DO ECO LABELS INFLUENCE CONSUMERS?: A comparison of Finnish and Italian consumers’ response to organic labels

Abstract

The overconsumption worldwide has caused harms to the environment and its natural resources, creating critical problems to which modern consumers respond in a more sensible way rethinking about their habits and behaviours. Most of the people that express a high concern for environmental issues, channel them towards green purchases, such as organic food. The increased environmental awareness has brought many changes among European consumers and over the past decades there has been a shift in the way consumers think and act towards organic and eco labelled products. Despite the increasing number of eco labels available for consumer nowadays, there are still doubts about how well the labels are understood, perceived and used by consumers. The main goal of this study is to analyse consumers’ perception of organic labels through different factors and investigate whether a positive perception of the label would lead the consumer to buy organic products. The factors chosen as drivers of consumers’ perception are consumers awareness, consumers knowledge, consumers trust, the clarity of the label, the persuasiveness and the private benefits connected with the label. The study focuses on consumers in two European countries, Finland and Italy, both pertaining to the same economical area but with differences in culture and traditions. Based on the review of previous literature and empirical studies on the topic of eco labels and their influence on consumers, seven hypotheses were developed on the relationship between the chosen factors and consumers’ perception of organic labels. Additionally, to test the actual purchase behaviour of consumers, consumers’ perception was tested as a predictor of green purchasing behaviour. The findings of the study show that there are substantial differences among Finnish and Italian consumers. Differences were found related to age, gender, occupation and educational level. Eventually the study proves that there is a positive influence of consumers’ perception of organic labels and consumers purchasing behaviour. ____________________