High school students' attitudes and behaviour towards organic products: survey results from Vienna

Wien

2007

24 S.

2 Abb., 7 Tab., 42 Lit. Ang.

Bandaufführung

13194

140366

Our consumption patterns and environmental behaviour are rooted in long lived practices and habits. Social norms and values are among the factors that determine what we buy or what we think about organic products. As they are largely unconscious it is difficult to change them. A survey of high school students (between 14 and 20 years) in Vienna determines social norms and attitudes towards organic products that influence consumption of organic products in order to add new insights to the discourse. Young people, who already participate in household decisions and consume organic products are of special interest. They may be viewed as future consumers and buyers but have not yet been recognised sufficiently in research. Based on the Theory of Reasoned Action, developed by Fishbein and Ajzen, a simple model of the impact of attitudes and social norm on behaviour is tested, using a data set, which was collected in 2005 (n=340). This basic model is extended by structural variables, factors representing cultural patterns and knowledge. By these means, we explore the complex field of decisions and reasoned action regarding the Shopping behaviour of high school students with respect to organic products. Key findings include (1) the importance of primary socialization over secondary socialization in forming social norms and shaping behaviour, (2) the absence of a significant relation between knowledge on organic products and actual behaviour (Shopping organic products), and (3) cultural orientations being good predictors for attitudes as well as for behaviour towards organic products.