Local, organic or protected? Detecting the role of different quality signals among Italian olive oil consumers through a hierarchical cluster analysis

Abstract

This paper aims to identify the hierarchical relationship in a consumer’s mind with respect to the three main and different quality schemes. With this purpose, we decided to analyse the role that local, organic, and traditional attributes have on consumers’ preferences. The survey on the consumption of extra-virgin olive oil was carried out in Italy, through direct face-to-face interviews. Data analysis was carried out by first conducting a conjoint experiment, followed by a clusterization through Ward’s method. In this hypothetical scale evaluating the quality of olive oil the three attributes provide consumers with different utilities in the following decreasing order: organic, local, and Protected Geographical Indication label. In addition, we observed the existence of trade-offs between these three quality signals conveying information that is selectively interpretable by consumers. Thanks to this methodological approach, four groups, differing in terms of socio-demographic characteristics and hierarchical preferences towards the certification scheme, were observed.