The Anthropological Analysis of the Key Determinants on the Purchase Decision Taken by the Romanian Consumers Regarding the Ecological Agroalimentary Products

Alina Butu,Lucian Tanasă,Ioan-Sebastian Brumă,Marian Butu,Steliana Rodino,Codrin Dinu Vasiliu

doi:10.3390/su11184897

Alina Butu, Lucian Tanasă + Show 4 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/su11184897

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Abstract

Should you attend to the relevant published literature on perceptions belonging consumers of ecological products, it can be easily noticed that, as a rule, the interpretation insists heavily on the analysis of an error: the consumer’s confusion about the ecological product. The official concept of an ecological product does not overlap with the idea of an ecological product at the mental level of the consumer. Most studies, if not all of them, tax this confusion and analyze it as a deviant phenomenon. The starting point for this study was based on this very confusion: If there is so much confusion, it most likely means we are dealing with a symbolic projection at a social level. We found intriguing the idea of trying to understand what exactly are the mechanisms behind the ideological forming of this symbolic projection and their impact upon the decision of purchasing ecological agroalimentary products. The study was based on a nationwide questionnaire conducted in Romania in 2016. The collected data were employed in an anthropological analysis of phenomenological approach to further understand the concept of ecological agroalimentary products as it appears in the mentality of the contemporary Romanian consumer.

Highlights

One of the most menacing threats regarding health and quality of life, at least nowadays, comes from the alimentary zone.Whether it is a paradox or not, the mentality of a contemporary person harbors the idea that they are sitting with the enemy at the table on a daily basis
The official concept of an ecological product does not overlap with the idea of an ecological product at the mental level of the consumer
We found intriguing the idea of trying to understand what exactly are the mechanisms behind the ideological forming of this symbolic projection and their impact upon the decision of purchasing ecological agroalimentary products

Summary

Introduction

One of the most menacing threats regarding health and quality of life, at least nowadays, comes from the alimentary zone.Whether it is a paradox or not, the mentality of a contemporary person harbors the idea that they are sitting with the enemy at the table on a daily basis. From a social and economic point of view, a person’s concern is a different one: one needs to choose what he/she eats, for the socioeconomic environment provides an abundance of food which can mislead one into making the wrong purchase decisions regarding the products which feed them. It can provide food for which one pays with their own health

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