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Journal of Macromarketing
30(2) 171-185
The Author(s) 2010
Reprints and permission:
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DOI: 10.1177/0276146710361926
http://jmk.sagepub.com
John Thgersen1
Abstract
In a sustainability perspective, consumption research has an unfortunate individualizing bias, which means that macro and
structural causes of unsustainable consumption tend to be ignored. Hence, a comprehensive model of determinants of the
sustainability of consumption is developed and applied on a specific case: organic food consumption. The analyzed data are published research on why consumer purchase of organic food products differs between countries. As expected, organic foods share
of total food consumption depends heavily on political regulation, including legal definitions and standards, financial support to
farmers, and a national labeling system. Other important structural factors are soil conditions, an effective and efficient distribution system, and the size of the premium price demanded for organic food products. Macro factors such as the food culture and
the cultures level of postmaterialism and environmental concern play an additional role. The evidence suggests that, together,
macro and structural factors such as these are more, and probably considerably more, important for the sustainability of food
consumption than are individual-level attitudinal variables.
Keywords
sustainable consumption, organic food consumption, country differences, Europe
Corresponding Author:
John Thgersen, Aarhus School of Business, University of Aarhus, Department
of Marketing and Statistics, Haslegaardsvej 10, DK-8210 Aarhus, Denmark.
Email: jbt@asb.dk
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sociostructural factors. In practice, this usually means a crossnational focus (although large and heterogeneous nation states
may sometimes contain sufficient heterogeneity within
national borders). When attempting to explain differences and
similarities between countries, macro- and structural- rather
than individual-level factors become salient. In singlecountry studies, these factors tend to be ignored because they
constitute the shared context and therefore cannot account for
variation in (individual-level) behavior.
In this article, a comparative, cross-national perspective is
used as a means to focus attention to macro and sociostructural
factors influencing the sustainability of the consumption
pattern. By shifting the focus from individual-level factors to
important macro and structural factors, a better foundation for
effective sustainable consumption strategies can be created.
The objective of the article is to demonstrate the crucial
importance of macro and structural factors for (international)
variations in the sustainability of private consumption. For this
purpose, a comprehensive conceptual model for organizing and
integrating important micro and macro determinants of the
environmental sustainability of private consumption is (1)
developed and (2) applied on an environmentally important
area of consumption: private food consumption.
Food Consumption
Food consumption is obviously an important and unavoidable
part of everyday consumption. In addition, it is one of the areas
of private consumption that are most important for environmental sustainability (European Environment Agency 2005).
It has been estimated that approximately one third of households total environmental impact is related to food and drink
consumption (Danish Environmental Protection Agency 2002).
Food consumption is a broad and diverse field and the environmental sustainability of private food consumption depends
on several variables, such as the amount of beef in the diet, the
production system (e.g., organic vs. conventional), and how
and how far the food products are transported. Extant research
suggests that currently the most effective ways that affluent
consumers can increase the sustainability of their food consumption are to (1) reduce the amount of meat, especially beef,
in their diet, (2) buy organic instead of conventionally
produced food products, and (3) avoid food products transported by airplane (e.g., Carlsson-Kanyama and Gonzalez
2009; Dabbert, Haring, Zanoli 2004).1 Due to space limitations, this article focuses on only one of these important ways
to increase the sustainability of food consumption: choosing
organic instead of conventional food. To illustrate the
importance of macro and structural factors for the environmental sustainability of private consumption, research on the
causes of international variations in organic food consumption
is reviewed.
From its beginning, organic farming has rejected the
chemical-based farming techniques of mainstream agriculture
(Niggli 2007). This placed it in opposition to the dominant
paradigm of agricultural policy in industrialized countries
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Table 1. Research on Differences and Similarities in Organic Food Consumption Across Countries
References
Countries Covered
Snderskov (2009)
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Table 1 (continued)
References
Countries Covered
Fifteen EU countries
a
The world of organic agriculture is a yearly publication since 2000, which uses national statistics and surveys with key persons to gather as precise a picture of
the status of organic food production and consumption worldwide as possible. Hence, it mainly contains descriptive data and the judgments of differences and
similarities are mainly presented as brief statements of facts rather than analyses.
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Political
Regulation and Subsidies
As is true for other factors, discussed below, there is a lack of
systematic comparative research investigating the relationship
between national policies and the development of the organic
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Market Factors
Supply-Side Factors (Opportunity)
It appears from the previous sections that differences between
countries in the development of the organic food market can to
a high extent, but not completely, be attributed to variations in
political regulation and politically supported market development activities. A key mediating factor is farmers decisions
to convert to organic agriculture. The economic position of
organic farmers relative to nonorganic farmers, and thereby the
incentive to convert (Michelsen 2001a), is obviously influenced by both political regulation and market factors (Dimitri
and Oberholtzer 2007). Farmers are more inclined to look for
supportive arrangements, such as support for organic farming,
in periods of general agricultural recession than in periods of
prosperity (Michelsen 2001a), which illustrates the importance
of the incentive to convert for the development of national
organic markets.
Supply-side factors, such as the quality of soils and climate,
have played an important role for the speed of conversion to
organic production in different countries (e.g., Dabbert,
Haring, Zanoli 2004). For example, in countries such as
Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, organic farming is especially prevalent in disadvantaged rural areas where extensive
agriculture predominates. In disadvantaged regions, grasslands
tend to be more important than arable land, and less fertilizer is
used on agricultural lands in general. Extensive forms of animal production tend to play a major role in these regions, both
in organic and in conventional farming. Among other things,
this means that the changes a farm has to undergo to convert
to organic farming are relatively small. According to Dabbert,
Haring, Zanoli (2004, 13):
Even if no additional price premium for organic produce is
received and no policy-related payments are made for organic
farming, the loss a farmer undergoes when converting to
organic agriculture is fairly small. If, in such a situation, price
premiums can be achieved or agri-environmental payments are
made for being organic, organic farming tends to be more
profitable than conventional farming.
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Demand-Side Factors
Ability. In the early days, the organic sector was mostly
supply driven. Farmers introduced organic food products for
various reasons. However, it has been suggested that more
recently consumers have become the driving market force
(Dimitri and Oberholtzer 2007).
It is common to refer to average disposable incomes when
commenting on differences between countries with respect to
purchasing organic food products (Sahota, Willer, and Yussefi
2007). Because consumers usually pay a premium price for this
kind of product, it seems likely that consumers in richer
countries will be more willing to do so. Reflecting this, the
consumer market for organic products is mostly in the industrialized countries, whereas Oceania and Latin America
account for a major part of the production area (Aschemann
et al. 2007; Willer 2008b). However, a recent study of twenty
European countries found that the variation in organic consumption across countries in Europe is not currently related
to average national income (Snderskov 2009).
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Discussion
The sustainability of final consumption depends on individual
consumer choices, but individual choices are severely
constrained by a range of macro and structural factors. In this
article, the importance of macro and structural factors for sustainable consumption is demonstrated in an environmentally
important field: food consumption. Macro factors have been
identified that contribute to explaining the level of sustainability of food consumption, specifically organic food consumption, based on a review of extant research on differences
between, especially, European countries.
With the existing evidence, a precise quantification of the
relative importance of macro and structural factors is not
possible. However, the quality of the reviewed research is sufficiently high to document without any reasonable doubt that
macro and structural factors, both determined by policy and
market actors, play a key role for the level of organic (and
therefore also sustainable) consumption in a country.
As reported in the reviewed literature, some countries have
supported organic agriculture, and the development of an
organic market, earlier, more persistently, and with a broader
range of means than others. This has led to a range of impediments to consumer organic choices being removed or substantially reduced, especially those related to availability, price,
and consumer uncertainty. Generally, northern European countries have supported organic food production and consumption
more than the Mediterranean countries, and Denmark stands
out in this respect. Denmark is one of the few countries where
the government from the outset has intervened both at the supply side and the demand side (push and pull, cf. Padel
et al. 2002) to facilitate the development of an organic food
sector, and this is one of the reasons why Denmark is one of the
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changes in the DSP (e.g., Dunlap and Van Liere 1978; Dunlap
et al. 2000; Kilbourne et al. 2001; Kilbourne, Beckmann, and
Thelen 2002).
The factors covered in this review go some way toward
explaining the main difference between the north and the south
of Europe (primarily interacting differences in environmental
concern, in the importance attributed to regional and local specialties, in distribution channels, and in national policies) and
some of the exceptional cases. In addition to relatively high
environmental concern, the three countries with the highest
organic market shares in Europe, and in the World, Switzerland, Austria, and Denmark, all benefited from large retailers
making organic food available and affordable to broad segments of consumers early in the development of the organic
market. In addition, the development of the organic sector in
some countries has benefited from soil conditions that made
organic agriculture relatively more profitable. Visionary political support was also a major contributing factor, including the
implementation of a successful state-controlled organic labeling system. That Italy is a positive outlier in the Mediterranean
region seems to be partly attributable to early, large-scale
conversion to organic agriculture due to a mixture of favorable
soil conditions and a large organic export. It may also be part of
the explanation that most of the organic food is sold in the big
cities in northern Italy, which is more similar to northern
Europe both in terms of incomes and values than southern Italy
(Richter et al. 2007). A better understanding of the Italian case
may be the key to identifying effective strategies for increasing
the organic market in other Mediterranean countries. More
research is needed in this area.
However, there are other important holes in our understanding of the differences between countries in organic food
consumption. Notably, the reviewed literature revealed no
explanation for negative outliers in northern Europe, including
Norway and Finland. Future research should investigate what
has suppressed the demand for organic food in countries such
as these.
As mentioned several times, and as illustrated in the model
in figure 2, the various factors influencing the development of
the organic sector, and the demand for organic food, are not
mutually exclusive or independent, but interact in a complex
pattern. The consumer sentiments that created demand for
organic food in some countries also influenced the political
system and paved the way for political support to organic producers and production. Furthermore, the political system is
obviously influenced by the economic interests of farmers,
which means that the political regulation tends to become more
favorable when organic agriculture has reached a size that
makes it a political factor in the country. There are some early
studies of the interaction between the political system, farmers
associations, and environmental and consumer interests (e.g.,
Michelsen 2001a, 2001b), but this is an area where more
research is needed (Daugbjerg and Halpin 2008).
There is also a need for more research on the importance of
national food cultures for the development of the organic sector. The emphasis on traditional, local, and regional specialties
Thgersen
183
seems to have been a barrier for organic food in some Mediterranean countries. However, this barrier seems to have been
overcome in Italy. Why is that? Is it because organic farming
for export has become significant enough to be a political factor
to Italian farmers to a greater extent than farmers in other Mediterranean countries combining the organic and the designation
of origin strategy. Or, perhaps is it because consumer-citizens
in northern Italy are influenced by the same postmaterialist
value tendencies found in countries in northern Europe? Future
research should investigate this.
In addition, it is a weakness of the approach used in this
article that it does not allow a quantification of the relative
importance of individual-level versus macro and structural
factors. There are a few attempts in this direction in the
reviewed research, but more systematic research is needed
here. Furthermore, organic food is only one aspect of a sustainable food consumption, and not even the most important
(which is the amount of meat, and especially beef, in the diet),
and food is only one among several areas that are important for
the sustainability of private consumption (notably private
transportation, home energy consumption). The environmental
benefits of buying organic food may be partly or fully negated,
for example, if the products are transported by airplane or if
consumers buy more meat and/or dairy products because it is
organic (the rebound effect, cf. Hertwich 2005). Hence, to
strengthen the case of the importance of macro and structural
factors for sustainable consumption, there is a need for
extending this research to other consumption areas and to the
interaction between consumption areas.
Notes
1. For a consumer-directed campaign promoting these changes in private food consumption, see www.sierraclub.org/truecostoffood/.
2. See www.ifoam.org. Although it is not supported by scientific evidence, many consumers seem to believe that organic food products
are also healthier and taste better than their conventional counterparts. A number of empirical studies conclude that these beliefs are
the main reasons why consumers buy organic food (cf., Renee
Shaw Hughner et al. 2007 Who are organic food consumers? A
compilation and review of why people purchase organic food.
Journal of Consumer Behaviour, 6). However, the basis for this
conclusion has been questioned on methodological grounds and a
recent study strongly suggests that the mentioned health and taste
beliefs are products rather than antecedents of buying organic food
(John Thgersen In press-a, Green shopping: For selfish reasons
or the common good? American Behavioral Scientist).
3. The per capita consumption of organic food depends on food
prices, which vary between countries. When expressed in a common currency, it also depends on the exchange rate. Market shares
are independent of the general price level and exchange rates, but
they are not available from all countries. In addition, the market
share of organic food depends on the price of organic relative to
conventional food products and, not least, on how the food sector is defined (e.g., just food or food and drinks), which may vary
between countries. For these reasons, and because all of the
Acknowledgments
The author is grateful to Jessica Aschemann-Witzel, William
Kilbourne, and three anonymous reviewers for helpful comments on
an earlier version.
Funding
The author received no financial support for the research and/or
authorship of this article.
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Bio
John Thgersen is a professor of economic psychology at the Department of Marketing and Statistics, Aarhus School of Business, Aarhus
University, Denmark. His research focuses on social and environmental marketing, the motivational roots of norms for environmentally
responsible behavior, and the role of moral norms in consumer decision making.