Organic products: Consumers' subjective and objective knowledge

Abstract

The purpose of this master thesis is to investigate and examine how consumers’ objective knowledge about organic products in terms of nutrition, environment, and taste, differ based on their preference for and subjective knowledge about organic produce. The study was conducted on Norwegian consumers, as the research aims to capture information from the general consumer to draw a conclusion about the Norwegian population. The thesis is conceptualized by building upon literature about organic products and production methods. Thus, this thesis will contribute with an understanding of Norwegian consumers knowledge regarding organic products and production methods and how this is affected by Norwegian consumers preferences. The main study was based on an online survey with 405 participants. Participants were sampled using a convenience and snowball sampling method and a descriptive, quantitative research design was used to test our hypotheses. Findings from the study identified a knowledge gap in consumers’ mind regarding the topic as well as it discovered that people with the strongest preference and highest subjective knowledge of organic produce and production method overall had the lowest objective knowledge among the sample. Thus, consumers should be more informed about organic food before making daily purchasing decisions. Keywords: Norwegian population, organic production, taste, environment, food miles, sustainability, animal welfare, nutrition and vitamins, subjective knowledge, objective knowledge, and consumer preference.