Ana Težak Damijanić

This study examines the motives for wine consumption on a sample of 598 tourists staying in hotels in Istria County, Croatia. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were used to identity wine consumption motivation dimensions, followed by cluster analysis and hierarchical multinomial logistic regression to identify and profile wine consumer segments. Four motivation dimensions were identified: status, hedonism, relaxation and socialization, resulting in four consumer segments; low, high, hedonic and socially motivated. Wine consumption and travel-related behavior variables differentiated the segments more than demographic characteristics alone. Among the variables related to Malvazija Istarska as an autochthonous regional wine, purchase intention was the only variable that significantly differentiated across all the segments. The findings support motivation-based segmentation and suggest that behavioral characteristics and purchase intention toward regional wine provide useful information for differentiating wine consumer segments.

Direct purchasing offers consumers the advantage of fresher, higher-quality food, often at lower prices, with greater transparency in terms of origin and production methods, which creates trust and enables more environmentally conscious choices. On the other hand, direct selling empowers farmers by cutting out middlemen and improving their income. As a climate-friendly option, direct selling reduces transport emissions, supports environmentally friendly agricultural practises and strengthens the resilience of the food system. This paper examines the factors that influence consumer purchase intentions for direct sales in the context of climate change. The study was conducted with a sample of 313 direct sales consumers at on- and off-farm locations in Croatia (Istria and Primorsko-goranska County). The sample consists mainly of women with higher education and over 45 years of age. The exploratory factor analysis revealed three factors: (1) attitude towards climate change, (2) influence of direct sales on climate change, and (3) intention to buy in direct sales. A hierarchical regression analysis revealed a positive and significant influence of the factors’ attitude towards climate change and the influence of direct selling on climate change on the purchase intention in direct selling. The results suggest that direct selling consumers are aware of climate change and are inclined to choose sustainable behaviours, such as direct selling, to mitigate climate change.

Moderate wine consumption is, generally, the focus of various medical studies, while consumer behaviour research does not specifically centres on moderation in wine consumption. Wine consumption in moderation is an important part of various healthy diets; still, consumers need to make informed choices when purchasing wine and the information printed on wine labels partially contributes to this process. Therefore, the main aims of this paper were to develop a scale for measuring perceptions of the health benefits associated with moderate wine consumption, and to test the effect of dietary habits and non-obligatory wine label information on the perception of the health benefits associated with moderate wine consumption. The data were collected on a sample of wine consumers who participated in an interdisciplinary experiment regarding the impact of moderate wine consumption on human health. Univariate, bivariate, and multivariate statistics were used. The consumers’ socio-demographic characteristics were used as a starting point in the analysis because they influence wine consumption. Gender was identified as a consistently important variable in predicting the perception of health benefits associated with moderate wine consumption. Health behaviour was a significant predictor along with gender, but after introducing non-obligatory wine label information, its significance in explaining the dependent variable was diminished. The results suggest that a consumer’s perception of the scale of moderate wine consumption is a unidimensional construct. Furthermore, the non-obligatory information on wine labels was identified and classified as either wine-related warnings or wine-related health benefits.

Modern agriculture faces many challenges. At the same time, it is necessary to provide healthy and sustainable food for humanity in growing conditions that are facing numerous problems, including climate change. Different strategies can be applied to deal with climate change, such as using different crop technologies. In this context, the application of wild–edible plants as a source of biodiversity, vitamins, and minerals for the human diet is interesting. Consumers’ behaviour toward wild–edible plants is a relatively new topic in marketing research, so this paper investigated the impact of certain psychological factors on consumers’ willingness to purchase wild–edible plants and food products. The study was performed on a sample of consumers of produce from farmers’ markets in Istria County, Croatia, and the data were collected via a questionnaire. The univariate and multivariate analyses provided evidence that consumers’ purchase intentions are determined mainly by their positive attitudes regarding trying new and unfamiliar foods. Furthermore, customers’ intentions to purchase food products containing wild–edible plants were determined by their attitudes regarding wild–edible plants and their subjective knowledge.

Due to increasing concern about climate change and its impact on the tourism sector, it is vital to understand tourists’ decision-making process in relation to staying in green accommodations. Many factors influence tourists’ decision-making process; however, little research has been conducted on examining the antecedents of travel intention in relation to the hotel industry. Accordingly, the aim of the paper was to test the relationship among three antecedents of travel intention and tourists’ intention to stay in hotels with eco-labels. This was performed on a sample of tourists staying in hotels in Adriatic Croatia from July through August 2021. A self-complete questionnaire was used for data collection. Data processing included univariate statistics, multivariate analysis, and structural equation modeling. This research provided evidence that tourists’ eco-labeling perception and pro-environmental behavior influence their travel intention, that general environmental knowledge was positively related to tourists’ pro-environmental behavior and tourists’ eco-labeling perception, and that eco-labeling influences pro-environmental behavior. By examining indirect effects, it was determined that pro-environmental behavior mediates the relationship between environmental knowledge and travel intention and that eco-labeling perception mediates the relationship between environmental knowledge and travel intention and the relationship between environmental knowledge and pro-environmental behavior. The findings suggest that tourists’ pro-environmental behavior includes different consumer cost-effective behavior-related aspects.

Tourism stakeholders? participation is mostly needed for planning purposes because they have better insights regarding various issues present on a local level. A participative approach enables tourism stakeholders to influence and control, to a certain degree, the development of tourism in their community. However, there is a lack of research on stakeholders? understanding of a participative approach that has been identified. This study uses a qualitative research approach where a focus group (FG) with key stakeholders was employed to examine the mechanism behind the participative approach. Namely, this paper presents the findings about the local stakeholders? experiences with a participative approach and their opinions regarding how to foster this type of initiatives in tourism settings. Data presented in this paper were collected during a discussion with an FG and processed using thematic analysis. The thoughts and opinions of stakeholders were analyzed by taking into consideration barriers and enablers related to the implementation of a participative approach. The main focus was placed on bottom-up initiatives, but other types were included as well. Identified barriers and enablers were categorized into four themes: approach necessity, appropriate stakeholders selection, correct application of the approach, and stakeholders? motivation.

Održivi razvoj postaje sve važnija pretpostavka turističkog razvoja. Programi ekološkog certificiranja, uslijed koordiniranog djelovanja relevantnih dionika u turizmu, mogu biti potpora razvoju održivog turizma. Sukladno tome, cilj je ovog istraživanja identifikacija i analiza potpore turističkih zajednica i tijela javne uprave u razvoju održivog turizma Republike Hrvatske u kontekstu programa ekološkog certificiranja. Prilikom identifikacije ove potpore analizira se sadržaj mrežnih stranica turističkih zajednica i tijela javne uprave na području sedam županija Jadranske Hrvatske. U analizi sadržaja mrežnih stranica koriste se deskriptivna analiza i analiza sadržaja. Sveukupno su identificirana tri programa koje promoviraju dionici. Rezultati istraživanja pokazuju slabu razinu potpore održivog razvoja promocijom programa ekološkog certificiranja koja pretežito uključuje informiranje.

Olive oil has been consumed since ancient times and appreciated as a source of nutritious fats and as medical remedy, in addition to being praised in ceremonies. Today, when health is one of the top priorities of humankind, we examined what consumers believe and value about olive oil, which is generally considered a healthy product. Our survey examined the associations between the hedonic and health properties of olive oil, the motives important for olive oil consumption, and how these are influenced by healthy behaviour. There was clear evidence of the importance of culture, tradition, pleasure, olive oil health benefits, and healthy behaviour. There was a strong association between healthy behaviour and olive oil benefit perceptions and motives for olive oil consumption, with the olive oil benefits associated with the motives to consume olive oil.

This paper had a goal to explore the relationship between autochthonous wine attributes and wine consumption motives. Data were collected through a questionnaire, processed by standard statistical methods, univariate (general description of the sample), and multivariate statistics (factor analysis, cluster analysis and logistic regression). Through factor analysis five main dimensions of wine consumption motives were determined, namely social status, socializing effects, health, self indulgence and relaxation. For autohchthonous wine (Malvazija Istarska) three factor dimensions of wine attributes were determined: reccomendations, quality and origin. Through cluster analysis, wine consumption motives showed significant relations to the wine attributes, whereas selfexpression, and health and taste stood out as the most important dimensions between high and low wine attribute importance segments.