final dissertation msccsrem victor serrano

Sustainable Tea?

A study of consumer awareness and understanding of sustainability

certifications in the tea industry

Dissertation is submitted in part fulfilment of the MSc in Corporate Social

Responsibility and Environmental Management, University of York

Victor Serrano Garcia

Exam Number (Y1447271)

Supervised by Corrado Topi

Environmental Department, University of York

September 15, 2014

Word Count 7,760

DECLARATION

I, Victor Serrano Garcia, declare that the work submitted in this dissertation is

the result of my own work and investigation, and all the sources I have used

have been indicated by means of completed references.

Signed: Victor Serrano Garcia

Date: September 15, 2014

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Sustainable Tea? A study of consumer awareness and

understanding of sustainability certifications in the tea industry

Victor Serrano Garcia

University of York, U.K.

ABSTRACT

Concerns about sustainable development are now higher than ever. The market has been

flooded by national and international organisations whose aim is to promote the sustainable

development of a wide variety of commodities such as coffee, bananas, forests, palm oil or

fish, among many others. In this paper, I explore the main sustainability certifications operating

in the tea industry and how consumers of York (North Yorkshire, U.K.) perceive and

understand them. I also explore to what extent consumers are aware of sustainability issues

affecting the tea industry and whether that level of awareness influences their choices when

they purchase tea. With a series of face-to-face interviews and online questionnaires, I have

developed a general picture of the current state of awareness and knowledge of sustainability

certifications within a very specific segment of the population of the U.K. Findings show a low

level of awareness of sustainability issues affecting the tea industry, with people being more

aware of social than environmental issues. Fairtrade, Soil Association and Rainforest Alliance

are the most meaningful certifications to people; however, a considerable proportion of the

sample have negative feelings towards the current plethora of schemes, feelings such as

confusion, indifference or scepticism. Findings also show that consumers tend to grant less

importance to the price of the tea and more importance to attributes such as fair trade status,

protection of the environment or directly sourced tea as their level of awareness of

sustainability issues increases. Awareness of social, economic and environmental issues

affecting the tea industry needs to increase among consumers of tea so that they can start

including attributes that promote sustainable development when making their purchases.

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1. INTRODUCTION

The field of ethical consumerism has been widely researched, especially with regard to

sustainability certifications. However, not much of it has focused on consumer perception of

those certifications in tea products. In this study I will refer to schemes that try to improve the

social, economic and environmental impacts of products they certify as “sustainability

certifications”. The primary aim of sustainability certifications is the promotion of practices that

enhance the sustainable development around specific commodity industries (Potts et al., 2014).

Due to the wide plethora of schemes available in the market relating to different commodities,

people feel confused and overloaded (Kolk, 2013). With this study, I want to explore how a very

specific sector of the population of York perceive and understand sustainability issues affecting

the tea industry and sustainability certifications available for tea products. I also explore the

primary feelings of consumers with regard to the current plethora of schemes. In the following

section, I revise some of the relevant literature on ethical consumerism of sustainability

certifications. Then I try to set the scene and put the sustainable tea industry into context by

revising some reports written by trustworthy organisations. Then, I explain the methodology I

have used in order to collect the data before I go on to presenting the results. Once the results

have been put on the table, I discuss them against the relevant literature to draw some conclusions

in the final section.

2. LITERATURE REVIEW

Grunert et al. (2014) studied the relationship between consumer motivation, understanding and

use of sustainability certifications of six different products, concluding that that their use is still

very limited in Europe, with the U.K. as one of the countries with constant patterns of high level

of concern, understanding and use of the schemes. Whereas people are concerned about

sustainability issues in food production in general, they have no concerns when it comes to food

products in particular, hence, the understanding of sustainability certifications is related to

people’s awareness of the schemes (Grunert et al., 2014). They conclude that the availability of

sustainability certifications in the market leads to their use only if understood by the public.

However, understanding and motivation do not result in the use of the labels, partially because

of trade-offs consumers encounter when choosing products. This is referred to as an attitude-

behaviour gap, a phenomenon that has been widely researched within the field of ethical

consumerism (Auger and Devinney, 2007; Boulstridge and Carrigan, 2000; Carrington et al.,

2010). Some clear examples of research on attitude-behaviour gap are shown by Carrigan and

Attalla (2001), who state that consumers care about ethics, however their behaviour is not

translated into purchase decisions, hence companies need to find new ways to show to the public

their commitment to behaving ethically in order to gain their acceptance. Papaoikonomou et al.

(2011) studied past behaviour in order to explore the reasons why people did not behave

ethically, concluding that although an attitude-behaviour gap exists, its presence also depends

on the country and type of market where consumers need to make ethical choices.

Some authors have studied consumer perception of Fairtrade products. De Pelsmacker et al.

(2005a) explored consumers’ willingness to pay for Fairtrade coffee in Belgium, looking at the

importance given to Fairtrade in comparison with other attributes. They grouped participants as

Fairtrade lovers, Fairtrade likers, brand lovers and flavour lovers, finding a considerable amount

of people caring about ethics. De Pelsmacker et al. (2005a) state that the quality of Fairtrade

coffee should match that of other regular brands in order to attract the segment of Fairtrade likers

who grant a lot of importance to flavour and quality. Loureiro and Lotade (2005) studied

consumers’ response to ethical labels and their willingness to pay a premium for sustainable

labelled coffee in Colorado (U.S.), finding more willingness to pay extra for shade-grown than

for organic coffee because of the social and environmental benefits attached to each certification.

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Tagbata and Sirieix (2008) studied the importance of Fairtrade and Organic certifications in

purchases of chocolate in France, finding that half of the sample was insensitive to the

certifications. For the remaining half of the sample, the certifications had a positive impact upon

willingness to pay. The authors suggest that there may be a relation between the willingness to

pay for sustainable certified chocolate and the taste of it, arguing that the expected quality did

not match the actual quality, thus suggesting that efforts towards maintaining and improving the

quality of the products are necessary in order to match consumers’ expectations.

Kolk (2013) focused on consumers’ role as final actors when purchasing sustainable certified

products, arguing that they need to make choices in an environment of complexity, confusion

and lack of consensus between sustainability certifications, thus making the process very

difficult. Kolk (2013) states that a small proportion of consumers know about social, economic

or environmental impacts of coffee, but even fewer translate their awareness into purchase

decisions. She also argues that the current overload of sustainability certifications cannot be

digested by consumers, who need to deal with conflicting claims, thus having a negative effect

on their purchase decisions, suggesting that less diversity combined with more clarity about

sustainability certifications is needed in order to make a positive impact upon consumers.

Sirieix et al. (2013) found that consumers experienced a variety of perceptions of sustainability

certifications, attributing that to the lack of criteria set by policy makers on how to use the

schemes. Results show that participants are not very familiar with sustainability certifications,

with the exception of Fairtrade. Whereas scepticism was found towards unfamiliar schemes, a

combination of two familiar certifications was perceived as interesting, thus making the product

more appealing to consumers. They conclude that familiarity, knowledge and trust are key

factors for people to use sustainability certifications.

De Pelsmacker et al. (2005b) highlight the importance of the distribution strategy of sustainable-

certified coffee and of the fact that it should be more widely available. Findings depict social

labels as more popular than environmental ones, with Fairtrade leading the ranking of popularity.

De Pelsmacker et al. (2005b) and Kolk (2013) argue that sustainability certifications should be

empowered by reducing the number of the schemes in the market in order to make them more

credible. Some authors have even considered the development of a standardised certification

integrating the main sustainability impacts on food products (Engels et al., 2010).

With regard to organic certifications, Hoogland et al. (2007) studied consumer understanding of

on-package information, finding that the organic logo was very familiar to consumers, thus

generating positive perceived attributes unseen in other non-organic products used for the study.

Results show that adding a brief description of the organic certification reinforced consumers’

choices, concluding that they do not fully understand the meaning of the certification, because if

they did, the additional on-package description would not have made any difference to them.

Research by Codron et al. (2006) aims at studying how consumers can be approached by the

industry, namely by suppliers of sustainable products, to enable consumers to better understand

sustainability certifications. They argue that consumers only recognise the social and

environmental aspects of certifications and not the different roots on which the ethical

movements are based. The authors state that more cooperation is needed between sustainability

certifications bodies in order to develop a standard criteria to create less confusion amongst

consumers. The Which? 2010 report about consumer perception of food labels in the U.K. made

some recommendations on how to develop clear guidelines to ease sustainable choices. It

concluded that labels need to carry clear messages in order to be understood, that there is a need

to avoid too many different schemes for the same product, but also a need to explore the creation

of one common label uniting different aspects of sustainability while ensuring scientific evidence

and complete independence of the schemes.

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Reasons why consumers avoid the purchase of ethically labelled products have been studied by

Chatzidakis et al. (2007), who looked at neutralisation techniques, defining neutralisation as a

“mechanism that facilitates behaviour that is either norm-violating or in contravention of

expressed attitudes” (p. 89).

Some of these techniques used by consumers refer to the high prices of Fairtrade products, their

inadequate promotion in stores, the involvement and benefit to only a small minority of Third

World producers, or the perceived inferiority of Fairtrade products.

The authors found clear neutralisation techniques among participants when it came to not-buying

Fairtrade products. Other authors found that attributes such as price, flavour or brand were the

most important for people when making decisions, whereas Fairtrade was less important (De

Pelsmacker et al., 2005a; Tagbata and Sirieix, 2008).

Grunert (2011) explores barriers encountered by consumers when purchasing sustainable

certified products, arguing that presenting certifications to the public does not lead to the actual

purchase, that consumers do not fully understand the meaning of certifications, or that consumers

may make wrong inferences leading to disappointed expectations.

Other barriers highlighted are the effect that attributes like price, brand, discounts or promotions

can have upon consumers when they consider trade-offs of the products they purchase, the lack

of awareness and/or credibility of the schemes, or the simple lack of motivation at the time of

choice. Notwithstanding people’s positive attitude towards sustainability certifications, there are

reasons why consumers do not choose them, concluding that manufacturers should work together

to achieve clearly defined sustainability certifications in order to help consumers with their

choices. Moreover, the purchase of sustainable products also depends on the lifestyle of

consumers (Gilg et al., 2005). Some authors also advocate the promotion of negative on-package

sustainability aspects of the product in order to influence consumers as they are faced with

negative versus positive impacts (Borin et al., 2011).

3. THE TEA INDUSTRY AND SUSTAINABILITY

Current understanding of social, economic and environmental conditions in the tea industry is

considered scant and incomplete (van der Wal, 2008). Poverty and low wages are one of the

main problems (Oxfam, 2013). The market for sustainable certified tea is characterized by a

constant oversupply which keeps global prices down, thus representing a threat to producers in

developing countries (Groosman, 2011; Potts et al., 2014; van der Wal, 2008). The main

difference with similar commodities, such as coffee or cocoa, apart from the fact that tea is sold

through auctions, thus not having a global indicator for its price, is that tea is mainly consumed

by producing countries (Groosman, 2011; Potts et al., 2014; van der Wal, 2008). Another main

difference is that tea is mostly produced by large tea estates, with the exception of Kenya and

Sri Lanka, where the majority of production is made by smallholder farms (Fairtrade Foundation,

2013; van der Wal, 2008).

While China is the largest producing country, Kenya is the largest exporter of standard-compliant

tea and the main supplier for the U.K. market (Groosman, 2011). The U.K. accounts for 6% of

the world tea consumption, and together with the Netherlands, they import nearly 60% of the tea

in the European Union (Groosman, 2011). Three multinationals control 60% of the market for

tea in the U.K. (Fairtrade Foundation, 2013). The creation of the Ethical Tea Partnership in 1997

was a pioneering move made by British companies to promote sustainability in the tea industry

(TCC, 2010), placing the U.K. as the leading country in public awareness and corporate response

with regard to sustainability issues in the tea industry, having one third of its market supplied

with certified tea, this mainly due to commitments from large multinationals such as Unilever or

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Tata (TCC, 2010. Fairtrade and Rainforest Alliance are the main sustainability certifications

dominating the market (TCC, 2010).

While developing countries can benefit from sustainable initiatives as they improve the living

standards of producers and tea workers, developed countries can also benefit from them by

guaranteeing the long-term sustainable supply of tea (Groosman, 2011). However, current

initiatives mainly focus on the consumption of tea in Western countries, which is a small fraction

of the global tea consumption (Groosman, 2011; Potts et al., 2014; TCC, 2010). The main

challenge is to reach domestic markets such as China or India (Groosman, 2011; Potts et al.,

2014), as sustainability certifications in the tea industry will remain globally unattractive as long

as those large domestic markets do not promote the production and trade of sustainable tea and

perceive sustainability certifications as a valuable endeavour to pursue (TCC, 2010).

Whereas multinational corporations are normally in charge of the processes of blending and

packing -activities considered as the most lucrative in the process of tea manufacturing

(Groosman, 2011; van der Wal, 2008)- they can play an important role in tackling sustainability

issues within the tea industry of domestic markets such as China or India, not only because they

sell 85% of tea traded worldwide, but also because they are vertically integrated in the sector,

being present in every stage of the supply chain (Fairtrade Foundation, 2013). Nowadays there

is an uneven value distribution in the supply chain of tea (van der Wal, 2008).

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has not played as strongly in the tea industry as it has in

the coffee or banana industries (van der Wal, 2008). Current certification schemes (Fairtrade to

a lesser extent) focus their efforts on improving sustainability in large tea estates relatively easy

to access, leaving out the most vulnerable smallholders, which calls into question the credibility

about their effectiveness in solving critical issues (TCC, 2010). The rapid growth experienced

by Rainforest Alliance or UTZ Certified has put pressure in the certification market, raising

questions about the real impact of the schemes on tea farms (Potts et al., 2014; TCC, 2010). It is

believed that empowering smallholder production is one of the solutions to sustainability

problems in the tea industry (Fairtrade Foundation, 2013), as trading directly with smallholders

increases their chances to get a better price for their crops, thus enabling them to keep and

improve their living standards (Cafédirect, 2013). However, smallholder production also

presents some long-term sustainability challenges (van der Wal, 2008).

4. METHODOLOGY

Questionnaires were used as the main method of data collection, including relevant sustainability

certifications in the tea industry as well as a careful choice of key sustainability issues affecting

the sector.

The selection of sustainability certifications was carefully made. Table 1 briefly describes the

mission and standard bodies of the schemes used in this study. Fairtrade, Rainforest Alliance,

UTZ Certified and Organic were included as they are the main certifications dominating the tea

industry (Jones, 2014; Potts et al., 2014). However, when it comes to Organic schemes, every

country has different certification bodies. Phone calls and emails were used to contact Organic

certification bodies in the U.K. to check whether or not they certify Organic tea. The U.K. has

nine organic certified bodies (as of June 2014) (DEFRA, 2014), most of them having tea among

their products. I included the Soil Association because it is the largest scheme, certifying more

than 70% of all organic products sold in the U.K. (Soil Association, 2014a), with 2800 certified

teas in its data base. To complement the wide variety of organic certifications, I included

Demeter, which certifies products from biodynamic agriculture, first introduced in the late 20’s

(Paull, 2011), and I also included the European Leaf in order to take into consideration the

organic standards at a European level.

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Table 1: Mission and controlling standard bodies of the sustainability certifications used in this

study

Fairtrade

Its mission is to certify products that have been traded ethically and in a more socially

responsible manner, with the aim of eradicating poverty and promoting sustainable

development. Fairtrade International is the organisation responsible for setting the global

standards. The Fairtrade Foundation is the British arm in charge of promoting the market

for Fairtrade products in the U.K., licensing the use of the FAIRTRADE MARK. The

certification system is run by an independent company called Fairtrade Labelling

Organisation International (FLO-CERT), ensuring that all products comply with the

standards to carry the FAIRTRADE MARK.

Sourced from Fairtrade Foundation (2014, 2008)

Soil

Association

It sets strict standards regarding wildlife and the environment, stating what farmers can

and cannot do. The organisation promotes, among other things, crop rotation, the use of

organic matter, non-genetically modified products and minimal use of fertilisers.

Whereas The Soil Association is the body in charge of setting the standards, the Soil

Association Certification is in charge of inspecting and rewarding businesses that meet

those standards.

Sourced from Jones (2014) and Soil Association (2014b)

Rainforest

Alliance

Its mission is to promote sustainable farming through better farm management, using

social, economic and environmental criteria. The Sustainable Agriculture Network

(SAN) is the body in charge of setting the standards met by Rainforest Alliance Certified

farms.

Sourced from Potts et al. (2014) p. 31 and Rainforest Alliance (2014)

UTZ

Certified

Its mission is to promote good agricultural practices, farm management and the protection

of the environment, as well as to promote health and safety conditions in the working

environment. UTZ Certified certifies farms against the UTZ Certified Code of Conduct,

which sets the requirements for farms to become UTZ Certified.

Sourced from Potts et al. (2014) p. 31 and UTZ Certified (2014a, 2014b)

Demeter

Its mission is to support, develop and promote biodynamic farming through a more

holistic and spiritual understanding of nature and human beings. Demeter Certification

Mark is controlled by the Biodynamic Association, which is in charge of setting the

standards. Biodynamic standards are considered equivalent to or higher than organic

standards.

Sourced from Biodynamic Association (2014)

European

Leaf

Its mission is to set the ground for organic standards in the European Union in order to

make progress with regard to organic farming, as well as to make the organic products

easier to identify by consumers. The European Leaf is compulsory in all organic-certified

pre-packed food that has been produced within the European Union. The certification has

been developed by the European Commission and works together with national organic

certification bodies, hence it can only be displayed on products certified by national

organic certification bodies.

Sourced from European Commission (2014)

Consumers from speciality shops1 in York (U.K.) were chosen as the target audience for this

study in order to try to avoid the aforementioned attitude-behaviour gap (Carrigan and Attalla,

2001; Papaoikonomou et al., 2011). I have assumed that people who purchase often from these

establishments are already behaving more ethically than the average consumer, since the range

of products offered often comply with social, economic and environmental certification

standards. Six establishments were selected for this study, all of them selling sustainable certified

1 Organic, wholefood, fair trade or charity shops where sustainable certified tea was sold.

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tea as of July 2014. A short questionnaire with 24 multiple-choice questions was created and

piloted among a few peers in order to make relevant amendments (Bryman and Bell, 2011).

People in charge of the shops were contacted and asked for permission to run the series of face-

to-face questionnaires inside the premises throughout the month of July 2014. Due to the lack of

time and resources, and with the intention of collecting a greater number of responses, an online

copy2 of the questionnaire was created in order to give a chance to those who were willing to

participate but did not have the time to do so when they were physically approached at the shops.

99 paper copies and 45 online copies were collected, adding up to a total of 144. The response

rate of 1:2 for the online copy was exceptional. The questionnaires were then coded into Excel,

and later copied to the 21st version of SPSS. Data analysis was performed with the use of the

SPSS package and Excel. A copy of the questionnaire can be found in Appendix 1.

The key sustainability issues included in the questionnaire were sourced from Potts et al. (2014).

These could be divided into social, economic and environmental issues, as well as into issues

affecting smallholder farms and those affecting large tea estates (TCC, 2010). I selected the list

provided by Potts et al. (2014) because it focuses on sustainability issues of the tea industry in

general, thus making it less confusing to consumers.

5. RESULTS

Table 2: Demographic characteristics of the sample

Characteristic

N

Percentage

Cumulative

percentage

GENDER

Female 91 63.2 63.2

Male 53 36.8 100.0

Total 144

AGE GROUP

15 to 25 25 17.4 17.4

26 to 34 10 6.9 24.3

35 to 44 20 13.9 38.2

45 to 54 26 18.1 56.3

55 to 64 32 22.2 78.5

65 or older 31 21.5 100.0

Total 144

EMPLOYMENT STATUS

Employed 60 45.1 45.1

Self-Employed 20 15.0 60.2

Student 18 13.5 73.7

Retired 35 26.3 100.0

Total 133*

EDUCATION LEVEL

O Level 18 13.7 13.7

A Level 25 19.1 32.8

Bachelor’s Degree 58 44.3 77.1

Master’s Degree 15 11.5 88.5

Doctorate Degree 15 11.5 100.0

Total 131*

*Some of the demographic groups have been removed as the number of

participants was too small to be considered relevant

2 The online questionnaire was created and distributed using Google Forms.

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As Groosman (2011) states, the U.K. is one of the top importing countries of tea in Europe. In

this study, 80% of participants drink tea every day, three quarters of them having two to five

cups. Overall, 70% of the sample visit speciality shops at least once a month, and nearly 30% of

them go very often (five or more times per month). However, as depicted in Table 3, participants

tend to buy tea more often from supermarkets than from speciality shops. Women tend to buy

tea from speciality shops more often than men. Students and 15-25 year olds tend to buy from

supermarkets more often, whereas self-employed people tend to buy more from speciality shops.

We can also observe how the two groups with highest education levels tend to buy tea from

speciality shops more often than from supermarkets.

Table 3: Frequency of purchase of tea

Mean score*

From speciality shops 2.66

From supermarkets 3.21

* Calculated on a scale from 1 (Never) to 5 (Always)

Following previous studies where the importance of aspects such as flavour or brand of the

products was studied (De Pelsmacker et al., 2005a; Tagbata and Sirieix, 2008), I asked

participants to rate a list of attributes in order to explore their preferences when choosing tea. As

Table 4 depicts, the taste or quality of the tea is the most important attribute for people, followed

by whether it is fairly traded, whether the environment is protected, and whether it is organic.

Little importance is given to attributes such as whether it is directly sourced or single origin tea,

or to aesthetics of the package or whether it is blended tea. I can observe no difference by gender,

with the exception that women tend to grant a little more importance than men to fairly traded

and organic tea. We can also appreciate how women tend to be less price sensitive than men, as

for them price is not on the top four attributes by importance, whereas for men it is. As education

levels get higher, so does the importance granted to whether it is organic, while less importance

is granted to price.

Table 4: Attributes to look for when purchasing tea listed by importance

Mean Score* Std. Deviation

1. Taste / Quality 4.41 .770

2. Fairly Traded 3.75 1.194

3. Protection of the Environment 3.58 1.144

4. Organic 3.14 1.319

5. Price 3.02 1.160

6. Brand 3.01 1.363

7. Quantity 2.73 1.176

8. Discounts / Offers 2.62 1.278

9. Directly Sourced Tea 2.33 1.216

10. Single Origin Tea 1.94 1.076

11. Aesthetics 1.93 1.019

12. Blended Tea 1.92 1.017 *Calculated on a scale from 1 (Not Important at all) to 5 (Extremely Important)

Participants had to rank their awareness of the key sustainability issues in the tea industry in

order to create a general picture and analyse whether they know about the existence of these

issues happening in the sector.

As we can see from Table 5, general levels of awareness of key sustainability issues are low.

However, participants tend to be more aware of social issues than environmental ones. Whereas

poverty is at the top of the list, pest management is at the bottom. As the values of the standard

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deviation may distort the mean a little, I computed the variable awareness into three different

groups in order to analyse it graphically and appreciate it more clearly. The Cronbach’s Alpha

test for reliability was performed to all the variables of awareness showing a value of 0.909,

indicating a high degree of internal consistency between them (Pallant, 2010). Awareness levels

of sustainability issues increase as education levels get higher (with the exception of doctorate-

holders).

Notwithstanding the low awareness levels, 74% of people state that they buy certified tea, either

occasionally or very often, whereas the remaining 26% do not look at certifications or simply do

not know whether the tea they buy is certified. However, I cannot confirm that this 74% of the

sample actually buy certified tea as there exist the aforementioned attitude-behaviour gap, when

consumers put their ethical values aside when faced with sustainability certifications.

Women tend to buy certified tea more often than men. Nearly 40% of men do not look at

certifications whey they buy tea, or they do not know whether the tea they buy is certified,

compared to nearly 20% of women. With regard to employment status, retired people are the

segment where a greater proportion of people never buy certified tea or do not look at

certifications when buying tea. Students seem to be the most uncertain, with more than 15% of

them not knowing whether the tea they are buying is certified or not. Also, as education levels

get higher, so does the proportion of people buying certified tea.

Table 5: Self-rating of people’s awareness of key sustainability issues in the tea industry

Mean Score* Std. Deviation

1. Poverty 3.03 1.303

2. Labour Rights 2.66 1.307

3. Workers' Health and Safety 2.64 1.242

4. Deforestation 2.62 1.242

5. Maintenance of Biodiversity 2.22 1.182

6. Soil Erosion 2.14 1.160

7. Water Management 2.09 1.082

8. Pest Management 2.03 1.096 * Calculated on a scale from 1 (Completely Unaware) to 5 (Very Aware)

0

20

40

60

80

100

Poverty Labour Rights Workers'

Health and

Safety

Deforestation Maintenance

of

Biodiversity

Soil Erosion Water

Management

Pest

Management

%

of

peo

ple

Graph 2: People's awareness of key sustainability issues in the tea industry

Very Aware Slightly aware Unaware

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Another part of the questionnaire looked at how meaningful3 sustainability certifications were to

participants, who were presented with the six certifications selected and asked whether or not

they thought they understood the meaning behind the schemes. As presented in Graph 3,

Fairtrade is understood by the great majority of people, followed by the Soil Association, and

then by Rainforest Alliance. Only 10% (or less) of participants were certain about the meaning

of UTZ Certified, Demeter and the European Leaf. The proportion of people who are completely

unaware of certain certifications is surprising, 50% for the European Leaf, more than 70% for

Demeter and more than 80% for UTZ. I expected low levels of familiarity with UTZ because it

is a young scheme and it currently certifies only one tea in the U.K. (UTZ Certified, 2014c).

The European Leaf, despite being around since 2010, can be found in organic-certified tea along

with the Soil Association mark, which is the most widely used scheme in the U.K. Hence, I

expected higher levels of meaningfulness of the European Leaf, and also of Demeter, because of

its nature and promotion in organic shops.

When participants were presented with sustainability certifications and asked which one they

normally choose when purchasing tea, 75% of people went for Fairtrade. Soil Association and

Rainforest Alliance were chosen by 35% of participants and the remaining three were chosen by

a small minority (note that this was a question with multiple responses, so percentages will not

add up to 100%). As Grunert et al. (2014) state, people who do not know or recognise

sustainability certifications do not consider them in the trade-offs when choosing a product. In

this study, the certifications more meaningful to consumers are the ones they normally choose

when purchasing tea. Analysing demographics, we can see how, contrary to Rainforest Alliance,

which gets chosen less by older participants, Demeter gets chosen more as participants get older

(with the exception of the two oldest groups). Also the Soil Association gets chosen more often

as education levels get higher.

3 The scale of meaningfulness was created as follows. “Very meaningful” denotes when participants knew the

certification and its meaning, “fairly meaningful” when they knew the certification but were not sure about what it

meant, “not very meaningful” when they knew the certification but did not know what it meant at all, “not

meaningful at all” when they had never seen the certification.

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Fairtrade Soil

Association

Rainforest

Alliance

Euro Leaf Demeter UTZ

% o

f p

eop

le

Graph 3: Meaningfulness of sustainability certifications

Very meaningful Fairly meaningful Not very meaningful Not meaningful at all

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The questionnaire had one section where I tried to explore what the primary feelings people

experienced when faced with sustainability certifications and needed to make a decision about

purchasing tea. Graph 4 depicts the plethora of feelings people feel more attached to. Whereas a

good proportion of participants have positive feelings towards certifications, being informed,

knowledgeable or confident, there is a considerable amount of them who have negative feelings

such as confusion, scepticism, indifference or a sense of being overwhelmed; 58% of the

responses were positive and 42% negative. This result was surprising. Since half of the

certifications were not understood by participants, I expected a higher number of them to have

more negative feelings towards the plethora of schemes. A plausible explanation I find to this

specific question is that people feel informed, knowledgeable or confident towards certifications

they know, not considering the unknown schemes as a source of confusion or other negative

feelings when purchasing tea. Analysing demographics, the proportion of women who consider

themselves as fully understanding the Soil Association and the European Leaf is greater than that

of men. This relation is expected because those who look for the Soil Association will more

likely come across the European Leaf. Women tend to feel more knowledgeable but at the same

time more sceptical, whereas men tend to feel more indifferent towards the plethora of

sustainability certifications. Students feel most informed, and self-employed and retired people

feel more knowledgeable; however, self-employed people feel the most sceptical of any group.

Finally, retired people feel more indifferent than others. It seems that young generations feel

informed, however this feeling turns to scepticism and confusion in older people, and finally a

mixture of indifference and information is felt amongst the oldest generations.

Sustainable certified tea is considered as being of high quality by 65% of the sample, compared

to only 6% who perceive its quality as inferior to other non-certified brands. Half of the sample

state that less diversity of certifications would make it easier for them to decide which product

to buy. 95% of participants agree with the fact that companies should do more to promote

certified tea.

The report from TCC (2010) clearly separates different sustainability issues from smallholder

farms and tea estates. 82% of the sample stated that information about who produced the tea, in

particular smallholder farms or large tea estates, would make a positive difference, thus

reinforcing their choices. Also, following the study of Hoogland et al. (2007), participants were

asked whether or not it would be useful to have a little extra on-package information about the

main characteristics of the certifications. Nearly 80% of the sample stated that it would be useful

to have that in order to reinforce their choices.

0

10

20

30

40Informed

Knowledgeable / Confident

Confused

Sceptical

Indifferent

Overwhelmed

Graph 4: Primary feelings of participants towards the plethora of sustainability

certifications

% of people

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A combination of two certifications seems to be an interesting option for 55% of the sample.

From the remaining 45%, half think otherwise and the other half feel doubtful about it. This

shows a divided scenario between those who consider a combination of two certifications

interesting and those who think otherwise. Analysing demographics, the older the people get, the

less useful they find a combination of two certifications. The most popular combination among

those who consider it interesting is Fairtrade-Soil Association, with 50% of people choosing it,

followed by Fairtrade-Rainforest Alliance, with 36% choosing it. While the former combination

is commonly seen in many teas among the shops I went to, the latter is not. Self-employed people

and those between 35-44 years old tend to choose Fairtrade-Soil Association as their preferred

combination. Students and people between 15-34 years old prefer the combination Fairtrade-

Rainforest Alliance. There also appears a trend when education levels are analysed. The

combination of Fairtrade-Soil Association becomes more popular as education levels get higher,

contrary to the Fairtrade-Rainforest Alliance combination.

Respondents were asked a number of questions to explore whether they could associate

certifications with the main sustainability issues they cover. Participants had to choose the

schemes they considered best and worst at covering social, economic and environmental issues.

I used the criteria by Potts et al. (2014) to classify the schemes with regard to their main

sustainability coverage (p. 66-78), which can be found in Appendix 2.

30% of participants consider the Soil Association as the best scheme for protecting the

environment, followed by 20% who think of Rainforest Alliance and 20% who think of Fairtrade.

More than 30% do not know. When choosing the worst scheme for protecting the environment,

10% of people think of Fairtrade, while 80% of the sample do not know. Potts et al. (2014) rank

UTZ Certified as the certification covering the least environmental indicators. However, as UTZ

is not meaningful to the sample, people cannot consider it as the worst performer if they do not

know the certification.

Considering social issues such as labour and human rights, employment conditions and health

and safety concerns, 70% of participants think of Fairtrade as the best scheme, whereas the

remaining 30% do not know. On the other hand, more than 80% of people do not know which

certification is the worst at covering social issues. However, for those who do, it seems that

Rainforest Alliance and Soil Association are their choices (although this is a very small

percentage).

Lastly, 70% of participants think of Fairtrade as the best scheme at protecting the economic

rights of workers and producers, such as minimum and living wage, price premiums or contracts

between buyers and sellers. The remaining 30% do not know. On the other hand, 85% of

participants cannot give an answer with regard to the worst scheme, with the remaining 15%

evenly spread between all certifications.

By the answers collected, it seems that people are aware of which certifications work best at

covering the three main sustainability issues according to Potts et al. (2014) (see Appendix 2).

Soil Association and Rainforest Alliance were picked as the best schemes at protecting the

environment. Fairtrade was selected as the best scheme at protecting the economic rights of

producers and workers and at covering social issues. People did not choose Rainforest Alliance

as a good scheme for covering social issues, probably because they relate the certification to

environmental purposes associated to the rainforest, as the name can be a little misleading

(Grunert et al., 2014). However, the vast majority of people do not know which certifications are

worst at covering the main sustainability issues. Therefore, I could argue that consumers, at the

moment, are not able to compare schemes on the basis of which one is best or worst at covering

sustainability issues, and thus they are not able to include this comparison in trade-offs when

purchasing tea.

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Whereas 38% of the sample think that small actions such as the purchase of certified tea can help

to solve sustainability issues in the tea industry, another 38% think otherwise, showing a clearly

divided scenario.

6. EXPLORING RELATIONSHIPS

In order to explore the relationship between certain variables, as they are categorical in nature, I

have used Pearson’s Chi-Square test for independence (Field, 2013; Pallant, 2010). For the test

to be valid, two main assumptions must be met. The first one is that variables have to be

independent from each other, meaning that the choice of one is not influenced by the answer of

the other variable. The second assumption relates to the contingency tables, where the relation

between variables is depicted. As the relation of the variables is calculated by comparing the

values of the actual data with the expected values calculated by the software, the second

assumption for the test to be valid implicates that the expected cell count in the contingency

tables must be greater than 5 (Field, 2013; Pallant, 2010). The results were analysed with the use

of the SPSS package. When tests for independence are run in SPSS, apart from the contingency

tables, the software provides the p-value associated to the relationship, which states whether or

not it is statistically significant. If the p-value is greater than 0.05, the relationship between the

variables is not significant, meaning that the observed count of the actual data is very similar to

the expected count calculated by the program, thus not having a relation of dependency.

However, if the p-value is less than 0.05, it means that there is a relationship of dependency

between the two variables. What the p-value does not tell you is the strength of the relationship.

For this reason, and with the purpose of making a stronger statistical analysis, I have attached

the Cramer’s V value to every significant relationship depicted in this study, which represents

the strength of association between variables, with values close to 0 representing a weak

association, and values close to 1 a perfect association.

The purchase of loose tea is considered more environmentally friendly than the purchase of tea

bags simply because it requires less packaging. Only 10% of participants buy only or mostly

loose tea, compared to the 80% who buy only or mostly tea bags. I would expect those who are

most aware of environmental issues to buy more loose tea. However, even if the Chi-Square test

for independence has a p-value of less than 0.05, it turns out to be invalid, as the main assumption

of expected count greater than 5 is violated, due to the low number of people being very aware

of sustainability issues, a fact that disallows the reach of the minimum number in some of the

cells of the contingency tables. However, we can appreciate a trend showing that as awareness

of environmental issues in the tea industry increases, so does the proportion of people buying

loose tea. When analysing demographics for this question, we can observe how the proportion

of people who purchase loose tea increases as education levels get higher. Further research is

needed in order to explore the impacts of purchasing loose tea upon producers and tea workers,

as one of the most lucrative parts of the manufacturing process is removed.

Certified tea is considered too expensive by 40% of participants, compared to the 10% who

consider the commodity as being not too expensive. The remaining 50% stays neutral when

asked how they feel about the price of tea. However, 70% of the sample states that they are

willing to pay more for certified tea, compared to the 8% who are not. Those who state their

willingness to pay more consider certified tea “not too expensive”, whereas those who state their

unwillingness to pay more have a neutral position when asked if certified tea is too expensive. I

can conclude that those willing to pay more for certified tea may be more likely to consider it

not too expensive. The relation is significant, with a p-value of less than 0.001, but it is not

particularly strong, with a Cramer’s V at 0.275.

An interesting relationship worth looking at is the one between people’s level of awareness of

key sustainability issues in the tea industry and the importance they grant to certain attributes

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Diagram 1: Relationships between awareness of social issues affecting the tea industry and

certain attributes people consider important when purchasing tea

P= 0.005

P= 0.007

P= 0.009

when they purchase tea. The variable “awareness” was originally on a scale from 1 (completely

aware) to 5 (very aware), hence I computed it into 3 different groups, combining 1 and 2 as

“unaware”, 3 as “slightly aware”, and 4 and 5 as “very aware” in order to meet the second

assumption of the Chi-Square test for independence. I did the same with the variable

“importance”, combining 1 and 2 as “not important”, 3 as “slightly important”, and 4 and 5 as

“very important”. This way of computing the variables makes interpretation much easier without

altering the meaning of the variable. Out of all possible relationships, only some of them were

significant, which I have summarised in Diagram 1.

Explanation of the diagram. The column on the left depicts the top three sustainability issues affecting the tea

industry that people are most aware of, with poverty first, labour rights second and workers’ health and safety third,

hence the numbers in brackets. The right column depicts three attributes listed in the questionnaire that people may

consider important when purchasing tea. Whether the tea is fairly traded is the second most important attribute,

protection of the environment is third, and whether the tea is directly sourced is the ninth most important, hence the

numbers in brackets. The arrows represent the significant relationship between people’s awareness of sustainability

issues and the importance they give to the attributes listed. The p-value resulting from the Chi-Square test for

independence is attached to each relationship. An example of how to read this table could be as follows: there is a

significant relationship between people’s awareness of poverty and the importance they give to fairly traded tea and

directly sourced tea; or, there is a significant relationship between awareness levels of labour rights and importance

given to fairly traded tea, directly sourced tea and protection of the environment.

The contingency tables obtained from running Pearson’s Chi-Square test for independence are

the key to study the relationship between the variables. Having analysed them carefully, the

relationships become clear. Appendix 3 includes all the contingency tables on which I have based

my analysis with a brief description on how to interpret them. It is worth noting that despite the

statistical significance of the relationships depicted in the diagram, they are not so strong, with

Cramer’s V values ranging from 0.2 to 0.25.

The importance people give to fairly traded tea is related to their awareness of poverty and labour

rights in the tea industry. Whether tea is fairly traded is an attribute considered as highly

important when purchasing tea regardless of people’s awareness level of poverty and labour

rights. However, as awareness levels of these issues get higher, so does the proportion of people

who consider fairly traded as a very important attribute when purchasing tea.

AWARENESS OF: IMPORTANCE OF:

Poverty (1) Fairly traded tea (2)

Labour rights (2) Protection of the

environment (3)

Directly sourced tea (9) Workers’ health and

safety (3)

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The same happens with the importance granted to protection of the environment, which is related

to people’s awareness of labour rights and workers’ health and safety in the tea industry. As with

whether tea is fairly traded, protection of the environment is considered as highly important

regardless of people’s awareness level of labour rights and workers’ health and safety. However,

as awareness levels of these two issues get higher, so does the proportion of people who consider

the protection of the environment as a very important attribute when purchasing tea.

Lastly, the importance people give to directly sourced tea is related to their awareness of the

three sustainability issues listed in the diagram. As awareness levels of the three sustainability

issues get higher, so does the proportion of those who consider whether tea is directly sourced

as a very important attribute. Contrary to fairly traded tea or protection of the environment,

whether tea is directly sourced is not an attribute considered as very important by the majority

of people, even when their level of awareness of sustainability issues is high. More research is

needed to complement current studies such as the one from Cafédirect (2013) in order to explore

how consumers can make a difference when looking at attributes such as whether the product is

directly sourced in order to make their purchases of tea (or other products) more sustainable.

Table 4 presented a ranking of the attributes people considered important when purchasing tea.

As participants tend to be more aware of social issues than environmental ones, I wanted to

explore whether the attributes people considered important change as they become more aware

of social issues. We can see this relationship depicted in Table 6, where I have only included the

top four attributes by importance for each level of awareness. We can see how, regardless of

people’s awareness of social issues in the tea industry, the three most important attributes when

purchasing tea are taste and quality, whether it is fairly traded and protection of the environment.

Whereas price comes fourth in importance among those unaware of social issues in the tea

industry, whether the tea is organic comes fourth for those who are very aware. I can conclude

that those who are unaware of social issues affecting the tea industry may be more likely to be

price sensitive than those who are very aware, thus including price in the trade-off when

purchasing tea.

Table 6: Top four attributes by importance when purchasing tea separated by participants’

level of awareness of social issues in the tea industry

People unaware of poverty

Mean

score*

People unaware of labour

rights

Mean

score

People unaware of workers'

health and safety

Mean

score

Importance of Taste/Quality 4.51 Importance of Taste/Quality 4.42 Importance of Taste/Quality 4.42

Importance of Environment 3.45 Importance of Fair Trade 3.37 Importance of Fair Trade 3.37

Importance of Fair Trade 3.38 Importance of Environment 3.31 Importance of Environment 3.31

Importance of Price 3.08 Importance of Price 3.10 Importance of Price 3.10

People slightly aware of

poverty

Mean

score


labour rights

Mean

score


worker's health and safety

Mean

score


Importance of Fair Trade 3.45 Importance of Fair Trade 4.04 Importance of Fair Trade 4.04

Importance of Environment 3.33 Importance of Environment 3.87 .Importance of Environment 3.87

Importance of Brand 3.17 Importance of Organic 3.23 Importance of Organic 3.23

People very aware of

poverty

Mean

score


labour rights

Mean

score


workers' health and safety

Mean

score


Importance of Fair Trade 4.22 Importance of Fair Trade 4.19 Importance of Fair Trade 4.19

Importance of Environment 3.80 Importance of Environment 3.81 Importance of Environment 3.81

Importance of Organic 3.52 Importance of Organic 3.51 Importance of Organic 3.51

* Calculated on a 5 point scale, where 1 is “not important at all” and 5 is “extremely important”

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A significant relationship is observed among those who consider taste and quality as a very

important attribute when purchasing tea and those who think that the quality of certified tea is

inferior to that of other non-certified brands. Those considering taste and quality as a very

important attribute would be more likely to perceive certified tea as of high quality. This has a

p-value of less than .001, but it is not very strong, having a Cramer’s V of 0.293.

Whereas participants who have negative feelings towards sustainability certifications tend to

agree with the statement “I feel uninformed about tea certifications”, those who have positive

feelings towards the schemes tend to be divided between agreeing and disagreeing. As the

question about how people feel towards the plethora of schemes is a multiple of multiple

response, the relationship between them cannot be tested for significance using the Chi-Square

test for independence.

7. DISCUSSION

Findings from De Pelsmacker et al. (2005a) and Tagbata and Sirieix (2008) show how consumers

attach a lot of importance to attributes such as flavour, brand or price when choosing sustainable

certified coffee and chocolate. Whereas participants from my study consider the taste and quality

of the tea as very important, they do not seem to consider attributes such as price or brand to be

as important as participants from the other two studies.

Contrary to research by De Pelsmacker et al. (2005a) and Tagbata and Sirieix (2008), where

participants perceive the quality of certified coffee and chocolate as inferior to other non-certified

brands, thus suggesting the need to improve it, my study shows that 65% of respondents perceive

certified tea as being of high quality.

50% of participants state that less diversity of certifications would make it easier for them to

decide which product to buy. In addition, nearly half of the sample have negative feelings

towards the plethora of sustainability certifications available in the market. These findings

support research by Kolk (2013) and De Pelsmacker et al. (2005b), who state that the current

amount of sustainable schemes cannot be digested by consumers, thus less diversity and more

clarity when it comes to certifications is needed in order to make a positive impact upon

consumers.

Although people’s awareness of sustainability issues in general was not a part of the study,

results from this research show consistency with those from Grunert et al. (2014), revealing that

awareness of sustainability issues of specific food products, tea in this case, is very limited.

De Pelsmacker et al. (2005b) state that the distribution of sustainable certified coffee has to be

more widely available. 95% of respondents from my study think that companies should do more

to promote certified tea. Therefore, the role played by supermarkets to promote and distribute

sustainable certified tea is crucial, as participants of this research purchase tea from them more

often than from speciality shops.

Results from this study are in accordance to those from Which? (2010), where consumers show

high levels of awareness of sustainability certifications such as Fairtrade, followed by the Soil

Association and Rainforest Alliance. However, research has shown that consumers can make

wrong inferences about sustainability certifications when choosing a product, thus being misled

by the perception they have of the schemes (Chatzidakis et al., 2007). For this study, I created a

picture of the general opinion of participants when they were asked how meaningful certain

certifications were to them. However, I cannot conclude that they actually know the real meaning

of the schemes. Further research is needed to compare the perceptions consumers have of

sustainability certifications with regard to the objective values of particular schemes at protecting

the environment or at addressing social responsibilities.

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Although demographic analysis was carried out for this study, it cannot be considered as

conclusive, as the size of the groups when the sample was analysed separately became very

small. Further research with a larger number of respondents is needed in order to make the

demographic analysis stronger.

Although research has been conducted to explore the reasons why people avoid buying

sustainable certified products (Chatzidakis et al., 2007; Grunert, 2011), it was not the focus of

this study, therefore further research is needed in order to explore why people do not choose to

buy sustainable certified tea.

The number of speciality shops chosen, combined with the lack of resources and time constrains

during the research period, and the fact that some of the shops did not have physical data of

consumer flows, has made the task of studying the representativeness of the sample extremely

difficult. Hence, this sample does not claim to be representative of the population, therefore I am

not able to generalise the results.

8. CONCLUSION

This study sheds some light on a very specific segment of sustainable tea consumption in York

(U.K.), revealing that consumers belonging to this market segment are not very aware of

sustainability issues in the tea industry.

Notwithstanding the positive feelings people have towards certifications, feelings such as

confusion, indifference or scepticism are strongly present. Nearly half of the sample feels

uninformed about sustainability certifications. Those who have negative feelings towards the

schemes tend to feel uninformed about them, however I cannot conclude that those who have

positive feelings either feel or are adequately informed by the plethora of certifications. Nearly

one in five people do not select any of the sustainability certifications when purchasing tea.

People consider sustainable certified tea to be high in quality. Experimental research is needed

in order to gain accurate information on what makes people think that way for tea, and not for

other commodities such as coffee or chocolate (De Pelsmacker et al., 2005a; Tagbata and Sirieix,

2008). The importance people give to certain attributes is likely to be conditioned by their

awareness of sustainability issues affecting the tea industry, especially social issues. For

instance, price becomes less important as people`s awareness of social issues affecting the tea

industry increases. On the other hand, the higher the level of awareness, the more likely people

will be to consider whether the product is fairly traded, protection of the environment or whether

the product is directly sourced as very important attributes when purchasing tea. However, these

relations are not very strong, showing low Cramer’s V values. More research is needed in order

to explore this relationship, as awareness of sustainability issues does not translate very often

into purchase behaviour.

Those who consider certified tea as not too expensive tend to be more willing to pay extra for it,

however I cannot conclude that people will actually do so, due to the existence of an attitude-

behaviour gap when it comes to the purchase of ethically labelled products, as shown in previous

studies. Further research is needed to explore this gap among tea consumers.

Concluding comments about the demographic analysis reveal that women tend to pay more

attention to sustainability certifications when buying tea. Men tend to be more price sensitive

than women, i.e., price is more important for them when choosing tea. People with low education

levels are likely to be more price sensitive, as well, placing price as one of the uppermost four

important attributes when buying tea.

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The promotion of environmental protection, fairly traded tea, or other main sustainability issues

is heavily campaigned by certifications bodies nowadays. In order to make consumers consider

sustainable attributes when purchasing tea, efforts towards increasing their awareness of

sustainability issues affecting the tea industry must be pursued, as current awareness levels are

low. However, further research is needed to complement current studies that suggest additional

aspects to take into consideration in order to purchase tea in a more sustainable way, such as the

choice of loose tea over tea bags or the purchase of directly sourced tea, as these aspects are

believed to have a positive impact upon the first layers of the supply chain.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

These few words are to thank everyone who helped me conduct this research. From my family

and girlfriend with their constant support, to my supervisor Corrado, who has been very

supportive and helpful even through difficult times, to Chris Mellor and his statistical advice, to

finally everybody in charge of the shops who allowed me in and supported this project, especially

Steve Heyman and his wonderful team of Alligators who made me feel like home. Thank you.

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certification. Available at: http://www.utzcertified-

trainingcenter.com/home/images/stories/library_files/EN_UTZ_Core_Code_for_Group_Certifi

cation_2014.pdf (accessed June 9, 2014)

UTZ Certified, 2014b. What is UTZ Certified [Online]. UTZ Certified. Available at:

https://www.utzcertified.org/aboututzcertified (accessed September 2, 2014)

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UTZ Certified, 2014c. Tea Products - United Kingdom [Online]. UTZ Certified. Available at:

https://www.utzcertified.org/index.php?option=com_brandsdetails&task=filter&country=Unite

d%20Kingdom&product=3 (accessed June 5, 2014).

Van der Wal, S., 2008. Sustainability Issues in the Tea Sector: A Comparative Analysis of Six

Leading Producing Countries (SSRN Scholarly Paper No. ID 1660434). Social Science Research

Network, Rochester, NY. 7-11. Available at: http://papers.ssrn.com/abstract=1660434 (accessed

August 19, 2014).

Which?, 2010. Making sustainable food choices easier - A consumer focused approach to

labelling. Available at: http://www.staticwhich.co.uk/documents/pdf/making-sustainable-food-

choices-easier-which-report-231317.pdf (accessed June 4, 2014).

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APPENDIX 1: QUESTIONNAIRE USED FOR COLLECTING DATA

Consumers’ awareness of sustainable tea certifications survey: 2013/2014

Dear consumer,

My name is Victor Serrano, MSc student of Corporate Social Responsibility at the University of York. I am working on a research study about sustainable certifications for tea in the UK, especially in York. Sustainable tea certifications are schemes that can be voluntarily adopted to improve social, economic and environmental issues along the supply chain in the tea industry. The aim of the study is to understand the awareness of sustainable certifications among tea consumers. The outcome of this questionnaire will be used to complete my research study, which I will use to write my MSc. dissertation. This questionnaire should last between 5 and 10 minutes and all the information will remain completely anonymous. You can opt out at any time during the survey. Once completed, the study can be found at York University JB Morrell Library for the use of anybody interested in the topic. Feel free to give your opinion and comment at the end of the questionnaire, as your feedback will reinforce the research project.

Are you happy for me to use the answers of this questionnaire to produce a

study? Yes____ No____

Question 1 - How do you define your gender?

a) Male

b) Female

c) I would prefer not to say

Question 2 – What is your age group?

a) Under 15 years old

b) 15 – 25 years old

c) 26 – 34 years old

d) 35 – 44 years old

e) 45 – 54 years old

f) 55 – 64 years old

g) 65 years or older

h) I would prefer not to say

Victor Serrano, MSc in Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management Environment Department, University of York, 07428890582 or [email protected]

Location:

Date:

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Question 3 – What is your current employment status?

a) Employed b) Self-employed c) Unemployed d) Housewife/househusband e) Student f) Retired g) Other (please state) ______________ h) I would prefer not to say

Question 4 - What is the highest level of education you have completed?

a) O Level/CSE/GCSE b) A Level c) Foundation Degree d) Bachelor's degree e) Master's degree f) Doctorate degree g) Other (please state) ______________ h) I would prefer not to say

Question 5 - How often do you drink tea?

a) Less than one cup per day

b) One cup per day

c) 2 – 5 cups per day

d) More than 5 cups per day

e) I don’t drink tea

Question 6 – How many times per month do you go to speciality/organic/wholefood shops?

a) Number of times: ______

b) Less than once per month

c) I don’t know

d) I don’t go to speciality/organic/wholefood shops

Question 7 – On a scale from 1 to 5, where 1 is never and 5 is always, how often do you, or someone

from your household, buy tea from speciality shops and/or from supermarkets?

1 – Never 2 3 4 5 - Always

Speciality/wholefood stores

Supermarkets

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Question 8 - What kind of tea do you normally drink?

a) Black

b) Green

c) Herbal/Fruity

d) Caffeine free

e) Oolong

f) White

g) Other (please state)__________________

Question 9 - What kind of tea do you normally buy to drink at home?

a) Only loose leaves

b) Mostly loose leaves but sometimes tea bags

c) Same proportion of loose leaves and tea bags

d) Mostly bags but sometimes loose leaves

e) Only tea bags

Question 10 – The tea industry, as any other, has its own sustainability issues. Could you please tell me how aware are you of those issues on a scale from 1 to 5, where 1 is completely unaware and 5 is very aware?

1 2 3 4 5

Workers’ health and safety in tea plantations

Labour rights

Poverty

Pest management

Water management

Soil erosion (due to monoculture plantations)

Deforestation (in order to plant tea)

Maintenance of biodiversity

Question 11 – On a scale from 1 to 5, where 1 is never and 5 is always, how often do you buy certified

tea? Use the images of the logos provided as a guide.

a) Number out of 5:________

b) I don’t know

c) I don’t look at certifications when I buy tea

Question 12 - Which of the following certifications (if any) do you normally choose when it comes to

buying tea? You can choose more than one. If the name of the certifications does not sound familiar to

you, use the provided laminated copy of the logos as a guide.

a) Fairtrade

b) Organic - Soil Association

c) Organic – Euro-leaf

d) Rainforest Alliance

e) UTZ Certified

f) Biodynamic – Demeter

g) Others (please state) ___________________

h) None of them

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Question 13 – When these certifications are used on tea, how meaningful are they to you personally? [NB. By meaningful, I mean whether they are easy to understand, they make sense to you, or you know what message they are trying to convey] See Figure 1 at the end of the questionnaire for enlarged pictures of the certifications.

1- Not meaningful I have never seen it and I don’t know

its meaning

2- Not very meaningful

I have seen it but I don’t know its

meaning

3- Fairly meaningful I have seen it and I

could guess its meaning

4- Very meaningful

I have seen it and I am sure of its

meaning

Question 14 - Indicate the importance you attach to each the following attributes when you purchase

tea, on a scale from 1 to 5, where 1 is not important at all and 5 extremely important.

1 2 3 4 5

Brand

Price

Discounts/Special Offers

Taste/Quality

Protection of the environment

Fairly traded

Organic

Look of the package (Aesthetics)

Quantity/Size of the package

Directly sourced tea

Single origin tea

Blended tea

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Question 15 – On a scale from 1 to 5, where 1 is never and 5 is always, how often do you buy tea from

non-certified brands?

a) Number out of 5:________

b) I don’t know if the tea I buy is certified because I don’t look at certifications when I buy tea

Question 16 - Would it make any difference to you if there was on-package information about who

produced the tea, in particular, smallholder farms or large tea estates?

a) Positive difference (reinforce your choice)

b) Negative difference (make you more confused)

c) No difference

Question 17 - Do you think it would be useful to have a little extra on-package information on tea

products about the main characteristics of the certifications?

a) Yes

b) No

c) I don’t know

Question 18 - What are your feelings when you are faced with sustainable tea certifications and need to make a decision about purchasing tea? You can choose more than one.

a) Informed

b) Knowledgeable/Confident

c) Confused

d) Sceptical

e) Indifferent

f) Overwhelmed

g) Other (please state it) ______________

Question 19 – In your opinion, from the certifications you know, which one works best/worst at

protecting the environment? Choose two. One for best, another for worst, or the “I don’t know” answer.

Fairtrade Euro Leaf Soil Association

Rainforest Alliance

UTZ Certified

Demeter I don’t know

Best with the Environment

Worst with the Environment


covering social issues such as labour and human rights, employment conditions, health and safety, and

the like? Choose two. One for best, another for worst, or the “I don’t know” answer.


Rainforest Alliance

UTZ Certified


Best at Social issues

Worst at Social issues


protecting producers’ economic rights such as minimum and living wage, price premiums, contracts

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between buyers and sellers, and the like? Choose two. One for best, another for worst, or the “I don’t

know” answer.


Rainforest Alliance

UTZ Certified


Best at Economic issues

Worst at Economic issues

Question 22 - Would a combination of two certifications make the product more interesting for you?

a) Yes

b) No

c) I don’t know

Question 23 - If yes, which combination of two certifications would be most useful for you? If you

answered no in the previous question, leave this question blank.

A

B C

D E F

G H I J

K L M N O

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Question 24 - Could you indicate your position on the following statements?

Strongly disagree

Disagree Neutral (neither agree nor disagree)

Agree Strongly Agree

Certified tea is too expensive

I feel uninformed about tea certifications

People who care and buy certified tea are a minority and are not going to overcome

the sustainability problems in the tea industry

Companies should do more to promote certified tea

I perceive the quality of certified tea to be inferior to that of other non-certified

brands

Less diversity of certifications would make it easier for me to decide which

product to buy

The Organic European logo gives me confidence because it comes from the

European Union

Certified tea companies should work to improve the taste of their teas so that

they can attract more consumers

I am willing to pay more for certified tea

Would you like to add any comment with regard to sustainable certifications that has not been

addressed in the questionnaire that you consider important?

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Figure 1: Sustainable certifications enlarged

ORGANIC - SOIL ASSOCIATION ORGAINC – EURO-LEAF

FAIRTRADE UTZ CERTIFIED

BIODYNAMIC AGRICULTURE - DEMETER

RAINFOREST ALLIANCE

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APPENDIX 2: INDICATORS USED TO BENCHMARK THE MAIN SUSTAINABLE

CERTIFICATIONS IN THE TEA INDUSTRY

Potts et al. (2014) established a set of indicators including the “most pressing issues related to

supply chain sustainability across commodities, production systems and production regions” (p.

67). I have listed them below and created Graph 2.1 in order to graphically represent to what

extent the four main sustainable certifications in the tea industry cover these range of social,

economic and environmental indicators.

Table 2.1: Social indicators for benchmarking of sustainable certifications

Criteria

dimension

Index category Indicators

Social

Human rights 1. Education

2. Medical care

3. Housing

Labour rights 4. Equal remuneration

5. Freedom of association

6. Collective bargaining

7. Non-discrimination

8. Worst forms of child labour

9. Minimum wage

Gender 10. Gender in governance

11. Women’s labour rights

12. Women’s health and safety

Health and safety 13. Safety at work

14. Healthy work conditions

15. Access to safe drinking water at work

16. Access to sanitary facilities at work

17. Access to medical assistance at work

18. Access to training

Employment conditions 19. Treatment of contract workers

20. Transparency of employment practices

21. Written contracts for employees

22. Timely payment of wages

23. Maximum number of working hours

Employment benefits 24. Paid leave (sick/maternity and/or paternity)

25. Pension and security benefits

Community

involvement

26. Community consultation

27. Local hiring

Humane treatment of

animals

28. Humane treatment of animals

Sourced from Potts et al. (2014) p. 66-78

Table 2.2: Economic indicators for the benchmarking of sustainable certifications

Criteria

dimension


Economic

Economic

1. Minimum wage

2. Living wage

3. Premiums

4. Written contracts between buyers and sellers

5. Product quality requirements


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Table 2.3: Environmental indicators for the benchmarking of sustainable certifications

Criteria

dimension


Environmental

Soil 1. Soil conservation (erosion prevention)

2. Soil quality maintenance

Waste 3. Waste disposal

4. Waste management

5. Pollution

Synthetic inputs 6. Integrated pest management

7. Enforcement of a prohibited list

8. Complete prohibition of synthetics

Water 9. Water practices in scarcity (dependencies)

10. Water use in management plan

11. Water reduction criteria

12. Wastewater disposal

GMO prohibition 13. Prohibition of genetically modified organisms

Biodiversity 14. Habitat set-asides

15. Flora densities/diversity

16. Prohibition of conversion of high conservation

value land

Energy 17. Energy-use and management

18. Energy reduction

Greenhouse gas 19. Greenhouse gas accounting

20. Greenhouse gas reductions

21. Soil carbon sequestration


Adapted from Potts et al. (2014) p. 360

0

20

40

60

80

100

Social coverage Environmental coverage Economic coverage

Aver

age

% o

f co

ver

age

Graph 2.1 Social, environmental and economic coverage separated by

schemes

Fairtrade Rainforest Alliance IFOAM / Organic UTZ Certified

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APPENDIX 3: CONTINGENCY TABLES OF SIGNIFICANT RELATIONSHIPS

BETWEEN AWARENESS OF SOCIAL ISSUES AND CERTAIN ATTRIBUTES

PEOPLE CONSIDER IMPORTANT WHEN PURCHASING TEA

These tables show the relationship of the variables in the columns with the variables in the rows.

The statistical significance and Cramer’s V values are also attached to every relationship. To

give a clear example, the number I looked at in Table 3.1 in order to guide my analysis is “%

within Awareness of Poverty”, which gives you the proportion of people within the three

different levels of awareness separated by how important they consider the attribute of fairly

traded tea. An example of how to read the table is: looking at the highlighted numbers, we can

see how 20.8% of those who are unaware of poverty consider fairly traded tea as not important,

compared to the 47.2% of people who consider it very important. We can see how as the level

of awareness gets higher, so does the percentage of people who consider fairly traded as a very

important attribute, going from 47% to 78% within each level of awareness. Also, as the

awareness levels get higher, the proportion of people who consider fairly traded tea as

unimportant decreases from 20.8% to 8.3%.

Table 3.1: Contingency table relating people’s awareness of poverty in the tea industry and

the importance they give to fairly traded tea.

χ2=0.005 Cramer’s V=0.227

Importance of Fairly Traded tea

Total

Not

important

Slightly

important

Very

important

Awareness

of Poverty

Unaware

Count 11 17 25 53

Expected Count 9.0 11.2 32.8 53.0

% within Awareness of Poverty 20.8% 32.1% 47.2% 100.0%

% within Fairly Traded 45.8% 56.7% 28.4% 37.3%

% of Total 7.7% 12.0% 17.6% 37.3%

Slightly

aware

Count 8 5 16 29

Expected Count 4.9 6.1 18.0 29.0



% of Total 5.6% 3.5% 11.3% 20.4%

Very aware

Count 5 8 47 60

Expected Count 10.1 12.7 37.2 60.0



% of Total 3.5% 5.6% 33.1% 42.3%

Total

Count 24 30 88 142

Expected Count 24.0 30.0 88.0 142.0



% of Total 16.9% 21.1% 62.0% 100.0%

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Table 3.2: Contingency table relating people’s awareness of poverty in the tea industry and

the importance they give to directly sourced tea

χ2=0.021 Cramer’s V=0.202

Importance to Directly Sourced Tea

Total Not

important

Slightly

important

Very important

Awareness of

Poverty

Unaware

Count 38 10 4 52

Expected Count 28.8 14.0 9.2 52.0


% within Directly Sourced 48.7% 26.3% 16.0% 36.9%

% of Total 27.0% 7.1% 2.8% 36.9%

Slightly aware

Count 13 10 6 29




% of Total 9.2% 7.1% 4.3% 20.6%

Very aware

Count 27 18 15 60

Expected Count 33.2 16.2 10.6 60.0



% of Total 19.1% 12.8% 10.6% 42.6%

Total

Count 78 38 25 141

Expected Count 78.0 38.0 25.0 141.0 % within Awareness of Poverty 55.3% 27.0% 17.7% 100.0%


% of Total 55.3% 27.0% 17.7% 100.0%

In table 3.2 we can see who as level of awareness increases, so does the proportion of people

who consider directly sourced tea very important from 7.7% to 25%, and the proportion of those

who consider it as not important decreases from 73.1% to 45%.

Table 3.3: Contingency table relating people’s awareness of labour rights in the tea industry

and the importance they give to directly sourced tea

χ2=0.015 Cramer’s V=0.209

Importance to Fairly Traded

Total

Not important

Slightly

important

Very

important

Awareness of

Labour Rights

Unaware

Count 19 17 35 71

Expected Count 12.0 15.0 44.0 71.0

% within Awareness of Labour Rights 26.8% 23.9% 49.3% 100.0%


% of Total 13.4% 12.0% 24.6% 50.0%

Slightly aware

Count 2 5 21 28




% of Total 1.4% 3.5% 14.8% 19.7%

Very aware

Count 3 8 32 43




% of Total 2.1% 5.6% 22.5% 30.3%

Total

Count 24 30 88 142

Expected Count 24.0 30.0 88.0 142.0



% of Total 16.9% 21.1% 62.0% 100.0%

Table 3.3 shows how as level of awareness of labour rights increases, the proportion of people

who consider fairly traded tea as very important increases from 49.3% to 75.4%, and the

proportion of those who consider fairly traded tea decreases from 26.8% to 7%.

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Table 3.4: Contingency table relating people’s awareness of labour rights in the tea industry

and the importance they give to the protection of the environment

χ2=0.007 Cramer’s V=0.222

Importance to Protection of the

Environment

Total Not

important

Slightly

important

Very

important

Awareness of

Labour Rights

Unaware

Count 21 18 32 71

Expected Count 12.8 18.7 39.4 71.0


% within Protection of the Environment 80.8% 47.4% 40.0% 49.3%

% of Total 14.6% 12.5% 22.2% 49.3%

Slightly aware

Count 1 10 19 30




% of Total 0.7% 6.9% 13.2% 20.8%

Very aware

Count 4 10 29 43

Expected Count 7.8 11.3 23.9 43.0



% of Total 2.8% 6.9% 20.1% 29.9%

Total

Count 26 38 80 144 Expected Count 26.0 38.0 80.0 144.0


% within Protection of the Environment 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% % of Total 18.1% 26.4% 55.6% 100.0%

Table 3.4 shows how as awareness levels of labour rights increases, the proportion of people

who consider the protection of the environment very important increases from 45.1% to 63.3%,

and the proportion of those who consider it not important decreases from 29.6% to 9.3%.

Table 3.5: Contingency table relating awareness levels of labour rights in the tea industry

and the importance people give to directly sourced tea

χ2=0.002 Cramer’s V=0.244


Total

Not

important

Slightly

important

Very

important

Awareness of

Labour

Rights

Unaware

Count 49 13 6 68

Expected Count 37.6 18.3 12.1 68.0


% within Directly sourced 62.8% 34.2% 24.0% 48.2%

% of Total 34.8% 9.2% 4.3% 48.2%

Slightly aware

Count 13 11 6 30




% of Total 9.2% 7.8% 4.3% 21.3%

Very aware

Count 16 14 13 43

Expected Count 23.8 11.6 7.6 43.0



% of Total 11.3% 9.9% 9.2% 30.5%

Total

Count 78 38 25 141

Expected Count 78.0 38.0 25.0 141.0



% of Total 55.3% 27.0% 17.7% 100.0%

Table 3.5 shows how as awareness level of labour right increases, the proportion of people who

consider directly sourced tea as very important increases from 8.8% to 30.2%, and the proportion

of those who consider it unimportant decreases from 72.1% to 37.2%.

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Table 3.6: Contingency table relating people’s awareness of workers’ health and safety in the

tea industry and the importance they give to the protection of the environment

χ2=0.019 Cramer’s V=0.206

Importance to Protection of the

Environment

Total Not

important

Slightly

important

Very

important

Awareness of

Workers'

Health and

Safety

Unaware

Count 20 17 33 70

Expected Count 12.5 19.0 38.5 70.0

% within Awareness of Workers' Health and Safety 28.6% 24.3% 47.1% 100.0%


% of Total 14.3% 12.1% 23.6% 50.0%

Slightly

aware

Count 1 11 21 33




% of Total 0.7% 7.9% 15.0% 23.6%

Very aware

Count 4 10 23 37

Expected Count 6.6 10.0 20.4 37.0



% of Total 2.9% 7.1% 16.4% 26.4%

Total

Count 25 38 77 140 Expected Count 25.0 38.0 77.0 140.0


% within Protection of the Environment 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% % of Total 17.9% 27.1% 55.0% 100.0%

Table 3.6 shows how as awareness level of workers’ health and safety increases, the proportion

of people who consider the protection of the environment as very important increases from

47.1% to 62.2%, and the proportion of those who consider it unimportant decreases from 28.6%

to 10.8%.

Table 3.7: Contingency table relating people’s awareness of workers’ health and safety in the

tea industry and the importance they give to the protection of the environment.

χ2=0.009 Cramer’s V=0.222


Total Not

important

Slightly

important

Very

important

Awareness of

Workers'

Health and

Safety

Unaware

Count 48 13 6 67

Expected Count 37.7 17.6 11.7 67.0


% within Importance to Directly Sourced 62.3% 36.1% 25.0% 48.9%

% of Total 35.0% 9.5% 4.4% 48.9%

Slightly aware

Count 14 11 8 33




% of Total 10.2% 8.0% 5.8% 24.1%

Very aware

Count 15 12 10 37




% of Total 10.9% 8.8% 7.3% 27.0%

Total

Count 77 36 24 137

Expected Count 77.0 36.0 24.0 137.0

% within Awareness of Workers' Health and Safety 56.2% 26.3% 17.5% 100.0% % within Importance to Directly Sourced 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0%

% of Total 56.2% 26.3% 17.5% 100.0%

Table 3.7 shows how as awareness level of workers’ health and safety increases, the proportion

of those who consider directly sourced tea as very important increases from 9% to 27%, and the

proportion of those who consider it unimportant decreases from 71.6% to 40.5%.

final dissertation msccsrem victor serrano

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