IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v14y2022i14p8685-d863688.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Achieving Transformative Change in Food Consumption in Austria: A Survey on Opportunities and Obstacles

Author

Listed:
  • Verena Haider

    (BioInvasions, Global Change, Macroecology Group, Department of Botany and Biodiversity Research, University of Vienna, 1030 Vienna, Austria)

  • Franz Essl

    (BioInvasions, Global Change, Macroecology Group, Department of Botany and Biodiversity Research, University of Vienna, 1030 Vienna, Austria)

  • Klaus Peter Zulka

    (Environment Agency Austria, Spittelauer Lände 5, 1090 Vienna, Austria)

  • Stefan Schindler

    (Environment Agency Austria, Spittelauer Lände 5, 1090 Vienna, Austria)

Abstract

Modern agriculture negatively impacts on global biodiversity by converting natural and extensively used habitats into intensely managed systems, and by releasing pollutants, including greenhouse gases. Since the demand for certain food products determines what is grown, consumer behavior is key to reduce food system related biodiversity losses. Here, we used an online survey targeting consumers in Austria to identify opportunities and barriers for consuming more sustainably. Respondents were split into two groups according to their affinity for nature conservation topics. In total, we received 320 completed responses, of which 264 participants described themselves as being concerned with environmental and conservation issues (called henceforth “nature conservation-affine”), while 56 participants identified themselves as distant to nature conservation (called henceforth “nature conservation-distant”). In general, the majority of respondents were concerned about aspects such as animal welfare or regionality when buying food. Split into the two above-mentioned groups, however, substantial differences emerged for most replies. For example, respondents from the nature conservation distant group had greater doubts about the advantages of organic food compared to conventionally produced food and frequently stated (45%) that they would rather not include biodiversity impacts in their food purchasing decisions. Similarly, we found a significantly greater willingness to buy vegetarian meat substitutes in the nature conservation affine group because of biodiversity and climate impacts of meat production. Overall, this study provides important insights into opportunities and obstacles for advancing sustainable food consumption from a consumer perspective; in particular, awareness of and affinity to conservation emerge as major factors on dietary preferences. Finally, we found that those individuals who are more interested in nature conservation issues are also more likely to be aware of how their diet affects biodiversity.

Suggested Citation

  • Verena Haider & Franz Essl & Klaus Peter Zulka & Stefan Schindler, 2022. "Achieving Transformative Change in Food Consumption in Austria: A Survey on Opportunities and Obstacles," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-15, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:14:p:8685-:d:863688
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/14/8685/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/14/8685/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Farjam, Mike & Nikolaychuk, Olexandr & Bravo, Giangiacomo, 2019. "Experimental evidence of an environmental attitude-behavior gap in high-cost situations," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 166(C), pages 1-1.
    2. Park, Hyun Jung & Lin, Li Min, 2020. "Exploring attitude–behavior gap in sustainable consumption: comparison of recycled and upcycled fashion products," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 623-628.
    3. Gabriele Jahn & Matthias Schramm & Achim Spiller, 2005. "The Reliability of Certification: Quality Labels as a Consumer Policy Tool," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 28(1), pages 53-73, December.
    4. Sean L. Maxwell & Richard A. Fuller & Thomas M. Brooks & James E. M. Watson, 2016. "Biodiversity: The ravages of guns, nets and bulldozers," Nature, Nature, vol. 536(7615), pages 143-145, August.
    5. Francesco Perrini & Sandro Castaldo & Nicola Misani & Antonio Tencati, 2010. "The impact of corporate social responsibility associations on trust in organic products marketed by mainstream retailers: a study of Italian consumers," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(8), pages 512-526, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Tommaso Gallo & Francesco Pacchera & Chiara Cagnetti & Cecilia Silvestri, 2023. "Do Sustainable Consumers Have Sustainable Behaviors? An Empirical Study to Understand the Purchase of Food Products," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-21, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kyriakos Riskos & Paraskevi (Evi) Dekoulou & Naoum Mylonas & George Tsourvakas, 2021. "Ecolabels and the Attitude–Behavior Relationship towards Green Product Purchase: A Multiple Mediation Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-22, June.
    2. Joerß, Tom & Hoffmann, Stefan & Mai, Robert & Akbar, Payam, 2021. "Digitalization as solution to environmental problems? When users rely on augmented reality-recommendation agents," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 510-523.
    3. Khan Md Raziuddin Taufique & Chamhuri Siwar & Basri Talib & Farah Hasan Sarah & Norshamliza Chamhuri, 2014. "Synthesis of Constructs for Modeling Consumers’ Understanding and Perception of Eco-Labels," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 6(4), pages 1-25, April.
    4. F. Testa & F. Iraldo & A Vaccari & E. Ferrari, 2015. "Why Eco‐labels can be Effective Marketing Tools: Evidence from a Study on Italian Consumers," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(4), pages 252-265, May.
    5. Laura Therese Heinl & Anna Baatz & Markus Beckmann & Peter Wehnert, 2021. "Investigating Sustainable NGO–firm Partnerships: An Experimental Study of Consumer Perception of Co-Branded Products," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-19, November.
    6. Anh Thi Van Tran & Nhung Thi Nguyen, 2021. "Organic Food Consumption among Households in Hanoi: Importance of Situational Factors," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-16, November.
    7. Francesco Manta & Valeria Stefanelli & Vittorio Boscia, 2023. "Spread the word: Certifying sustainable behaviour for territorial development. A stakeholder engagement approach to assess financial performance," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(3), pages 1096-1103, May.
    8. Julie Bayle-Cordier & Loïc Berger & Rayan Elatmani & Massimo Tavoni, 2023. "Breath, Love, Walk? The Impact of Mindfulness Interventions on Climate Policy Support and Environmental Attitudes," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-29, July.
    9. Kristian Steensen Nielsen & Theresa M. Marteau & Jan M. Bauer & Richard B. Bradbury & Steven Broad & Gayle Burgess & Mark Burgman & Hilary Byerly & Susan Clayton & Dulce Espelosin & Paul J. Ferraro & , 2021. "Biodiversity conservation as a promising frontier for behavioural science," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 5(5), pages 550-556, May.
    10. Zahra Fozouni Ardekani & Seyed Mohammad Javad Sobhani & Marcelo Werneck Barbosa & Ehsan Amiri-Ardekani & Samaneh Dehghani & Najmeh Sasani & Hans De Steur, 2024. "Determinants of household food waste behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic in Iran: an integrated model," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 26(10), pages 26205-26235, October.
    11. Boys, Kathryn A. & Caswell, Julie A. & Hoffmann, Sandra A. & Colarusso, Samantha, 2015. "The Business of Safe Food: An Assessment of the Global Food Safety Certification Industry," 2015 AAEA & WAEA Joint Annual Meeting, July 26-28, San Francisco, California 205870, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    12. Yutong Zhang & Wei Zhou & Danxue Luo, 2023. "The Relationship Research between Biodiversity Conservation and Economic Growth: From Multi-Level Attempts to Key Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-19, February.
    13. Emblemsvåg, Jan, 2022. "Wind energy is not sustainable when balanced by fossil energy," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 305(C).
    14. Samia Ayyub & Xuhui Wang & Muhammad Asif & Rana Muhammad Ayyub, 2018. "Antecedents of Trust in Organic Foods: The Mediating Role of Food Related Personality Traits," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-17, October.
    15. Frauke Meyer & Hawal Shamon & Stefan Vögele, 2022. "Dynamics and Heterogeneity of Environmental Attitude, Willingness and Behavior in Germany from 1993 to 2021," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-22, December.
    16. Charalampia N. Anastasiou & Kiriaki M. Keramitsoglou & Nikos Kalogeras & Maria I. Tsagkaraki & Ioanna Kalatzi & Konstantinos P. Tsagarakis, 2017. "Can the “Euro-Leaf” Logo Affect Consumers’ Willingness-To-Buy and Willingness-To-Pay for Organic Food and Attract Consumers’ Preferences? An Empirical Study in Greece," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(8), pages 1-17, August.
    17. Tamara Vlastelica & Milica Kostić-Stanković & Tamara Rajić & Jelena Krstić & Tijana Obradović, 2023. "Determinants of Young Adult Consumers’ Environmentally and Socially Responsible Apparel Consumption," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-18, January.
    18. Jan Streeck & Quirin Dammerer & Dominik Wiedenhofer & Fridolin Krausmann, 2021. "The role of socio‐economic material stocks for natural resource use in the United States of America from 1870 to 2100," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 25(6), pages 1486-1502, December.
    19. Won‐Moo Hur & Hanna Kim & Joon Hyo Jang, 2016. "The Role of Gender Differences in the Impact of CSR Perceptions on Corporate Marketing Outcomes," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 23(6), pages 345-357, November.
    20. Joachim P. Hasebrook & Leonie Michalak & Anna Wessels & Sabine Koenig & Stefan Spierling & Stefan Kirmsse, 2022. "Green Behavior: Factors Influencing Behavioral Intention and Actual Environmental Behavior of Employees in the Financial Service Sector," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(17), pages 1-35, August.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:14:p:8685-:d:863688. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.