Taste, Quality or Price? Investigating Consumer Patriotism in the Food Market

Consumer patriotism is an important trend, alongside consumer trends such as prioritising health, caring for the environment and animal welfare. For many consumers, it is important to feel a direct linkage to the producer and to support the local economy through their purchase decisions concerning food. The purpose of this article was to deepen the understanding of consumer preferences on the local food market. The article fills a research gap in a thorough understanding of consumers’ local food purchasing decisions which are based on economic considerations. Empirical research was conducted in March and April 2022 using the CAWI method. 1,009 questionnaires were analysed, with respondents from Poland stating that supporting the local economy is the main reason for purchasing local products. Descriptive statistics and the post hoc Dunn test with Kruskal–Wallis variance were used for the analyses. The results show that women are more likely to purchase local products. The purchase of these products is determined by "organoleptic qualities," the "opportunity to contact the producer directly," and "nutritional values." Dairy, bread, eggs, and groats are the most frequently chosen local foods. The vast majority of the surveyed sample is willing to accept a 10–15% premium on local products. Consumers of local products are often very loyal. This creates opportunities for the development of Internet sales. As ethnocentric consumers are more likely to buy regional food directly from the producer, facilitating the development of short supply chains and direct distribution by creating legislation that protects the consumer and the local producer/supplier is recommended.