Panel research III

Final report

Duration of project

July 2009 to February 2010

Project partner

Gesellschaft für Konsumforschung GfK AG

Contact person at the University of Kassel

Fabian Buder

Head of project

"Dynamics of purchase behaviour for organic products"

Research project within the framework of the Federal Organic Farming Scheme and other forms of sustainable agriculture (BÖLN)

http://www.bundesprogramm-oekolandbau.de/

The objective of the research project is to investigate the purchase behaviour for organic food products over time and the individual reasons for purchase patterns. The project has three main research aims: Investigation of demand structures on household level and their developments in the course of time, identification of personal and external factors influencing the purchase behaviour for organic products and disclosure of confusions between conventiona and organic products. The research is performed using household panel data provided by the market research company Gesellschaft für Konsumforschung (GfK). With this dataset a vast range of descriptive analyses is performed investigation the consumer segments in the organic market and their purchase behaviour over time. Methods of Structural Equation Modelling will be used to identify the personal and external factors influencing the purchasing behaviour for organic products.It will be analysed which attitudes and other external factors the purchase behaviour by developing a causal model that can be tested with the LISREL software.