Understanding the Role of Purchasing Predictors in the Consumer’s Preferences for PDO Labelled Honey

Abstract

In recent years, honey consumption has attracted an increasing interest among consumers, due to its beneficial properties for health and to the multiplicity of its use. Given the high importance that consumers ascribe to the Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) label, considered as one of the most relevant attributes for agro-food consumers, this study aims at detecting the main variables that influence the attitudes of honey consumers toward the PDO label by analyzing the purchasing intention of a convenience sample of northern Italian consumers. With this purpose, a logistic regression model analysis was performed, based on the consumers’ stated preference for PDO honey. The research highlights that those consumers who give their preference to PDO honey, also associate this label with aspects linked to environmental sustainability and to its organic production. Moreover, only gender, among the socio-demographic characteristics, had a significant effect on consumer attitudes toward the PDO label.