Choice Drivers for Quality-Labelled Food: A Cross-Cultural Comparison on PDO Cheese.

Davide Menozzi,Georges Giraud,Monia Saïdi,Ching-Hua Yeh

doi:10.3390/foods10061176

Abstract

This study aims at examining the consumers’ preferences and drivers affecting the choice of quality-labelled food products, i.e., protected designation of origin (PDO) labelled cheese. We applied the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) to analyse the purchase of Parmigiano Reggiano PDO and Comté PDO hard cheeses in Italy and France, respectively. A cross-sectional sample of 808 consumers (400 French and 408 Italian) completed a questionnaire. Structural equation modelling (SEM) indicated perceived behavioural control (PBC) and attitude to be significant predictors of intention to purchase PDO-labelled cheese in France and Italy. Subjective and moral norms affected intention in France. Intention significantly influenced the hard cheese purchase behaviour. The results confirm that the TPB model predicted the self-reported measure of behaviour more than the observed one, measured with a discrete choice experiment, in both countries. The TPB interrelationships varied between countries, suggesting that food systems operators and public authorities should carefully target their intervention to stimulate the demand of PDO-labelled products.

Highlights

The EU food quality policy (EU Regulation n. 1151/2012) aims to protect the names of specific food and wines and to promote their unique intrinsic attributes and reputation strictly connected with their geographical origin, as well as traditional production methods.One of the specific objectives of the Protected Designations of Origin (PDO) and ProtectedGeographical Indications (PGI) labels is to provide clear information on products with particular characteristics linked to geographical origin, enabling consumers to make more informed purchasing choices [1,2]
According to Fornell and Larcker [36], if average variance extracted (AVE) is less than 0.5, but composite reliability (CR) is higher than 0.6, than the convergent validity of the construct is still considered adequate. These values indicate that all factors in the measurement model have strong reliability and convergent and discriminant validity
When modelling past behaviour as a predictor of intentions and observed behaviour, we have shown that it accounts for additional variance in intentions, even after controlling for attitudes, subjective norms, moral norms, trust, and perceived behavioural control (PBC), incrementing its predictive power of 1 and 3% in France and Italy, respectively

Summary

Introduction

The EU food quality policy (EU Regulation n. 1151/2012) aims to protect the names of specific food and wines and to promote their unique intrinsic attributes and reputation strictly connected with their geographical origin, as well as traditional production methods.One of the specific objectives of the Protected Designations of Origin (PDO) and ProtectedGeographical Indications (PGI) labels is to provide clear information on products with particular characteristics linked to geographical origin, enabling consumers to make more informed purchasing choices [1,2]. One of the specific objectives of the Protected Designations of Origin (PDO) and Protected. And France represent 38% of the total EU PDO and PGI recognitions. These products’ final market is estimated at EUR 14.4 bln in Italy [3]. Among the PDO and PGI foods, cheeses represent a significant part, both in number of designations (54 in Italy and 55 in France), and in the value of the market. The final market of PDO and PGI cheese is estimated at EUR 7.16 bln in Italy [3] and EUR 2.11 bln in France, excluding fresh cheese and cream [5]

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