engleski

Perception of Traditional Food Products and Consumer Ethnocentrism: Evidence from Croatia

The objective of this paper is to understand attitudes and behavior towards buying traditional food products among Croatian consumers. The paper also presents the profile of traditional food market in Croatia, and how consumer ethnocentrism leads to attitudes toward domestic food products. The research is based on a quantitative approach using a structured questionnaire survey from a total of 157 respondents. Research findings indicate that Croatian consumers still enjoy the quality of traditional food despite the fact that traditional food is more expensive. Furthermore, consumers expressed a positive attitude toward Croatian gastronomic offer, and allocating more money if the retailers would offer a wider range of Croatian traditional food products. Finally, the research data confirmed ethnocentric consumer tendencies within Croatia. The findings suggest that companies should focus on popularization and branding of Croatian traditional products by emphasizing that their brands and products are local and indigenous to increase ethnocentric consumers’ willingness to buy. Overall, these findings provide important insight for traditional food producers in order to better understand consumers’ motives and accordingly adapt their marketing and production strategies.

traditional food, food market, consumer ethnocentrism, consumer perception, Croatia

nije evidentirano