Consumers Perception of Lithuanian Eco-Label

Abstract

In the recent decade, individuals have become more environmentally concerned, while companies realized that consumers' needs and desires are changing. This, in turn, has created new environmentally oriented practices, like ecological labeling, to satisfy consumer demands. Though eco-labels were created with a purpose to ease consumers to make their buying choices, a certain degree of confusion has emerged among the customers concerning the precise meaning of ecolabels. In Lithuania "Ekologinis žemės ūkis" ("Ecological Farming") eco-label has been issued in 2009. However, it is still new to consumers in addition to generally low level of ecological labeling practice awareness. With regard to the issue of consumer confusion and the distrust of ecocertification, the purpose of the research was to investigate perceptions of Lithuanian consumers of eco-labels and in particular Lithuanian ecological label "Ekologinis žemės ūkis." Although, the findings revealed that introduction of eco-label "Ekologinis žemės ūkis" was positively perceived, suggesting that it might make more people to consider their health and environment more seriously, the study participants recognized both positive and negative aspects of the label. However, consumers reported not feeling totally "safe" while choosing eco-labeled products and distrust producers and ecological labels because of their claims.

The Importance of Changing Perspectives: Non-EU Ecolabel-Certified Establishments in the Hospitality Industry

“…In their study on Lithuanian consumers, Kavaliauske et al (2013) found that buying choices were not driven or influenced by the presence of ecolabels (apart from a few consumer niches; Karlsson & Dolnicar, 2016), likely because they knew little about them. Aarset et al (2004) found that consumers' trust in ecological schemes was low, although their investigation of customers' reactions to green behaviors revealed a positive reaction toward companies that were adopting virtuous behaviors (Han et al, 2009).…”

“…In general, ecolabels provide information on products and services and can be used as a powerful marketing tool (Kavaliauske, Vaskiv, & Seimiene, 2013), as they communicate how companies operate at a quality and environmental level (Grunert, 1993). However, the research suggests that it is difficult to evaluate customers' overall reaction to ecolabels in the tourism sector, as well as in other sectors considerable efforts that have been made at the EU level to promote and support certification (D'Alessandro & Masoni, 2015).…”

“…Another important factor is the perceived client awareness of certification. Management reports low client awareness and a low influence of certification on clients' decision making (Karlsson & Dolnicar, 2016;Kavaliauske et al, 2013).…”

A family-enterprise collective certification trademark: consumer insight

“…What is more, evidence is mounting that in ex-communist societiesa category that, of course, includes Polandthings are aggravated by the legacy of the past. Research by Bruschi et al (2015) and Kavaliauske et al (2013) bears this assumption out. Bruschi et al (2015) investigated the knowledge of food certification in Russia, where "mistrust might be explained by the fact that corruption in Russia, as well as in other former communist countries, was widespread during the early years of transition and strongly affected the market" (p. 422).…”

Perception of Local Food Labelling by Generation Z: Eye-Tracking Experiment

“…According to the COI (2007), these include for instance supporting local farmers and local business, cutting down on pollution and reducing the purchase power of supermarket chains. On the other hand, according to Lithuanian research people do not believe that buying environmentallyfriendly products can make a difference to the environment (Kavaliauskė et al, 2013).…”