How important is country-of-origin for organic food consumers? A review of the literature and suggestions for future research

What is it about?

This paper reviews the literature on the country-of-origin (COO) effect in the context of organic food and develops suggestions for further research in this area. Extant research has found that the well-known domestic country bias also exists for organic food products. However, little is known about consumer preferences for different import countries, in general, but especially regarding organic food. Research finds that the COO in general loses impact when there are other quality cues present. This suggests a lower impact of COO for organic than for conventional food products. However, the limited research on this topic only cover cases where being labelled as organic reduces the negative effect of foreign origin on consumer product evaluation, preferences or willingness to pay. There is still no research on the possible impact of organic labelling in categories where products from specific foreign countries are able to demand a premium.

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