SUSCHOICE is an ERA-Net SUSFOOD2 research project under Topic 3 “Understanding consumer behavior and food choices”. This project investigates the determinants of sustainable food and drink choices among European young adults. It seeks to understand how young consumers’ attitude, and willingness to pay, towards sustainable food and drink can be translated into an actual choice in their everyday life.
SUSCHOICE intends to provide policy makers and food and drink companies with recommendations for promoting sustainable food and drink production practices and consumption choices in Europe.
It is a transnational project that includes 5 research teams from 5 different European countries: Germany, Italy, Norway, Romania and Sweden. The research activities started on 1st September 2018 and will end on 31st August 2021.
Five research teams from five European countries are working together to investigate the consumption behaviour of European young adults related to sustainable food and drink. Their goal is to understand which are the determinants facilitating consumer’s choice towards more sustainable food and drinks and how to overcome the barriers hindering sustainable consumption behaviours in Europe.
Most consumers claim to be willing to buy sustainable food and drink products, however the share of sustainable products in total consumption remains low. This phenomenon is called “Attitude-Behaviour Gap”. It can only partially be explained by the individual consumer characteristics. This means that there are other factors, still ignored in most studies, which prevent changes in purchase and consumption choices among young generations in Europe.
There is the need to consider a wider range of determinants of the sustainable food and drink choice. To address this issue, SUSCHOICE has a two-fold purpose: i) to identify the effects of different factors (macro, structural and individual) influencing consumers’ sustainable food and drink choices in five European countries and ii) to evaluate the public policy and marketing strategies for promoting sustainable food and drink consumption.
SUSCHOICE focuses on young adults as they represent the consumers of the future and influence food choices of both previous and future generations.
Five universities take part in the project:
- Department of Business Administration, University of Verona (Italy);
- Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, Mohn Centre for Innovation and Regional Development (Norway);
- Faculty of Economics and Management, Lund University (Sweden);
- Department of Business Administration and Market Research, Geisenheim University (Germany);
- Department of Agrifood and Environmental Economics, Bucharest University of Economic Studies (Romania).
Visit our website http://sites.les.univr.it/suschoice/
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SUSCHOICE is part of the ERA-Net SUSFOOD2 with funding provided by national sources (MIUR-Italy, RCN-Norway, FORMAS-Sweden, PM-BLE-Germany and UEFISCDI-Romania) and co-funding by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme.
