State of the art analysis
Final report
Duration of project
April 2011 to November 2011
Contact persons at the University of Kassel
- M.Sc. Rosa Schleenbecker
- M.Sc. Salome Wägeli
Cooperating partner
Prof. Dr. Achim Spiller
Department für Agrarökonomie und Rurale Entwicklung
Abteilung Marketing für Lebensmittel und Agrarprodukte
Platz der Göttinger Sieben 5
37073 Göttingen
Head of project
Consumer purchase and consumption behaviour regarding organic food – Analysis of the state of the art
Research project within the framework of the Federal Organic Farming Scheme and other forms of sustainable agriculture (BÖLN)
In the last decade, various research results on the consumer behaviour regarding organic food have been published. The main objective of this investigation is to assemble the present state of the art of the knowledge. This investigation includes studies on the consumers’ consumption behaviour at home as well as regards catering. Based on this compilation, knowledge gaps should be identified so as to derive research needs. In order to achieve the mentioned objectives, the methodological approach is to perform a comprehensive literature research on the topic. The literature research and analysis will be structured based on the marketing matrix including the marketing instruments as well as the basic strategic marketing options of market segmentation. Within those domains, core topics of both the consumer purchase as well as the consumption behaviour will be elaborated. In the following step, the central findings of the studies are analysed. The surveys’ data sets, methods and theoretical background are examined. The analysis of the existing literature will be performed both regarding qualitative and quantitative aspects. Thus, it will be quantitatively displayed how many studies were published regarding the different topics and if topics have changed over time. The content and results of the studies will be reviewed through a qualitative approach. The next step includes a gap analysis to elaborate research gaps. The identification of the gaps will be performed based on the level of the core topics and the variables investigated in the different studies. A preliminary short version of the project results will be introduced to a selected audience of scientists and business people in a workshop. Outcomes of the discussions on the results will be included in the final version of the project report.