Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine intrinsic and extrinsic food quality characteristics and the relative importance placed on these characteristics by different consumer segments. Moreover, relationship between segments of consumers and consumption frequency of differentiated food products (traditional, functional and organic) was analysed. Design/methodology/approach: A three-stage stratified random sampling approach was employed and data were collected via 500 face-to-face interviews conducted in respondents’ homes. A version of the Food Choice Questionnaire was used to examine the motives of consumers’ underlying food choices. The collected data were analysed by factor analysis followed by cluster analysis. Findings: Four factors were identified: health and sensory characteristics, price and availability, body weight and digestion, and convenience. Resulting clusters were named as: healthy and tasty food lovers, convenient, concerned, and indifferent consumers. Differences were identified between the segments according to consumers’ frequency of consumption of the different types of food products. Practical implications: The findings have impact implications for food producers and distributors in developing communication strategies for consumer segments with different attitudes and motives. The findings of this study not only contribute to the organic, traditional, and food with health claim literature, but also help industry, government, and consumer associations fully understand consumer perceptions of intrinsic and extrinsic foods characteristics and enhance consumers’ responses to the different types of food products. Originality/value: The study represents one of the first assessments of the importance of food quality characteristics, segmentation, and consumption frequency of traditional, organic, and functional food products in Central and Eastern Europe.

Purpose: – The purpose of this paper is to explore the differences between consumer motives regarding purchase of traditional food in two European countries (Croatia and Austria) with a different history and development in regards to traditional and/or regional food.Design/methodology/approach: – A word association test and soft laddering interviews were used to elicit consumers’ perception and purchasing motives for traditional food. Additionally, the questionnaire contained socio-demographics and questions about shopping habits concerning traditional food. Semi-structured, individual, face-to-face interviews were performed with 31 Croatian and 28 Austrian respondents.Findings: – The most frequent associations/definition in both countries refers to heritage (food of generations) and elaboration (traditional receipt). The meaning of traditional food is for both samples positive. Hierarchical value maps for both countries contain ladders standing for health or support of local farmers. Additionally, the Austrians connect traditional food with environmental friendly production while for the Croatians sentimental hedonism ladder starts with perception of traditional food as a mean to connect with the childhood.Practical implications: – The findings can be used by traditional food producers in order to better understand consumers’ motives and accordingly adapt their marketing strategies.Originality/value: – This is the first work which uses free association test and laddering interviews to reveal consumers perception and motives for purchase of traditional food both in Croatia as well as in Austria.

Knowing consumers' wishes is an important condition for making an efficient sales concept. The goal of this article is to determine the consumer attitudes about organic food, their buying motives, and satisfaction with the offer of organic food products in the markets of Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Slovenia. Comparing data collected for three countries will give insight into common and specific characteristics of these markets. Data were collected using consumer survey of organic food in three capitals (Sarajevo, Zagreb and Ljubljana). Respondents in all three countries have a positive attitude toward organic food. The most important motives for buying organic food products in Croatia and Slovenia are the health value of organic food and care for the environment, and in Bosnia Herzegovina it is the idea of return to nature, health value and safety of organic food products. In many characteristics there are no significant differences among consumers in these markets. Similarities among consumers and their geographic vicinity make it possible to create similar marketing strategies for organic food products in these markets. That is especially important for large organic food producers since these are relatively small markets.

We replicate Bocquého et al. (2014), who used multiple price lists to investigate the risk preferences of 107 French farmers. We collected new data from 1430 participants in 11 European farming systems. In agreement with the original study, farmers' risk preferences are best described by Cumulative Prospect Theory. Structural model estimates show that farmers in the new samples are, on average, less loss averse and more susceptible to probability distortion than in the original study. Explorative analyses indicate differences between estimation approaches, as well as heterogeneity between and within samples. We discuss challenges in replications of economic experiments with farmers across farming contexts.

Purpose: The objectives of this paper were twofold: to explore if there are differences in the perceptions about supply chain performance (SCP) and relationship quality (RQ) among traditional food supply chain members, and to examine the influence of individual relationship variables and aggregated relationship quality on SCP in the traditional food sector. Design/methodology/approach: The survey was conducted in a triadic context with 189 supply chain members (62 suppliers, 65 focal companies and 62 customers) of 65 traditional food supply chains (cheese, olive oil, meat products, brandies and liqueurs, wine and honey) in Croatia. The influence of individual relationship variables and aggregated RQ on perceived SCP was tested using regression analysis. Findings: It was found that there were no significant differences in the perception of overall SCP and RQ among supply chain members. It was identified that aggregated RQ and all individual relationship variables (trust, commitment, economic satisfaction, non-coercive and coercive power, reputation and conflict) have a significant influence on perceived SCP of the traditional food supply chains. Practical implication: This study provides a systematic approach to investigate the SCP and supply chain RQ in the traditional food sector. The findings suggest that managers should not neglect any aspect of supply chain relationship to keep high SCP and to be competitive on the market. Originality/value: This multiple supply chain study makes an original empirical contribution to the supply chain and network management literature by using a triadic approach to investigate RQ and SCP. The influence of individual RQ constructs and aggregated RQ on traditional food SCP examined in this study has not been explored thus far. This study also makes an original empirical contribution by investigating RQ and SCP in the traditional food sector, which has received little attention recently.