Exploring pro-environmental food purchasing behaviour: An empirical analysis of Italian consumers

Abstract

Over the last decades, there has been growing consumers' interest in environmentally friendly products and green agriculture has experienced a steady increase in European countries. Although the purchasing behaviour of consumers is closely linked to their personal needs, environmental preservation has also become one of the main concerns since food production exerts significant pressures on the environment, especially through water, energy, pesticide and fertiliser use.

Environmentally-friendly purchasing decisions can reduce the environmental impact of food by substituting higher-impact products with “green” products which do not pollute the planet thus preserving the environment and public health, but bringing also significant benefits to the economy as a whole.

Therefore, the aim of this study is to analyse the factors influencing consumers' decision to buy green products by suggesting a two-level conceptual framework, based on the theory of planned behaviour and adding the context in which individuals reside.

We estimate two different type of ordered multilevel random effects models in order to examine whether and to what extent differences in individuals' behaviour concerning organic food consumption among Italian regions can be attributed to the socio-economic and environmental characteristics of the area in which the individuals reside. By using the 2014 Aspect of Daily Life Survey carried out by the Italian National Statistical Institute, we obtained interesting results concerning the role of individuals' environmental concern and attitudes. People concerned with animal welfare, soil pollution and deforestation have a higher probability of buying organic products on a daily basis. The results obtained from the random slope model specification, which allowed us to analyse if and to what extent the effect of awareness for soil pollution varies across regions, confirm that the across regions awareness for soil pollution significantly and positively influence individuals' consumption of organic food on a daily basis.