration may degree to which this sample is representative of the general population being studied. For any results to be generalized to an entire population is essential that the sample is representative of that population (Saunders, Lewis, & Thornhill, 2012). Where small samples are utilized, there is a great potential for the sample to be biased (de Vaus, 2013). Therefore, quantitative research usually seek to gain a relatively large sample in order to reduce the potential for bias in the results (Saunders et al., 2012). In this case, it is notable that the two samples utilized are relatively small for quantitative research, which may place a limitation on the way in which the results are interpreted. The findings are therefore accurate for the sample utilized, but further consideration is to be made in terms of the applicability of results for generalization.

Looking at descriptive statistics for each sample group, it appears there may be a bias in the demographic profile of the respondents, a risk already identified as present where small samples are utilized. Firstly, there is a bias towards females in both of the sample. However, this may be explained as a result of a greater propensity for females to undertake shopping, indicating this may be a bias presence in the phenomena being examined, so may not necessarily because of concern. However, there is another potential limitation in the German population, with a relatively small age range, as seen with a mean age of 29.25 years, standard deviation of 8.95 years, this narrow band of respondents is a contrast to the broader age range of the Italian sample, with the mean age of 49.13 years, the standard deviation of 14.5 acres. The Italian sample has a greater alignment with a normal distribution, with a relatively slight skew, whereas the German population also presents a positive skew. However, when evaluating the results the main concern may be the potential bias in terms of education. In Germany, statistics indicate that 28% of the population will have a Bachelor's degree or higher, while in Italy this falls to 21% (Russell Sage Foundation, 2016). In the sample for both Germany and Italy there is a significant underrepresentation of individuals who do not have a degree, making up a minority. This is particularly pertinent in the German sample, were only 5% (N = 1) did not have a degree, but it is notable in Italy were only 26.6% (N = 8) did not have a degree. Therefore, when considering the application of result, more research would be necessary in order to determine whether or not the findings can be generalized beyond the sample. However, this does provide the basis for further research.

Examining the statistical assessment for the research questions, the sample generally believed they had a good understanding of the concept of organic food. Notably, the sample with the highest proportion of degree or higher level respondents; the German sample, displayed a comparatively higher level of self-perceived understanding. It is possible that this may be related to the higher level of organic food production in Germany, which has been noted as one of Europe's largest exporters (Willer and Yussefi, 2007).

There does appear to be a generally good understanding, although a number of respondents also associated other characteristics with organic food that was not necessarily accurate, such as the inability to grow it on a large scale, and the assertion that it is tasting better. This latter element may be seen as a positive view of organic food. However, while this assertion is known to be erroneous, it was interesting to see that this was highest in the German sample, which also the highest educated. Furthermore, there was an equal spread of erroneous assumptions across all levels of education. This starts to undermine the idea that education is having an impact on attitudes towards organic food, which would then subsequently impact on purchase decisions.