Although a large number of studies describe sustainability in horticulture for individual crops or use individual sustainability characteristics as examples, there is still a lack of information on what consumers regard as being the relevant criteria for sustainability in horticultural production in the German market. The aim of this paper is to provide a broad overview of the relevance of different sustainability characteristics for flowers and ornamental plants as well as for fruit and vegetables from a consumer perspective. First, the sustainability characteristics from the literature were grouped according to the four sustainability dimensions of ecology, economy, and social and corporate responsibility. Second, an exploratory online consumer survey was conducted for both non-food horticulture (ornamental plants and nursery products) and food horticulture (open field fruit and vegetables) with the aim of determining the initial significant indicators for various sustainability characteristics for consumers. A confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the four dimensions of the literature research. According to the survey results, the characteristics of ecology were highly relevant to the respondents, followed by the characteristics of social sustainability. However, some characteristics of social sustainability and corporate responsibility could not be confirmed by the model.
The reputation of a sector is an important strategic resource. The aim of this article is to develop a measurement model for the horticulture sector. Reputation is a latent variable and is represented by formative and reflective indicators. A theoretically elaborated model will be evaluated and completed with the help of experts (n=102), and the segments that influence reputation will be identified. The quality assessment of the formative indicators, using multiple regression, and the reflective indicators, using an explorative factor analysis, led to a model with a total of 15 indicators. With the help of open questions, it was possible, to specify the indicators already considered or to include them in the model as new indicators. A reputation map shows the interaction between the reputation of horticulture and that of the individual segments. This shows a much greater influence of the service segments on the sector reputation compared to the production segments.
The reputation of an industry represents an important strategic resource and this has already been highlighted in the past for the horticulture sector. However, the heterogeneity of horticulture makes it difficult for the industry to be perceived by society. An online survey was conducted to identify the most important characteristics of horticulture and to identify the reasons for its good or bad reputation. For this purpose, 102 experts – consultants from the horticultural industry – were asked to describe horticulture and the reputation of the industry. An evaluation of the survey, based on a qualitative content analysis using inductive category formation, indicated that horticulture is primarily associated with its diverse activities and various product groups. In terms of the product groups, the focus is on food products. The reputation of the industry is rated as ‘slightly positive’ on a 7-point Likert scale, with an average of 4.4.
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