19 pages., via online journal., The rapidly increasing rate of biodiversity and habitat loss across the globe can be largely attributed to human behaviors. Conservation practitioners have struggled to influence behaviors through traditional awareness-raising efforts and been slow to adopt techniques from the behavioral sciences such as social marketing to change behaviors and improve conservation outcomes. We conducted a meta-analysis of 84 social marketing campaigns that applied the same theory of change for human behavior to disrupt patterns of destructive activities such as illegal hunting and overfishing. Questionnaires of more than 20,000 individuals across 18 countries measured changes in behavioral variables pre- and post-campaigns, including knowledge, attitudes, interpersonal communication, behavior intention, and behavior. For each campaign, we extracted data and validated data for behavioral variables, estimated mean effect sizes for each variable across all campaigns, and used path analysis to measure relationships among variables included in seven different models. On average, all behavioral variables increased significantly (p < .001) from 16.1 to 25.0 percentage points following social marketing campaigns. The full model used a combination of all variables and had the highest explained variation in behavior change (71%). Our results highlight the importance of (a) incorporating behavioral theory and social marketing into traditional conservation programs to address threats to biodiversity across the globe; (b) designing interventions that leverage a combination of community knowledge, attitudes, and communication about a behavior; and (c) facilitating more opportunities for interpersonal communication as a main driver of behavior change. We conclude with potential applications for practitioners interested in behavior change campaigns.
20 pages., via online journal., Farm work safety intervention programs based on educating and informing have been criticized for not demonstrably improving work safety. We argue that these criticisms are misplaced and that the problem with educating and informing lies not necessarily in the tool, but rather in its implementation. We arrive at this conclusion by systematically investigating eight of the largest farm work safety interventions in Sweden. In particular, we describe how they use fear and other emotional appeals in their communications in an attempt to motivate improved work safety. We then analyze their implementation using the extended parallel processing model (EPPM). We show that, although threat of injury and death is used in the majority of these interventions to motivate individuals, the threat is inconsistent with the behaviors targeted. Other shortcomings and implications for implementing wide-scale farm work safety interventions are discussed.
14 pages., via online journal., Consumers in industrialized countries are nowadays much more interested in information about the production methods and components of the food products that they eat, than they had been 50 years ago. Some production methods are perceived as less “natural” (i.e. conventional agriculture) while some food components are seen as “unhealthy” and “unfamiliar” (i.e. artificial additives). This phenomenon, often referred to as the “clean label” trend, has driven the food industry to communicate whether a certain ingredient or additive is not present or if the food has been produced using a more “natural” production method (i.e. organic agriculture). However, so far there is no common and objective definition of clean label. This review paper aims to fill the gap via three main objectives, which are to a) develop and suggest a definition that integrates various understandings of clean label into one single definition, b) identify the factors that drive consumers' choices through a review of recent studies on consumer perception of various food categories understood as clean label with the focus on organic, natural and ‘free from’ artificial additives/ingredients food products and c) discuss implications of the consumer demand for clean label food products for food manufacturers as well as policy makers. We suggest to define clean label, both in a broad sense, where consumers evaluate the cleanliness of product by assumption and through inference looking at the front-of-pack label and in a strict sense, where consumers evaluate the cleanliness of product by inspection and through inference looking at the back-of-pack label. Results show that while ‘health’ is a major consumer motive, a broad diversity of drivers influence the clean label trend with particular relevance of intrinsic or extrinsic product characteristics and socio-cultural factors. However, ‘free from’ artificial additives/ingredients food products tend to differ from organic and natural products. Food manufacturers should take the diversity of these drivers into account in developing new products and communication about the latter. For policy makers, it is important to work towards a more homogenous understanding and application of the term of clean label and identify a uniform definition or regulation for ‘free from’ artificial additives/ingredients food products, as well as work towards decreasing consumer misconceptions. Finally, multiple future research avenues are discussed.
15 pages., via online journal., The study analyzed 108 films released during the transformation agenda period. The proportion, frequency, centrality and framing of agricultural content in the movies were reviewed. Data obtained were described using frequency counts and percentages. One out of three movies screened had agricultural content, which was either one or two scenes in the movie (80.0%). Such content was mostly peripheral (89.0%) to the themes of the films and negatively framed (60.0%). Potentials of the industry for agricultural purposes were poorly utilized by government. Government should partner with Nollywood to portray agriculture in a positive light for improved citizens’ attitude toward agriculture.
11 pages., via online journal., Consumer surveys revealed positive attitudes towards organic wine in large consumer segments. Health, environmental and quality benefits were stated most often as drivers for purchase decisions. However, sales data show that the market share for organic wine is still far below 10% compared to the total wine market in all countries. Obviously, there is a gap between consumers’ attitudes and real purchase behaviour in daily decisions. So far, it is not clear whether there is congruence between consumers’ attitudes and their purchase behaviour and if the attitude-behaviour-gap differs among consumer segments. Consequently, the paper at hand explores the attitude-behaviour-gap with household panel data from the GfK Group by means of a cluster analysis. The results show that even though expenditure shares for organic wine were at a low level, attitudes were in line with purchase behaviour for five out of six clusters. For example, consumers who had the highest expenditure share for organic wine showed strong pro-environmental attitudes and a preference for sustainable products. Therefore, comprehensive communication about sustainability issues, which also includes social aspects, could help to further develop the organic wine market and lead to higher market shares. However, for the low-income consumer cluster, the price of organic wine seemed to be an effective barrier despite their positive attitudes towards environmentalism. Future studies need to consider that the extent of the attitude-behaviour-gap is segment specific.
13 pages., Via online journal., This paper reflects a major concern of nutrition and health educators in the developing world today, namely, how to formulate and implement participatory nutrition intervention programs with community members and key government officials who may come from a number of different development
sectors. Through the description of a project entitled "Social Marketing of Vitamin A-Rich Foods,"
the paper highlights the value of a two-way concept of nutrition communication and problem-solving
which is put in operation by establishing mechanisms for working with both institutional and community
groups. This entails calling upon such conceptual frameworks as behavior analysis, nutritional anthropology, media advocacy and social marketing as means for working with collaborators in a decentralized, nondirective fashion. The paper also illustrates how mass media and printed nutrition education materials can potentially support broad institutional and community development processes as well as providing a guideline of requirements for future programs and projects.
10 pages., Via online journal., Consumption of local food is a fast-growing trend supported by local food advocates and governments. This trend has also captured the interest of researchers. The present study draws from the foundational principles of the theoretical perspective of helping behaviour with a view to enhancing the understanding of why people buy local food. This article tests a conceptual framework with proposed relationships between helping behaviour constructs and local food-buying behaviour within a Norwegian context. Local food consumers in Troms County are surveyed, and the results indicate that empathic concern and social concern influence their attitude towards, and preference for, local food. Local patriotism influences the preference for local food even if such consumers evaluate it as being of lower quality and less desirable than other food products. This study is among the first to examine local food-buying behaviour through the lens of prosocial helping behaviour theory. The recommendations for local food producers and local food advocates regarding appealing to consumers’ prosocial helping behaviour propose communication strategies emphasizing the difficulties that local food producers face, portraying local food producers as people deserving of help against national competition and imports, and depicting them as being as loyal to the local community as the local food consumers are.
14 pages., via online journal., Although the demand for organic food is growing globally, the mainstream consumption of organic food is far less. The present study attempts to understand the underlying reasons for consumer resistance toward consuming organic food using the theoretical framework of innovation resistance theory (IRT). The study further examines the association between different consumer barriers and purchase decisions (purchase intentions, ethical consumption intentions, and choice behaviour) at different levels of buying involvement and environmental concerns. The collected data, consisting of 452 consumers, were analyzed by structural equation modeling approach. The results showed that value barrier shared a negative association with purchase intentions and ethical consumption intentions. Ethical consumption and purchase intention were found to have a direct influence on choice behaviour. Additionally, the relationship between ethical consumption intention and choice behaviour is mediated by purchase intention. However, no significant differences have emerged based on the level of buying involvement and environment concerns. The findings of the study provide insight into public policymakers, marketers, suppliers, and consumer associations by enhancing their current understanding of buying behaviour of the growing organic food community.
