Impact factors in the eco-friendly food choices of portuguese consumers

• Autor(a) principal: Moisés, Cristiano Manuel Careto
• Data de Publicação: 2023
• Outros Autores: Fernandes, António, Ribeiro, Maria Isabel
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10198/28965
• topic: Sustainability; Ecological behavior; Ecological knowledge; Food goods

Ecologically conscious consumers play a pivotal role in sustaining environmental development for the future, contributing to the preservation of the planet's and society's well-being. Therefore, this research aimed to assess Portuguese consumers' orientation towards environmental issues and how these concerns influence their food purchasing decisions. Consequently, a cross-sectional and quantitative study was conducted based on an online questionnaire applied to a sample of 696 Portuguese consumers aged between 18 and 74 years old. Subsequently, the data was analyzed using the version 28.0 of the IBM SPSS software. Data analysis involved the use of descriptive statistics to characterize the sample, Cronbach's Alpha to analyze the internal consistency of the responses, and Spearman's test to study the correlation between variables. Finally, a multivariate analysis was conducted to estimate three linear regression models. The majority of the respondents (57.6%) lived in the North of Portugal, specifically in Porto (26.1%), Bragança (18.4%), and Braga (13.1%) districts; had completed secondary education or equivalent (51.3%); have a household income between 705 and 2115 euros (62.2%); and live in households with 3 (27.7%) or 4 people (29.6%). The values of Cronbach's Alpha were satisfactory for all dimensions, indicating good consistency of the responses. All correlations found were statistically significant at the 1% significance level and positive. The results suggest that interest in ecological knowledge, knowledge of environmental issues, and age are important factors influencing ecological purchasing habits, conscious purchasing planning, and sustainable behavior. These findings are valuable in guiding public policies that promote sustainability through more effective strategies.