A Comparative Analysis of Consumers’ Potential Purchasing Behaviour Towards Transgenic-Derived Forest Products: The Greek Case

Abstract

Transgenic forest products are not currently purchased in the markets mainly due to lack of transgenic forest plantations. This is partly associated with the early stage of development of GM trees and also due to biosafety concerns and the existing regulation frameworks, particularly in Europe. However, due to the increased global demand for wood products and bioenergy applications, there is an increased interest in the improved characteristics associated with transgenic forest plantations. In order to determine the future demand and the market potential for transgenic forest products there is a need for scientific information for policy makers and developers about the potential purchasing behaviour of consumers. A study was conducted of the potential purchasing behaviour of consumers to three major categories of transgenic-derived forest products: (a) paper, (b) woody biomass energy and (c) wood products. In particular the study, (i) examined the main factors influencing consumers’ potential purchasing behaviour towards the three types of transgenic forest products, (ii) classified consumer groups with similar buying behaviour towards each category of transgenic forest products and (iii) profiled each consumer group according to their attitudes towards the use of biotechnology in the forestry sector. Field interviews were conducted in a randomly selected sample consisting of 418 consumers throughout Greece in 2011. Principal Components Analysis (PCA) was performed to identify the main factors that might have affected the consumers’ potential purchasing behaviour towards the three main categories of products. Further, Discriminant Analysis was implemented to assess how these factors could predict cluster membership, while the Hierarchical and non-hierarchical cluster techniques were employed to classify the consumers with similar behaviour for each transgenic product. This study indicated that in Greece there are potential buyers for transgenic-derived products, such as woody biomass for energy production. Marketing issues such as the attractiveness of the packaging could positively influence consumers’ potential purchasing decisions towards those products. However, there were concerns such as the possible negative health issues from the transgenic-derived products. This study indicated the potential purchasing behaviour of consumers and is of value to developers and policy makers. It is recommended that the results of this pioneer study should be used to stimulate further investigation, both in Greece and other parts of Europe.