Social identification, social representations, and consumer innovativeness in an organic food context: A cross-national comparison Jos Bartels * , Machiel J. Reinders 1 Agricultural Economics Research Institute (LEI), Wageningen University and Research Centre, P.O. Box 29703, 2502 LS The Hague, The Netherlands article info Article history: Received 4 August 2008 Received in revised form 12 August 2009 Accepted 24 August 2009 Available online 29 August 2009 Keywords: Social identification Domain-specific innovativeness Organic food consumption Social representation of new foods Cross-national comparison abstract The aim of this study was to compare the role of (1) demographic characteristics, (2) domain-specific innovativeness, (3) social representation of new foods, and (4) social identification on the adoption of new organic food products. Three studies in the United States (N = 1001), the United Kingdom (N = 1010), and Germany (N = 961) show that social identification is an important predictor of organic food consumption aside from domain-specific innovativeness. The influence of social representation components differs between countries, and demographics are less important predictors of organic food consumption behaviour. This study shows that the relationship between an individual and his/her social environment as explained by social identification is at least as important as domain-specific innovative- ness in predicting new product adoption. In addition, comparing the predictive ability of these constructs in a cross-national context brings added value to current knowledge on the adoption of new foods. Impli- cations and directions for future research are described. Ó 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Personal characteristics play an important role in the success or failure of new product introductions (Im, Bayus, & Mason, 2003). In recent decades, several studies have tried to relate certain personal characteristics to product adoption, including demographic charac- teristics (Hirunyawipada & Paswan, 2006; Im, Mason, & Houston, 2007), consumers’ innate innovativeness (Cotte & Wood, 2004; Gielens & Steenkamp, 2007), opinion leadership (Ruvio & Shoham, 2007; Summers, 1971), product involvement (Goldsmith, d’Haute- ville, & Flynn 1998; Wang, Pallister, & Foxall 2006), market mave- nism (Clark & Goldsmith, 2005; Feick & Price, 1987), and susceptibility to interpersonal influence (Steenkamp & Gielens, 2003). Some of these characteristics show clear positive relation- ships with adoption behaviour, while other characteristics show more ambiguous results. For example, although they are incorpo- rated in many studies, consumers’ demographic characteristics have proven to be ambiguous predictors of innovative behaviour (Clark & Goldsmith, 2006; Goldsmith, Clark, & Goldsmith, 2006; Im et al., 2003; Steenkamp & Burgess, 2002). On the other hand, a more consistent predictor of innovative behaviour tends to be the consumer’s willingness to try new products within a specific product category, as conceptualised by domain-specific innova- tiveness. A vast amount of studies have shown that domain-spe- cific innovativeness has an important positive impact on consumers’ innovative adoption behaviour (e.g. Goldsmith, 2001; Goldsmith & Hofacker 1991; Grewal, Mehta, & Kardes, 2000). In addition, the social representation of new food products has recently been identified as an important predictor of new product adoption behaviour in a Finnish context (Bäckström, Pirttilä-Backman, & Tuorila, 2004; Huotilainen, Pirttilä-backman, & Tuorila, 2006; Huotilainen, Seppälä, Pirttilä-Backman, & Tuori- la, 2006; Huotilainen & Tuorila, 2005). According to Stewart and Lacassagne (2005, p. 722), social representations refer to ‘‘what people think or believe they know concerning social objects or situations”. Social representations play an important role in the acceptance of new products because these beliefs enable con- sumers to give meaning to these new products (Huotilainen et al., 2006). Despite the fact that our knowledge on the role of personal characteristics in new product adoption has increased in recent decades, introductions of most new food products fail (e.g. Marti- nez & Briz, 2000; Van Trijp & Steenkamp, 2005). In a recent review article on innovation adoption, Hauser, Tellis, and Griffin (2006) suggest that future research should therefore focus not just on individual’s characteristics but also on the individual’s relationship to social networks. A strong concept to explain the relationship be- tween an individual and his/her social environment is social iden- tification (Tajfel, 1978; Tajfel & Turner, 1979). Although the importance of social identification is currently recognised in an organisational as well as a consumer context, no empirical study has applied this construct within the context of the adoption of new food products. Social identification refers to ‘‘the perception 0950-3293/$ - see front matter Ó 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.foodqual.2009.08.016 * Corresponding author. Tel.: +31 70 335 8237; fax: +31 70 335 8199. E-mail addresses: jos.bartels@wur.nl (J. Bartels), machiel.reinders@wur.nl (M.J. Reinders). 1 Tel.: +31 70 335 8104; fax: +31 70 335 8199. Food Quality and Preference 21 (2010) 347–352 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Food Quality and Preference journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/foodqual