Food neophobia is the fear or loathing of novel food, which may result in the rejection of the unfamiliar food item. The most frequently used and most reliable tool to measure adult food neophobia is the Food Neophobia Scale (FNS), which has been translated into several languages, making it possible to compare food neophobia levels around the world. The main objective of this research has been the adaptation and validation of the FNS in Hungary. In order to achieve the research objectives, a questionnaire survey was conducted on a representative sample of 500 adults; and, primarily, multivariate statistical tools were used. We found that despite the Hungarian population’s strong neophobic tendency, neophobia and neophilia are present at the same time. We identified two distinctive factors in the course of the exploratory factor analysis (“Willingness and trust” and “Rejection and particularity”), which distinctly separate the negatively and positively worded (reversed) FNS items. Based on these factors, four clusters were identified. Those belonging in the group of adventurous open-minded individuals constitute an ideal target group for the manufacturers of novel food items as well as products with unusual flavors, especially if those products also have health-enhancing and eco-friendly qualities.

Several theories have emerged to study types of eating behavior leading to obesity, but most of the applied models are mainly related to food choice decisions and food consumer behavior. The purpose of this paper was to examine the eating attitudes of Hungarian consumers by applying the Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire (TFEQ-R21). The national representative questionnaire involved 1000 individuals in Hungary in 2019. Several multivariate statistical techniques were applied for the data analysis: exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, multivariate data reduction techniques, and cluster analysis. This study successfully managed to distinguish the following factors: emotional eating, uncontrolled eating, and cognitive restraint. By using the factors, five clusters were identified: Uncontrolled Emotional Eaters; Overweight, Uncontrolled Eaters; Controlled, Conscious Eaters; the Uninterested; and the Rejecters; all of these could be addressed by public health policy with individually tailored messages. The empirical results led to rejection of the original Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire (TFEQ-R21), while the TFEQ-R16 model could be validated on a representative sample of adults, for the first time in Hungary.

In addition to preserving their health, young people can also play a role in providing information to wider society. Nutrition habits that have developed over the years at college have an impact on the foundation of a lifelong lifestyle. Our aim was to identify university students’ online and offline information-seeking attitudes related to healthy nutrition and create a new theoretical concept. Participants were university students (n = 612), and the self-administered, paper-based questionnaires were sent out to nine Hungarian universities. Both descriptive and multivariate statistical procedures were used in the analysis. Online and offline information sources were categorized. In relation to university students’ information-seeking competence, the component of electronic health literacy was determined. In analyzing attitudes, the components of acceptance of, incentive for, and rejection of or ambivalence towards healthy nutrition were identified. The information-seeking categories related to the stages of university students’ conscious transition to healthy nutrition were also identified. University students’ competences related to electronic health literacy are essentially favorable. This target group accepts healthy nutrition and tries to recommend it to others, too. However, a rejecting or ambivalent attitude could also be identified. Online and offline sources of information accompany university students’ transition of the relevant stages of changes. The theoretical concept that we developed can contribute to bridging gaps in the interrelatedness of diverse information sources and healthy nutrition.

This study examines the market orientation and corporate performance of domestic enterprises in the health industry. The aim of the study is to explore the existence and the nature of the connection between market orientation adapted by SMEs in the domestic health industry and the subjective, perceived success, and competitiveness of these businesses. Market orientation was measured by the internationally standardised MKTOR scale. Corporate performance was tested by means of a scale based on subjective perception, during which the relative weight of particular performance categories for the enterprise was taken into consideration. With regard to corporate performance, two categories were examined: competitiveness and effectiveness. The basis for the primary research was provided by personal interviews, including 251 items, conducted with marketing specialists (for lack of them, general managers) of businesses in the health industry. Data collection was carried out in 2018 in collaboration with a market research company. The connection between market orientation and corporate performance was assessed using linear correlation and regression analysis. The results of our primary research revealed a positive, medium-strong relationship between market orientation and corporate performance. With a more detailed examination of the dimensions of market orientation, customer orientation, and competitor orientation were found to significantly explain competitiveness and effectiveness. It has been shown that with the increase in rival spirit, the market orientation of companies accounts for the dispersion of competitiveness to an increasingly lesser extent. This means that, for some businesses with good capacity to compete, the propensity to compete is obviously the result of market orientation. All the while, as regards the rest of those businesses, other factors may play an important role (such as social capital, production structure, and strategy). Their precise result is that these companies are not ‘forced’ in the market to adapt the market orientation. Since the increase in market orientation leads to better corporate performance, companies should lay more emphasis on the improvement of their market orientation, especially in the cases when other factors of competitive ability are not possible for the company to acquire or the costs are too high.

The Lifestyle of Voluntary Simplicity (LOVOS) segment is composed of consumers who attempt to achieve sustainable consumption. The segment has been examined by only a few research studies so far, and none of them were conducted among Hungarian consumers. Therefore, the aim of our exploratory research is to examine the occurrence of the LOVOS consumer group among university students from Debrecen, Hungary. To achieve our aim, we first identified the five main value groups of the LOVOS lifestyle with an expert focus group interview. Based on the interview, a questionnaire survey was conducted among university students from Debrecen (N = 500). Based on the results, four value-based segments were identified, of which the Voluntary simplifiers’ cluster (39.6% of respondents) reflected the characteristics of the LOVOS lifestyle to the greatest extent. Based on the literature, it seemed necessary to segment this group further in terms of their commitment to individual values. As a result, three further clusters were created, of which, the Holistic simplifiers’ group (9.8% of respondents) showed the greatest commitment to the values of the LOVOS lifestyle. We concluded that the characteristics of voluntary simplifiers have already appeared among university students from Debrecen, but further research is needed to reveal the value orientation of the whole of Hungarian society.

Erdőökológiai kísérletünkben a vágásos és az örökerdő gazdálkodásban alkalmazott erdészeti beavatkozások aljnövényzetre gyakorolt kezdeti hatásait vizsgáltuk egy korábban vágásos üzemmódban művelt, egykorú gyertyános-kocsánytalan tölgyesben. A kísérletben kisméretű vágásterületeket, hagyásfacsoportokat, bontóvágással kezelt területeket, lékeket és kontrollként idős, záródott állományokat hasonlítottunk össze az aljnövényzet fajszáma, borítása és kompozíciója, valamint négy növényi funkciós csoport összegzett borítása szerint. Kimutattuk, hogy a beavatkozások utáni negyedik évre a fajszám és a borítás leginkább a vágásterületeken és lékekben nőtt meg, míg növekedésük a bontásokban közepes, a hagyásfacsoportokban mérsékelt volt. A kompozíció a vágásterületeken jelentősen átalakult; bennük főleg nem-erdei lágyszárúak, míg a lékekben inkább fény- és nedvességigényes erdei fajok nyertek teret. A növényzet erdei jellegének meg- őrzése mellett a fás szárú magoncok borításnövekedése is a lékekben és bontásokban volt a legnagyobb. Eredményeink alapján arra következtetünk, hogy a folyamatos erdőborítást fenntartó gazdálkodás természetvédelmi és faanyagtermelési szempontból is kedvező lehet.