Doktora Tezi - Tarımsal Ekonomik Araştırma Enstitüsü

ABSTRACTTHE ANALYSIS OF THE FACTORS AFFECTINGCONSUMER BEHAVIOUR IN THE FOOD OIL INDUSTRYThe health risk associated with food oil consumption has emerged as one of the hot issues in theliterature since 1960’s. This study investigates the factors affecting food oil choice using analytichierarchy process and multivariate analysis methods. Data were collected through questionarries with173 consumers residing in Istanbul by quota sampling technique. The research findings indicate thatTurkish consumers display high level health and consumption conscience in the food oil choiceprocess. Consumers attach the highest importance to the health concerns in the food oil choice and theprice is the least influential factor on food oil choice. The consumer attitude towards liquid oils ispositive, whereas it is negative towards fat oils. Olive oil consumers appear to be conscious on thehealth and consumption issues, whereas margarine consumers do not generally have well-balanceddiet habits.Kasım 2011, 159 pagesKey Words: food oil demand, olive oil, margarine, consumer choice, analytic hierarchy processiii