What determines fresh fish consumption in Croatia?

Abstract

Although fresh fish is widely available, consumption still remains below the recommended intake levels among the majority of European consumers. The economic crisis affects consumer food behaviour, therefore fresh fish is perceived as healthy but expensive food product. The aim of this study was to determine the factors influencing fresh fish consumption using an expanded Theory of Planned Behaviour (Ajzen, 1991) as a theoretical framework. The survey was conducted on a heterogeneous sample of 1151 Croatian fresh fish consumers. The study investigated the relationship between attitudes, perceived behavioural control, subjective norm, moral obligation, involvement in health, availability, intention and consumption of fresh fish. Structural Equation Modeling by Partial Least Squares was used to analyse the collected data. The results indicated that attitudes are the strongest positive predictor of the intention to consume fresh fish. Other significant predictors of the intention to consume fresh fish were perceived behavioural control, subjective norm, health involvement and moral obligation. The intention to consume fresh fish showed a strong positive correlation with behaviour. This survey provides valuable information for food marketing professionals and for the food industry in general.

Motivations and Constraints of Meat Avoidance

“…Pursuing a vegetarian or a plant-based diet might be inconvenient because, on the one hand, the preparation of vegetarian or plant-based meals takes more time, information, knowledge, and therefore effort, especially in the first stages of a dietary change [1,37]. On the other hand, vegetarian or plant-based diets may reduce the available dishes to choose from [2,20,28]. Most of the previous research could confirm that diet choice is linked to subjectively rated convenience [2,20,27,28].…”

“…Most of the previous research estimating the independent effects of motivations and constraints on meat consumption relied on the theory of planned behavior [19][20][21][22][23][24]. These studies explain intentions concerning meat intake by overall evaluation of behavior (attitude), perceived social norms (subjective norms), and the perception of facilitating or limiting conditions (perceived behavioral control) [25].…”

Consumer attitudes on buying fish in Banja Luka

“…When it comes to unmarried people person's structure is 47.9% of single men and single women 52.1%. Tomić et al (2015) in their study had the highest share of respondents who lived in the households of 3-5 members (69%), whereas in this study, the largest number of respondents lives in the households with four members (55%).…”

“…Only 10% of respondents did not have a defined position on fish as a healthy food. Also, Tomić et al (2015) suggest that there is a personal sense of responsibility for feeding the family and the offer of fresh fish in the household. Feucht and Zander (2014) stated in their research that respondents in Germany believe that farmed fish does not taste right or that nature gives a taste of the product.…”

“…Can et al (2015) found that the consumption of fish meat in the city of Antakya in Turkey is (only) 2.98 kg/year or 13% of the total annual consumption of meat. According to Tomić et al (2015) Croatia, although the sea country has an average annual consumption of fish of 8-10 kg per capita, compared to a European average of 20 kg per capita. In their research, the taste and image of healthy food are the two most common determinants of fish consumption.…”