Organic Food Consumption During the COVID-19 Pandemic. A Bibliometric Analysis and Systematic Review

Cramarenco, Romana Emilia; Burca-Voicu, Monica Ioana; Dabija, Dan-Cristian Article Organic Food Consumption During the COVID-19 Pandemic. A Bibliometric Analysis and Systematic Review Amfiteatru Economic Provided in Cooperation with: The Bucharest University of Economic Studies Suggested Citation: Cramarenco, Romana Emilia; Burca-Voicu, Monica Ioana; Dabija, Dan-Cristian (2023) : Organic Food Consumption During the COVID-19 Pandemic. A Bibliometric Analysis and Systematic Review, Amfiteatru Economic, ISSN 2247-9104, The Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Bucharest, Vol. 25, Iss. Special Issue No. 17, pp. 1042-1063, https://doi.org/10.24818/EA/2023/S17/1042 This Version is available at: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/281748 Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen: Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. 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If the documents have been made available under an Open Content Licence (especially Creative Commons Licences), you may exercise further usage rights as specified in the indicated licence. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ AE Organic Food Consumption During the COVID-19 Pandemic. A Bibliometric Analysis and Systematic Review 1042 Amfiteatru Economic ORGANIC FOOD CONSUMPTION DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC. A BIBLIOMETRIC ANALYSIS AND SYSTEMATIC REVIEW Romana Emilia Cramarenco1, Monica Ioana Burcă-Voicu2 and Dan-Cristian Dabija3 1)2)3) Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania Please cite this article as: Cramarenco, R.E., Burcă-Voicu, M.I. and Dabija, D.C., 2023. Organic Food Consumption During the COVID-19 Pandemic. A Bibliometric Analysis and Systematic Review. Amfiteatru Economic, 25(Special Issue 17), pp. 1042-1063. DOI: https://doi.org/10.24818/EA/2023/S17/1042 Article History Received: 21 August 2023 Revised: 9 September 2023 Accepted: 22 September 2023 Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic has generated multiple transformations globally, with isolation periods alternating with those marked by intense social and economic restrictions, having a major impact on economic production and distribution activities, but especially on consumer behaviour. The recent pandemic has generated a strong contraction in consumption, increasing consumers' risk aversion, and disrupting the way they purchase different foods. Consumers have shifted to sustainable consumption, preferring foods that can help them towards a balanced diet, strengthen their health, and help develop resistance to viruses. This paper aims to identify the most relevant specialised articles, published during the pandemic (2020-2023), addressing sustainable consumption of organic food. They are investigated through a bibliometric analysis, which highlights the main directions in which this international research has converged. In the investigative approach, the authors resort to applying the PRISMA methodology peculiar to this type of analysis; the references selected according to the different objective criteria chosen are subsequently analysed using the VOSviewer software. Based on the review of the literature, the paper also presents possible future research directions highlighting the opportunities for scientific capitalisation of this research topic. Keywords: organic food, sustainable consumption, consumer behaviour, COVID-19 pandemic. JEL Classification: E21, L66, Q560  Corresponding author, Dan-Cristian Dabija – e-mail: dan.dab[email protected] This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. © 2023 The Author(s). Sustainable Development and Technological Challenges AE Vol. 25 • Special Issue No. 17 • November 2023 1043 Introduction Sustainability or sustainable development is the process of managing natural resources in such a way that generations can cover their needs in a similar way to that of current generations (World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED), 1987; WHO, 2023). Sustainable development is based on an integrated approach, which considers both environmental issues and social and economic implications. The COVID-19 pandemic has led to significant changes in consumer behaviour, through a clear orientation towards online procurement (McKinsey, 2020); consumers prefer orders from virtual stores and are increasingly using mobile apps and courier services (Andronie et al., 2021; Pop et al., 2023). Especially periods of isolation and restrictions have generated a spectacular increase in online orders for food and other goods (Koch et al., 2021). Paradoxically, the COVID-19 pandemic initially boosted stockpiling (Ahmadi et al., 2022) and overconsumption (Babbitt et al., 2021), but ultimately led to a decrease in consumption due to the financial instability of citizens, respectively, to the deterioration of their financial situation as a result of work interruption (Nemteanu et al., 2022), and the lack of predictability regarding the evolution of the pandemic caused by frequent lockdown periods (Grashuis et al., 2020). Practically, during the pandemic situation there was a lack of consumption predictability due to its self-imposed limitations, which alternated with compulsive behaviours such as making significant purchases of food goods for long periods of time and stockpiling. At the same time, there was a heightened predisposition to increase the consumption of fresh and healthy products; consumers probably associated them with immunity boosts and general well-being (Das et al., 2021; Pocol et al., 2021a; Sohn et al., 2022). The present research aims to trigger the researchers’ interest in exploring the specificities of the sustainable consumption of ecological foods, by proposing a systematic review. Thus, the objective of the paper is to identify the most representative specialised papers published during the recent COVID-19 pandemic that dealt with the sustainable consumption of organic food. In conducting the research, the authors employed the PRISMA method for the bibliometric analysis. This allows us to highlight the main directions of research on sustainable food consumption. The data are processed using VOSViewer software in the form of summative tables. Subsequently, a systematic analysis of the main directions of investigation is performed. The article is structured as follows: Section 1 presents a review of the literature on sustainable consumption and organic food, followed by Section 2 containing the description of the research method used, based on the PRISMA approach. Here are the criteria for including and excluding the various bibliographic references in the analysis carried out in the two databases, Scopus and Web of Science. Section three presents the results of the bibliometric analysis, where the included references are categorised according to different criteria (type of research, number of citations, most frequently cited articles, journals in which they appeared, etc.). Subsequently, a systematic content analysis is performed on the particularities of sustainable consumption of organic food, the relevance of attitudes for sustainable consumption, and the evolution of sustainable consumption of organic food during the COVID-19 pandemic. The paper ends with conclusions, which contain possible future directions of research concerning the investigated phenomenon. AE Organic Food Consumption During the COVID-19 Pandemic. A Bibliometric Analysis and Systematic Review 1044 Amfiteatru Economic 1. Literature review Sustainable consumption is increasingly the subject of strategies established by international, regional, and national bodies. Thus, the European Union has included in the Maastricht Treaty the strategy of sustainable development, highlighting the need for the harmonious and balanced integration of the economic activities of organisations, so as to enable social and economic cohesion, solidarity between member states, employment, improving the quality of life, etc. (European Union, 2023). More recently, the EU has also developed a strategy on food sustainability, entitled The Farm to Consumer Strategy, which aims to create a sustainable food system that ensures food security, protecting nature, and individuals (European Commission, 2023; Pocol et al., 2023). The UN considers that sustainable consumption depends on sustainable production, with the aim of facilitating the satisfaction of basic needs and ensuring a high quality of life, by minimising the use of natural resources and toxic materials, reducing emissions of pollutants, and reducing the amount of waste so as not to endanger society as a whole (United Nations, 2022). After the OECD, sustainable consumption is achieved by streamlining energy and other resources, minimising food waste, and developing among consumers a mentality, respectively, a responsible behaviour with nature (Krizanova et al., 2019; OECD, 2023). Although food systems have the potential to support consumer health and contribute to environmental sustainability, they remain a threat to them due to their overdevelopment, which puts pressure on production systems, namely, to ensure quantity to the detriment of food quality (Willet et al., 2019). In the production of sustainable and organic food, it is essential to consider the protection of the environment, so that there are no disturbances or imbalances in existing ecosystems (Popa and Dabija, 2019). Basically, organic food production systems must be sustainable from a social, economic, and financial perspective. Their transformation into such sustainable systems involves the careful cooperation and active involvement of the various stakeholders of the system: local authorities, producers, distributors/retailers, and consumers (Ruben et al., 2021; Gallardo Vasquesz, 2023). Organic foodstuffs are products controlled and certified by bodies empowered to do so (CE, 2023), intended for human consumption which are made according to agricultural methods and procedures which comply with very precise standards, without the use of synthetic chemical compounds or genetically modified organisms, contributing to the protection of nature and the support of biodiversity (PE, 2021). Depending on the geographical area in which organic food is produced, distributed or consumed, ecological foods are called ‘bio’ (Switzerland, France) or ‘organic’ (Anglo-American space); the literature uses these concepts alternatively (Popa and Dabija, 2019; Sabau et al., 2023). To facilitate the recognition of organic food by consumers, regardless of geographical area, they are marked accordingly, with the Euro-leaf, bearing the name and code number of the body which carried out the necessary checks and granted the certification (Lazaroiu et al., 2020; Majerova et al., 2020). The literature (Coderoni et al., 2020; Fernandes and Saraiva, 2022) suggests that when it comes to regular purchases of organic food in conjunction with the market values of organic products, it acts as an incentive for consumption. The identity of these consumers and the knowledge of how they support sustainable consumption constitute the starting point for the transition to the circular economy. Organic food consumption is influenced not only by objective factors, but also by psychological factors (Tarkiainen and Sundqvist, 2005; Basha et al., 2015; WojciechowskaSolis et al., 2022). The researchers’ interest was focused on studying the attitudes of Sustainable Development and Technological Challenges AE Vol. 25 • Special Issue No. 17 • November 2023 1045 consumers of organic food, both on explicit and implicit attitudes (König et al., 2016; Richetin et al., 2016; Panzone et al., 2016; Pakseresht et al., 2022). Consumer behaviour oriented towards health and environmental protection can significantly contribute to sustainable economic development, social progress, and to the improvement of the quality of life (Paul and Rana, 2012; Wojciechowska-Solis et al., 2022). Additionally, consumer behaviour oriented towards environmental preservation is present in marketing research focused on current consumption trends in a sustainable society (Prothero et al., 2014; Joshi et al., 2015; Lu et al., 2023). Lim (2017) proposes the theorisation of three types of consumer behaviour: behaviour with a mindful mindset, behaviour focused on responsible consumption, and anti-consumption behaviour. 2. Research method This paper aims to identify the most relevant specialised articles, published during the pandemic (2020-2023), in two of the most important bases of scientific articles, Scopus and Web of Science (WoS). The articles explored analyse the issue of sustainability of organic food consumption. Bibliometric analysis and systematic analysis were employed to investigate selected articles, to highlight how sustainable consumption of organic food is analysed in specialised articles. The systematic analysis of literature is a valuable method for researchers, for accessing current relevant literature, evaluating existing theories and explanatory models, in order to identify new approaches designed to contribute to the advancement of research in the field. The analysis used the PRISMA model (Figure no. 1), deemed an important, relevant, and representative tool for creating systematic syntheses of literature in a wide variety of scientific fields (Page et al., 2021). The created model was based on three stages: the identification of specialised articles published in the period 2020-2023, in English, in representative international databases, namely Scopus and Web of Science, the screening or checking of eligible items using the “sustainable consumption” filter and “consumer behaviour”, and the inclusion of articles remaining in the systematic review of literature. Using the filter terms „sustainability”, “food consumption”, “organic foods”, „ecological foods” or „bio foods”, 115 items were identified; the base for analysis was subsequently reduced to 98 articles, after the elimination of 17 duplicate articles. The articles included in the analysis appeared in various scientific journals; the top 10 papers are in table no. 1 (out of a total of 54 articles, 16 appear one time, in one journal each). Table no. 1. Top 10 academic journals Journal Number of articles WoS Scopus Sustainability 13 X X Foods 5 X X International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 4 X X Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics 3 X X Journal of Business Research 3 X X Journal of Marketing Management 2 X X Food Quality and Preferences 2 X Cogent Business and Management 2 X X Cleaner and Responsible Consumption 2 X AE Organic Food Consumption During the COVID-19 Pandemic. A Bibliometric Analysis and Systematic Review 1046 Amfiteatru Economic Journal Number of articles WoS Scopus Agronomy 2 X X Note: ‘x’ marks the existence of the journal in the selected databases (WOS – Web of Science). Note: E1=retail; E2= marketing strategies; C1=human health; C2=safety; C3=attitudes; C4=perceptions; C5=willingness to pay; T=tendencies Figure no. 1. The application of the PRISMA method for bibliometric study Identifying scientific articles via Scopus and WoS Identification References from Scopus (sustainability + food consumption + organic foods) n: 39 References from WoS (sustainability + food consumption + organic foods) n: 76 References eliminated before screening: Database (n: 115) Duplicate references eliminated (n: 17) Analyzed references. (n: 98) Results verified for eligibility – sustainable consumption (eliminated duplicates: 8) (n: 20 + 48 = 68 – 8 = 60) Results verified for eligibility – consumer behavior (eliminated duplicates: 2) (n: 24 + 32 = 56 – 2 = 54) Verification Analyzed results Eliminated duplicates (2) E1 (n: 10); E2 (n: 4) Analyzed results Eliminated duplicates (22) C1 (n: 14); C2 (n: 14); C3 (n: 32); C4 (n: 26); C5 (n: 25); T (n: 12) References included in the review E1 (n: 8); E2 (n: 4) References included in the review C1 (n: 12); C2 (n: 12); C3 (n: 26); C4 (n: 22); C5 (n: 18); T (n: 12) Included Sustainable Development and Technological Challenges AE Vol. 25 • Special Issue No. 17 • November 2023 1047 3. Results and discussions 3.1. Bibliometric literature analysis In advancing our research endeavour, we explored the functionalities of the VOSviewer software. VOSviewer was used in the implementation of this approach, which generated the following co-dependencies in the selected bibliography (Table no. 2). Table no. 2. Co-dependences of the selected bibliography Bibliographical references Citations Link Importance Rizzo et al., 2020 57 8 Perito et al., 2020 32 4 Kamenidou et al., 2020 32 7 Garcia et al., 2020 25 2 Nguyen et al., 2021 22 21 Fifita et al., 2020 21 2 Rempelos et al., 2021 20 1 Pulcini et al., 2020 18 0 Aldaya et al., 2021 18 2 Bumbac et al., 2020 14 2 Nova et al., 2020 14 0 Leggett, 2020 12 1 Katzeff et al., 2020 11 2 Neumayr and Moosauer, 2021 11 3 Wojciechowska-Solis et al., 2022 11 17 As shown in Table no. 2, there are links between the analysed studies centered on sustainable consumption of organic foods. Of the 115 articles found in the database, by introducing as a selection criterion the relevance of at least one citation, the results indicate the connecting validity of 35 items found in Table no. 2. Basically, in Table no. 2, the closest link is highlighted in relation to the work of Rizzo et al. (2020) analysing the health impact of organic food consumption. It is quoted 57 times with a link importance of 8. Second, a paper on generational differences in the preference of organic food (Kamenidou et al., 2020) and a case study on consumers' attitudes towards organic and local foods (Perito et al., 2020). Both papers highlight a link importance 7 and 4, respectively. As for the link strength between co-dependencies, the highest level, with 21 links, highlights a paper on the purchase intention of organic meat by Vietnamese consumers (Nguyen et al., 2021), then a comparative work on the purchasing behaviour of organic food during the COVID-19 pandemic in Poland and the United Kingdom (Wojciechowska-Solis et al., 2022) with 17 links, and a paper that comparatively analyses consumers' perception of organic food before and after the COVID19 pandemic with 15 links (Brata et al., 2022). The analysis of the bibliographic references cited in the selected articles was then employed. As shown in Table no. 3, it is found that the most cited paper (5 mentions, link importance 71) belonged to Bryla (2016), analysing the reasons and hindrances of sustainable food consumption. That of Reisch et al. (2013) offers an overview of sustainable food consumption (5 mentions, link importance 40); that of Aertsens et al. (2009) treats personal factors of food consumption (4 mentions, link importance 56); that of Kushwah et al. (2019) attempts to understand consumers’ resistance to organic foods (4 mentions, link importance AE Organic Food Consumption During the COVID-19 Pandemic. A Bibliometric Analysis and Systematic Review 1048 Amfiteatru Economic 50), and that of Hansmann et al. (2020) treats driving forces and obstacles to the increase in organic food consumption (4 mentions, link importance 44). Table no. 3. References cited in the selected bibliographical paper Cited reference Citations Link Importance Bryla, 2016 5 71 Reisch et al., 2013 5 40 Aertsens et al., 2009 4 56 Kushwah et al., 2019 4 50 Hansmann et al., 2020 4 44 Azzurra et al., 2019 3 57 Rana and Paul, 2017 3 57 Thogersen et al., 2015 3 57 Tarkiainen and Sundqvist, 2005 3 53 Nuttavuthisit and Thogersen, 2017 3 42 Scalco et al., 2017 3 25 Aleksandrowicz et al., 2016 3 17 Garnett, 2011 3 6 As for the key concepts highlighted in the selected studies (Table no. 4), 607 terms were identified. When entering the threshold of at least 2 references to the key term, the database was limited to 191 items, although Table no. 4 presents only the keywords with at least 5 mentions. Therefore, from the result obtained, it is noted that the term with the most common occurrence is ‘sustainability’ (35 references and a link importance of 203), followed by ‘organic products’ (33 references and a link importance of 236 ), ‘food consumption’ (17 references and a link importance of 169), of ‘consumer behaviour’ (11 references and a link importance of 102), ‘organic/ecologic farming’ (10 references and a link importance of 101) and ‘sustainable food consumption’ (10 references and a link importance of 74). Table no. 4. Key concepts associated with sustainable consumption of organic food Keywords Occurrence frequency Link Importance Sustainability 35 203 Organic/ecological/bio food 33 236 Food consumption 17 169 Consumer behaviour 11 102 Organic/ecological/bio farming 10 101 Sustainable food consumption 10 74 Human behaviour 8 144 Purchase intention 7 33 Sustainable consumption 7 27 People/clients/consumers 6 125 Consumption of organic food 6 42 Foods 6 38 Organic/ecologic/bio 6 38 Willingness to pay 6 24 Organic/ecological/bio foods 5 108 Sustainable Development and Technological Challenges AE Vol. 25 • Special Issue No. 17 • November 2023 1049 3.2. Types of research The application of the ‘sustainable consumption’ filter allowed the identification of 60 scientific articles, and the ‘consumer behaviour’ filter of another 54 works. ‘Sustainable consumption’ can be supported by strategies adopted by subsequent stakeholders, retailers, various organisations responsible for consumer education and/or with the raising of awareness in favour of organic food consumption (Pocol et al., 2023; Sabău et al., 2023), but also by producers interested in generating purchase intention among consumers (Cong Doanh et al., 2021). At the same time, the analysis also aimed at delimiting the specific marketing strategies, undertaken by retailers to support the consumption of organic food. The core element of the sustainable consumption concept is represented by the sustainable consumer behaviour. To grasp the way that researchers explored this theme, we verified the research type employed: quantitative or qualitative. Thus, the studies included in the analysis are both quantitative and qualitative in nature, but the authors’ interest is higher in the quantitative ones. Interestingly, two studies based on multiple methods have been identified, including both a qualitative and a quantitative component (Table no. 5). Table no. 5. Research methods in the selected studies (consumer behaviour) Reference Quantitative research Qualitative research Fernandes and Saraiva, 2022 X Wojciechowska-Solis et al., 2022 X Rizzo et al., 2020 X Perito et al., 2020 X Kamenidou et al., 2020 X Radojević et al., 2021 X Giray et al., 2022 X Brunin et al., 2022 X Leggett, 2020 X Kaur et al., 2023 X Ishaq et al., 2021 X Akter et al., 2023 X Baldi et al., 2021 X Hasan et al., 2023 X Kovacs and Keresztes, 2022 X Kristia et al., 2023 X X Nguyen et al., 2021 X Pulcini et al., 2020 X Brata et al., 2022 X Brumă et al., 2022 X Chekima et al., 2023 X Dorce et al., 2021 X Katzeff et al., 2020 X X Meyer and Simons, 2021 X Rahman and Luomala, 2021 X Tulloch et al., 2021 X Volgger, 2022 X Wielicka-Regulska, 2020 X Yamoah et al., 2022 X Eight of the articles focused on sustainable consumption contextualise the retail field, highlighting, for example, the role of retailers in ensuring consumers’ access to healthy organic food, but also the need to develop a mindset in favour of adopting behaviours aimed at improving and maintaining health (Wielicka-Regulska et al., 2020; De Canio et al., 2021; AE Organic Food Consumption During the COVID-19 Pandemic. 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