1 Introduction
Although displaying a slower place than in the past the organic market is still showing a
‘healthy growth’ (Biovista, 2009). This dissertation is dedicated to the marketing of organic food. Organic farming is defined as “a production system that sustains the health of soils, ecosystems, and people. It relies on ecological processes, biodiversity, and cycles adapted to local conditions, rather than the use of inputs with adverse effects. Organic agriculture combines tradition, innovation, and science to benefit the shared environment and promote fair relationships and a good quality of life for all involved” (IFOAM, 2010).
The main aim of this dissertation is to discover cultural differences and similarities on the motivations and values with respect to purchase of organic food in Germany and Mexico. To this aim, culture is a key concept to understand the behavior of consumers in the two countries. Culture has been defined in different ways and by several disciplines for instances, Hofstede (2001) defines culture “as the collective programming of the mind that distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from another”. Thus, when we compare cultures we compare individuals of a society, e.g., Mexican buyers and non-buyers of organic food with individuals belonging to other societies, e.g. German buyers and non-buyers of organic food.
As seen within this dissertation, motives and values were presupposed as proxies for measuring cultural dimensions affecting consumer behavior. Motives or motivations are defined as “an internal state of an organism that drives it to behave in a certain way” (Mooij, 2004). On the other hand, values, are defined as “an enduring belief that one mode of conduct or end-state of existence is preferable to an opposing mode of conduct or end-state of existence” (Rokeach, 1973 cited in Mooij, 2004).
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Figure 1: Model of cross cultural comparison between Germany and Mexico
As the title of this dissertation suggests, the intention of this study is to trace a cross-cultural comparison between Germany and Mexico. The following will explain this approach in detail.
Both the term “cross-cultural” and “comparison” presuppose the use of comparative research. In social sciences comparative research is used to understand complex realities. In fact, when we compare culture, nations, groups or countries we can distinguish between local and particular conditions and the commonalities shared by different groups, countries, or nations (Harkness et al., 2003). In comparative research not only differences or commonalities between social phenomena are uncovered, even unique aspects that are superficially impossible to detect are revealed (Mills et al., 2006).
Furthermore, even though the potentially invaluable usefulness of comparative research is well known, it has been underutilized in a few cross cultural or cross-national studies that have been conducted for several reasons; some of them are its financially costly and takes a considerable amount of time; it is difficult to do, and in methodological terms raise sometimes more interpretative problems and questions than they solve (Kohn 1989 cited by Harkness et al., 2003). Occasionally external factors such as political barriers to collecting data or publishing findings have to be considered also as limiting factors (Harkness et al., 2003).
Mexico
Germany
Motives Values
Cross-cultural comparison
Consumer behavior
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Comparative research cover quantitative (i.e. cross-cultural survey, average value priorities of groups, scores of individuals (person) and groups (national) levels) and qualitative methods (i.e. historical narratives, hermeneutic analysis are used). The number of disciplines using comparative methods is increasing, for instance, comparative sociology, comparative political sciences, intercultural communication, transcultural psychiatry, cross cultural psychology, and cross-cultural marketing (Harkness et al., 2003).
Moreover, as we stated before our comparative research is focused on cross-cultural dimensions. Kluckhohn (1951) defines culture as “patterned ways of thinking, feeling and reacting, acquired and transmitted mainly by symbols, constituting the distinctive achievement of human groups, including their embodiments in artifacts, the essential core of culture consists of traditional (i.e., historically derived and selected) ideas and especially their attached values”.
As mentioned, when we compare culture we compare individuals of a society with individuals belonging to another society. As will be seen in more detail in the literature review and theoretical framework in Chapter 3, cross-cultural research can be established as within-system (sub-groups belonging to the same society) or between-within-system comparisons (different societies, groups nations or countries). In all these cases, is presupposes the existence of something to compare, this means something shared by the groups to compare.
More recently, in marketing the theoretical framework of cross-cultural psychology has been used to understand consumer behaviour, on the grounds of the roots of culture influence on the minds of consumers and habits of the past which often might predict practices and future behaviour. Moreover, it has been used in product branding to standardize operations and brands of multinational companies, advertising, and market segmentation (Mooij, 2004). As in other disciplines, qualitative and quantitative methods have been used in cross- cultural marketing (i.e. the Emic and Ethic approach, measuring of values, average values priorities of groups, Mean-End Theory, and searching for similarities and differences).
Finally, this dissertation focuses on two countries, Germany and Mexico, which could not differ more in terms of the development stage of the organic market. In fact, as seen in Chapter 2, Germany is a mature market with a long tradition of purchasing of organic food and one of the largest import countries of organic fresh food and raw materials. On the
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contrary, in Mexico organic farming is of paramount importance, though, mainly on the export level.
So why focus on two countries which are so different? As Stuart Mill (1843) prescribed with regard to the choice of cases and variables in cross-country studies there are two main principles which can be chosen: either concordance or difference. Thus, in this dissertation the
“most different system design” by Przeworski and Teune (1970) was used as approach in our study with advantages of better understanding cultural dimension influencing the purchase of organic food in domestic markets within different stages of development. The main idea is that a comparative approach between the two countries could help both German and Mexican marketers and operators to develop marketing strategies according to the expectations of consumers to improve their businesses as well as to generate important insights into this sector.
As stated above, the general objectives of this dissertation are two-fold: firstly, we looked for differences of the motives to purchase organic food, and secondly, differences of the values of consumers of organic food in Germany and Mexico.
This dissertation is based upon a theoretical and an empirical study. The theoretical chapters support the basic knowledge of our cross-cultural comparison of the organic market of Germany and Mexico. The results and findings are described in the last part immediately previously to the conclusions. Below is a brief synopsis of the chapters.
Chapter 1 introduced the topic, explained the main objectives, and presented the structure of the dissertation.
In Chapter 2 the state of the art of the organic market in both countries, Germany and Mexico is discussed and the main issues related to the embededdness and conventionalization theories which form the current debate on the future of the organic market was examined.
In Chapters 3 and 4 a multidisciplinary overview and theoretical framework on motives and values are provided.
Chapter 5 presents both the relevant literature on motives and values related to the purchasing of organic food as well as the theoretical framework of our study.
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Chapter 6 explains the methodological considerations related to the results of the comprehensive pre-testing conducted in Mexico in 2008 and in Germany in 2009.
In Chapter 7 are presented the main results and insights of the findings of the online surveys in Germany and Mexico.
Finally, in Chapter 8 the main findings are discussed and positionated in a conceptual framework which can be taken as a point of departure for further research.
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