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Perception of Natural Cosmetics Among Central European Consumers

Vít Hinčica
Vít Hinčica
, 
Hana Řezanková
Hana Řezanková
, 
Klaudia Macias
Klaudia Macias
 und 
Marie Schulzová
Marie Schulzová
   | 05. Juni 2024
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Online veröffentlicht: 05. Juni 2024
Seitenbereich: 233 - 251
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/ceej-2024-0016
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© 2024 Vít Hinčica et al., published by Sciendo
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Figure 1.

Embedding the questionnaire’s questions in the Nicosia modelSource: Authors’ work
Embedding the questionnaire’s questions in the Nicosia modelSource: Authors’ work

Frequency distributions (in percent) for sociodemographic variables according to the countries (the numbers of respondents in parentheses)

Czechia (230) Slovakia (175) Poland (325)
sex
men 10.4% 12.0% 8.9%
women 89.6% 88.0% 91.1%
age
24 or less 52.2% 37.7% 39.7%
25–44 27.8% 42.9% 45.8%
45 or over 20.0% 19.4% 14.5%
education
basic or secondary 55.2% 68.0% 47.7%
higher or university 44.8% 32.0% 52.3%
status
employed or self-employed 48.7% 58.9% 59.4%
other status 51.3% 41.1% 40.6%

Frequency distributions (in percent) for net income according to the countries

CZK (Czechia) Percent EUR (Slovakia) Percent PLN (Poland) Percent
no income 9.1% no income 16.0% no income 13.5%
less than 10,000 17.0% less than 400 9.7% less than 2,000 11.4%
10,000–20,000 22.2% 400–800 14.9% 2,000–3,500 32.3%
20,001–30,000 19.1% 801–1,200 23.4% 3,501–5,500 16.6%
30,001 or more 19.1% 1,201 or more 25.1% 5,501 or more 10.5%
I don’t want to answer 13.5% I don’t want to answer 10.9% I don’t want to answer 15.7%

The values of Cramér’s V (Slovak respondents; significant dependencies are in bold)

Explanatory variable
Target variable sex age education status residence income shopping frequency
shopping_frequency 0.129 0.161 0.321 0.172 0.027 0.193 ---
higher_quality 0.034 0.152 0.183 0.12 0.172 0.169 0.246
easy_recognition 0.011 0.215 0.139 0.024 0.198 0.312 0.095
assumed_expensiveness 0.025 0.234 0.047 0.272 0.038 0.319 0.163
criterion_of_selection 0.141 0.129 0.084 0.083 0.114 0.172 0.171
reason_for_shopping 0.098 0.238 0.242 0.093 0.130 0.263 0.05
healthy_lifestyle 0.039 0.113 0.205 0.052 0.247 0.098 0.102

The values of Cramér’s V (Polish respondents; significant dependencies are in bold)

Explanatory variable
Target variable sex age education status residence income shopping frequency
shopping_frequency 0.153 0.062 0.128 0.052 0.119 0.185 ---
higher_quality 0.068 0.237 0.098 0.188 0.160 0.146 0.119
easy_recognition 0.105 0.074 0.003 0.096 0.102 0.156 0.090
assumed_expensiveness 0.051 0.073 0.064 0.030 0.144 0.136 0.176
criterion_of_selection 0.192 0.107 0.074 0.101 0.047 0.082 0.164
reason_for_shopping 0.108 0.081 0.029 0.132 0.131 0.161 0.149
healthy_lifestyle 0.068 0.269 0.150 0.178 0.153 0.228 0.019

The values of Cramér’s V, square root of the Goodman and Kruskal tau, square root of the uncertainty coefficient (UC), and maximum of p-values for dependencies of core variables on a country

Target variable Cramér’s V Square root of tau Square root of UC Max p-value
shopping_frequency 0.197 0.197 0.170 < 0.001
higher_quality 0.132 0.134 0.114 0.002
easy_recognition 0.133 0.134 0.118 0.002
assumed_expensiveness 0.130 0.130 0.114 0.002
criterion_of_selection 0.152 0.126 0.152 < 0.001
reason_for_shopping 0.082 0.095 0.089 0.042
healthy_lifestyle 0.102 0.100 0.089 0.022

The values of Cramér’s V (Czech respondents; significant dependencies are in bold)

Explanatory variable
Target variable sex age education status residence income shopping frequency
shopping_frequency 0.185 0.202 0.047 0.132 0.085 0.210 ---
higher_quality 0.001 0.115 0.009 0.009 0.160 0.159 0.263
easy_recognition 0.034 0.040 0.016 0.014 0.053 0.168 0.078
assumed_expensiveness 0.177 0.083 0.027 0.020 0.105 0.136 0.026
criterion_of_selection 0.093 0.130 0.146 0.084 0.139 0.142 0.168
reason_for_shopping 0.098 0.145 0.143 0.033 0.046 0.183 0.078
healthy_lifestyle 0.125 0.050 0.048 0.034 0.034 0.066 0.087

Frequency distributions (in percent) for core variables

Variables and categories Czechia Slovakia Poland
shopping_frequency
often 28.7% 30.3% 48.6%
occasionally 71.3% 69.7% 51.4%
higher_quality
yes 33.5% 47.4% 47.7%
no 7.4% 3.4% 4.0%
it depends on the case 59.1% 49.2% 48.3%
easy_recognition
yes 59.1% 74.9% 70.5%
no 40.9% 25.1% 29.5%
assumed_expensiveness
yes 37.4% 46.3% 30.5%
no 14.3% 4.6% 19.4%
it depends on the case 48.3% 49.1% 50.2%
criterion_of_selection
declared product composition 60.0% 57.7% 70.2%
brand 16.5% 24.6% 7.1%
certification of the product 13.9% 9.1% 15.7%
another 9.6% 8.6% 7.0%
reason_for_shopping
effect on my health 65.7% 58.9% 71.1%
nature protection 21.7% 25.7% 15.4%
another 12.6% 15.4% 13.5%
healthy_lifestyle
yes 74.3% 62.3% 65.5%
no 25.7% 37.7% 34.5%

The core questions used, their abbreviated forms, and possible answers

Question Abbreviated form Answers
How often do you buy natural cosmetic products? shopping_frequency often; occasionally
Do you agree with the statement that natural cosmetics are of higher quality than conventional cosmetics? higher_quality yes; no; it depends on the case
Can you easily distinguish natural cosmetics from conventional ones (e.g., on the basis of packaging)? easy_recognition yes; no
Do you agree with the statement that natural cosmetics are more expensive than conventional cosmetics? assumed_expensiveness yes; no; it depends on the case
Which criterion do you follow most when choosing natural cosmetics? criterion_of_selection

declared product composition; brand; advertisement;

certification of the product; another (indicate)
State the main reason for buying natural cosmetics compared to conventional cosmetics. reason_for_shopping

I think they have a more influential effect on my health; I think I protect nature more;

I believe that I support small and medium-sized enterprises more; another (indicate)
Do you practice a healthy lifestyle? healthy_lifestyle yes; no

Answers to the formulated research questions

Number Wording of the RQ Answer
RQ1 People prefer natural cosmetics over conventional cosmetics primarily due to environmental and health concerns. Yes
RQ2 The sociodemographic profile of the consumers has a significant influence on the perception of the price level of natural cosmetics. No
RQ3 The sociodemographic profile of the consumers has a significant influence on the frequency with which they buy natural cosmetics. Yes
RQ4 The frequency with which people buy natural cosmetics does not depend on health consciousness. Yes
RQ5 Awareness about natural cosmetics does not depend on age. Yes
RQ6 Awareness about natural cosmetics does not depend on the level of education. Yes
RQ7 Consumers associate natural cosmetic products with higher quality. No
RQ8 There is no prevailing decision criterion when consumers choose natural cosmetics. No

Frequency distributions (in percent) for permanent residence according to the countries

Czech region Percent Slovak region Percent Polish region Percent
Prague 19.1% Region of Košice 18.9% Masovian Voivodeship 20.9%
Středočeský Region 53.5% Region of Prešov 43.4% Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship 22.2%
other Czech regions 27.4% other Slovak regions 37.7% other Polish regions 56.9%
eISSN:
2543-6821
Sprache:
Englisch
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