Determinants of citizen acceptance of environmental policy regulating consumption in public settings: Organic food in public institutions

Abstract

Increasingly, providers of institutional catering consider moving to the procurement of organic food. Although ample research has investigated the determinants of consumption of organic foods in private households, such consumption in institutional settings raises questions of citizen support rather than consumer choice. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to analyse the determinants of citizen support with regard to increasing the share of organic produce in public catering. A model is proposed that explains attitude to the procurement of organic produce in public kitchens by life values, attitudes to the environment, personal and social norms, and the use of organic produce for private household consumption. Data were collected by an online survey representative of the overall population in terms of major demographics in Denmark (n = 978). Results indicate that personal norms regarding the use of organic food affect attitudes toward the use of organic produce in institutional settings, and that this effect is partly mediated by own purchase of organic products, indicating a spillover effect from private to public practices. Collectivistic values and, to a lesser extent, individualistic values affect personal and social norms on using organic produce, partly mediated by attitude to the environment. The authors add a new aspect to the discussion of spillover effects among different forms of pro-environmental behaviours and suggest that measures to promote sustainable behaviours in the public and private sector may reinforce each other.