The Role of the Ecological Awareness and the Influence on Food Preferences in Shaping Pro-Ecological Behavior of Young Consumers

Bogdan Wierzbiński,Tomasz Surmacz,Lucyna Witek,Wiesława Kuźniar

doi:10.3390/agriculture11040345

Bogdan Wierzbiński, Tomasz Surmacz + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture11040345

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Abstract

Pro-ecological behavior of consumers on the food market is conditioned by many factors, among which the literature on the subject particularly indicates, is high environmental awareness. Among other factors, the influence of social groups is also emphasized, in relation to young consumers; these are mainly peers and friends, which was confirmed by the authors’ research. The aim of the research was to identify the role of ecological awareness and influence on the food purchasing habits of young consumers in shaping their pro-ecological behavior. Based on the literature on the subject, structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to analyze the empirical material, reducing the number of dimensions through the use of factor analysis. Analyzing the collected material, the authors proposed three latent variables—ecological awareness (EA), impact on food preferences (IFP), and ecological behavior (EB). Hidden variables were defined by explicit variables, and the whole was characterized in the light of the literature. The research results indicated that there are significant correlations between all latent variables, however the strongest one could be observed between EA and EB. This proves that the ecological behavior of young consumers is strongly determined by their environmental awareness.

Highlights

For several years, in Poland, as in other European countries, a dynamic development of the organic food market has been observed
The research was conducted with the aim of addressing the question of to what extent ecological awareness has an impact on ecological behavior
Agriculture 2021, 11, 3T4h5 e model’s fit with the empirical data is described by the following set of standard 7 of 14 diagnostic measures: Chi-square/df = 2.741T(

Summary

Introduction

In Poland, as in other European countries, a dynamic development of the organic food market has been observed. This has been due to the high potential of natural resources combined with the growing interest of consumers in high-quality food. With regard to livestock production, the production of eggs and fish significantly increased, and the number of animals, especially poultry, increased. The number of entities preparing organic products increased significantly and, despite the pandemic and the resulting increase in savings, a further increase in expenditure on ecological products was observed [1]

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