Abstract

In times of increased concern for human health and care for the environment, it is important to investigate the consumer behavior models in order to better manage the product supply. From the perspective of our research, it is important to learn about consumer attitudes, of a specific product, such as honey, so as to potentially strengthen the economic position of honey producers. The purpose of this article was to explore the consumers’ perceptions of organic and local honey in the Republic of Serbia and identify factors that contribute to predicting consumers’ willingness to pay (WTP) for organic and local honey. The ordinal regression was used to determine which factors influence the WTP for organic and local honey, and the findings show that the consumers were WTP more for organic honey than for local honey. Socio-economic characteristics of respondents and honey attributes affect consumers’ WTP. The higher monthly household income positively influences the WTP for organic honey, while on the other hand, the higher level of education has a positive influence on the WTP for local honey. The WTP for organic honey positively affected by the perceived importance of honey attributes, such as food safety and support for the local community. The frequency of the purchase of the local honey, the recommendations for the local honey purchase and the perceived importance of attributes, such as the care for the environment and nutritional properties, have a positive influence on the consumers’ WTP for local honey. From this, we can conclude that our understanding of all the factors that influence a consumer’s decision to allocate budget expenses for honey can help all stakeholders in creating an adequate pricing and promotional strategy for honey products.

Highlights

  • Natural resources provide the Republic of Serbia with the possibility of more intensive development of organic production

  • The results of the statistical analysis according to the defined hypotheses have been duly presented, and the findings have shown which factors in the proposed model have significantly influenced the willingness to pay (WTP) for organic and local honey

  • The findings in the research in the Republic of Serbia can be potentially different from the research conducted in countries where the organic products market is in a mature stage of development

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Summary

Introduction

Natural resources provide the Republic of Serbia with the possibility of more intensive development of organic production. The food market in the Republic of Serbia is dominated by locally produced foods [5,6,7,8], both organic or conventionally grown. They are positioned in the market, either as complements or substitutes. Consumers tend to prefer certified products, because they consider that the certificate indicates the notion of food safety [13]. They believe that local products contribute to halting biodiversity loss [5], and improving ecosystems. An increase in honey consumption would lead to an increase in production, and would have a positive impact on the economic development of the honey sector, local areas, and the country itself

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