Actually, one of the possible solutions for this problem is the formation of consumer trust toward the organic food. In fact, there is a general agreement on the importance of trust in decisions on organic food (Schneider F., et.al. 2009). But the question arises: how customers could be informed about the organic origin of a product in order to trust it? Especially, when on the market it is hardly possible to talk about trust in a products itself (), because trust is a social phenomenon and caused by human actions (Sztompka, 1992). That is why trust in food is generally known to be based on information which consumers get from trustworthy information sources. However, sources of information could be different when considering organic food market. Generally, there is an opinion that “social institutions and arrangements <…> are better viewed as the efficient solution to certain economic problems” (Granovetter M., 1985). Quality uncertainty and trust formation could be attributed to these problems as well. There are studies that prove the importance of institutions in regard to the food safety and trust in food in general (M. Harvey et. al., 2007). If we speak precisely about the organic food market it is necessary to say that numerous institutions emerge to counteract the effects of quality uncertainty. George A. Akerlof identifies four basic types of such institutions: guarantees, brand-name, chains and licensing practices or certifications (Akerlof G., 1970). Moreover, according to the reviewed literature, it is possible to state the most common way to enhance consumer trust especially in organic food, highlighted by numerous researchers, is the establishing of various institutions, like labels, brands, laws, regulations (Giannakas R., 2002, Schneider F., et.al. 2009, Zagata L., Lostak M. 2012, Janssen M., Hamm U. 2012, Brиiж-Stipиeviж V., Petljak K. 2012, Smed. S., et. al. 2013, Hamzaoui-Essoussi L., et. al. 2013, Anisimova T., Sultan P. 2014, Vittersш G., Tangeland T. 2015).

Nevertheless, the occurrence of these institutions does not lead to absolute protection against a fraud. It is explained by the fact that introduction of these activities sometimes create incentives for such manipulations as, for example, mislabeling of conventional food as organic (Giannakas R., 2002, Mьller C., Gaus H. 2015). So, it shows that certification and labelling are necessary but insufficient for winning the trust of consumers. In this perspective we can agree with G. Akerlof who writes that “informal unwritten guarantees are preconditions for trade and production” (Akerlof G., 1970, 500). But where and how than these informal guarantees can arise if not in institutions? Our assumption is that communication between the participants on the market can be the way to establish such informal agreements.

II. Background

Nowadays German organic food market is the second largest market for organic labeled products in the world and is the first place among European countries (Rehder L.E., Le A. 2014, www.ifoam-eu.org). The data reflecting economic characteristics of the market proves that the demand for organic food in Germany is constantly growing and this allows us to say that there is a trend of organic food popularization among German consumers and considerable growth of German organic food market (IFOAM EU Group Germany). The same trend line is quite observable on the Russian organic food market as well (Kolchevnikova O. 2013, http://sozrf.ru).

Nevertheless a number of differences between these two markets could be mentioned. First of all, it is the price level. It is known that the prices for organic food in comparison to its conventional counterparts are different, but in Germany this difference is considerably less than in Russia (Kolchevnikova O. 2013, Rehder L.E., Le A. 2014, http://www.numbeo.com/food-prices/country_result.jsp?country=Germany). It is also considerable to mention the data about the sales outlets where people usually purchase organic food. Indeed, the ways of organic food distribution in both countries seek to be analogous, because specialized organic food stores are still remain the significant way of supplying within the markets. Nevertheless, in Germany more and more organic food items are sold in discounter stores and big supermarkets, while Russian consumers can mostly find these items just in high-end supermarkets (Kolchevnikova O. 2013, Rehder L.E., Le A. 2014, http://www.agr.gc.ca, http://gain.fas.usda.gov).

The more striking difference could be found in the legislation and controlling field. Thus, the data we obtain about national regulations of organic products in both countries indicates absolute difference between them. Unlike the German market, where a number of common European Union's and national German standards are applied with the aim to clearly define the notion of organic food and to control the whole process of its production, in Russia there is a lack of laws concerning organic food industry (Bruschi V. et. al. 2015, http://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/organic/, https://www.bmel.de/). The same goes to the labeling of organic food products. In Russia there is a “Vitality Leaf” sign - the first and the only voluntary system of ecological certification which is accepted by international expert society (http://ecounion.ru/), whereas in contrast on the German market a number of European labels, which are accepted throughout the EU as well as national German organic food label Bio-Siegel are used (https://www.bmel.de/).

I can't but say that German organic food market is rather good studied, especially in terms of consumer trust formation. There are various interesting papers presenting the results of different projects, for instance, “How can consumer trust in organic products be enhanced?” by Schneider F., et. al. (Schneider F., et.al. 2009); “Growth, business logic and trust in organic food chains: an analytical framework and some illustrative examples from Germany” by S.V. Muenchusen and K. Knickel (Muenchusen S.V. and Knickel K., 2014); “Transparent Food and Consumer Trust” by Kriege?Steffen A., et.al. (Kriege?Steffen A., et.al. 2010). At the same time there is still a lack of papers regarding this topic in Russia.

III. Theoretical framework

Speaking about the theoretical framework it is necessary to define what the notion of trust generally means. It is known that among social scientists there is a substantial difference in defining this term. Nevertheless, two major groups of authors who strive to see this phenomenon from the two opposite perspectives could be distinguished. One could be named “rationalists”, who sees the trust as the product of rationalization and calculation (Sztompka P. 1992, Luhmann N., 1979, 1988, Coleman J.C. 1990) and the second could be named “fatalists”, who look at the trust as more sensual phenomenon (Giddens A. 1990, Fukuyama F. 1995). However, these two opposite views, which seem to contradict each other, are tend to supplement each other under the conditions of market relations. As a result, the term “critical trust” will be used to define trust as a bet about future fulfillment of one's expectations in a situation of uncertainty, caused by other human's actions and underpinned by a lack of important information, based both on rational calculations and people's beliefs. In our case these expectations are connected with the purchased food to be truly organic. And in this case “the grounds for trust <…> come down to certain knowledge, information obtained by the truster about trustee” (Sztompka, 1992, 60, 70).

However, when considering the problem of trust in food, it is important to say that there is no such notion as direct trust in food (Kj?rnes, et.al, 2007). It is hardly possible to trust a product itself as long as trust is a social phenomenon and takes place only when the situations of uncertainty are “of human and not purely natural provenance” (Sztompka, 1992, 20). That is why one trusts food and especially organic one, as long as it is humanly created. However, it is rarely the case, when consumers are able to check the production themselves in order to be sure that the products they purchase are produced in a really organic way. That is why it is possible to state that one could trust those who provide necessary information about food but not a product itself. In the case of organic food the information about whether the product is organic or not is of the most importance. However this information in the organic food market could be distributed by various actors.

The main channels of information distribution are closely connected with the way market is organized. Organic food market could be analyzed from the point of view of two approaches to market analysis: neoinsitutuional and network, both of which assume the issue of incomplete and assymetric information. According to the first approach institutions tend to provide necessary information for individuals and thereby enable individuals to act (Hodgson, 1998). Institutional arrangements consider being a mechanism of filling the information gap between actors on the market. Those institutions are labels, brand names, mass media and advertisement. At the same time network approach see market as a plexus of social networks, when the latter are understood as a set of stable relations between market actors (Radaev, 2008). Thus, Granovetter (1992) argues that under the conditions of information asymmetry, market agents seek to look for trusted sources to get information or to give recommendations about how to implement transactions. It basically means that the lack of important information on the market is compensated by personal interaction which could be considered as trustworthy sources of necessary information. These personal interactions involve other consumers as well as producers, whom consumers are connected either with weak or strong ties.

According to the literature describing food markets in general and organic food market in particular (Kj?rnes, et.al, 2007; Bruschi et al. 2015; Hemmerling, 2014; Hoffmann & Eisinger-Watzl, 2015) following actors are mainly involved in the process and could be considered as the key players on the market: consumers, producers, retailers, private certification bodies, official controlling authorities, mass media. Thus, based on who of them provide necessary information about organic food three basic types of trust could be eliminated: think interpersonal trust (trust in relatives, friends and other close surrounding); thin interpersonal trust (trust in other consumers and producers), and institutional trust (trust in labels, mass media and advertisement). Thereby trust in food is substituted with the trust in those actors or in other words trust in these actors based on information they give about organic food transit to organic food.

However, in order to estimate the level of trust in food it is important to distinguish several criteria which would be able to demonstrate people's desire to give or withdraw trust in it. Follow the scheme, proposed by U. Kj?rnes (2007), 5 key parameters of food were used in order to do that. They are safety, nutrition, quality, ethics and value for money (Kj?rnes U. 2007, 42). It could be applied to the research on trust in organic food as well, because different studies show that exactly these factors are the most influential when considering the process of organic food consumption (Kolchevnikova O. 2013, Buder et.al. 2010, http://gain.fas.usda.gov, http://www.agr.gc.ca). Moreover, as mentioned by some researches, time could be also used as a marker for trust (Sztompka P. 1992; Buskens V. 1999). Thus these 5 factors in addition to the time were used as the indicators of consumer trust in organic food.

IV. Main research question

In regard to what we have discussed above, it is possible to formulate the main research question as follow: how Russian and German consumer's trust in organic food depends on the source of information they tend to pay attention the most when buying those products. We are going to analyze if recommendations from other consumers or rather information provided by various institutions influence more the level of trust in organic food among our respondents. It is connected with the main research problem which is that it is not really known if consumer's involvement into network interaction with other consumers somehow influences the level of their trust in organic food or their belief in institutional arrangements matters in this case more. In order to provide the whole picture during the pilot study if the research the decision was also made to analyze regulations and norms on organic food in Russia and Germany in order to understand how institutional base for the market works. Moreover, qualitative analysis of Mass Media as one of the institutional bodies was also decided to include in the research as it influences consumer's perception of the goods sold on the market.

V. The object of inquiry and comparison base

As the objects of our comparative research we have chosen four bio markets: Denn's in Bielefeld and Alnatura in Dusseldorf; and Organica and Eco Garmonia in St. Petersburg. All of them specialize in organic food sales. They offer a wide range of biological goods, including organic food, in which we are especially interested. Regarding the supply of food commodities the assortment is rather similar. Consumers can buy organic fruits, vegetables, dairy products and cheese, ready-to-cook foods, meat and meat products, lasting food, beverages and many more. The companies presented work with such eco labels as Demeter, EU Organic Bio, Bio-Siegel, Bioland. Organica shop also offers some food labelled with national Russian logo called Vitality Leaf (the first and the only internationally recognized Russian system of voluntary certification). So, the products sold in these shops are marked with either international or local labels (http://supergreen.ru/, https://www.denns-biomarkt.de/bielefeld-apfelstr-8/marktseite/).

We have chosen specialized organic food stores because analysis shows that despite of the fact that the channels of organic food distribution differ a lot within two countries, specialized organic food stores are still remain the significant way of supplying (Kolchevnikova O, 2013, Rehder L.E., Le A., 2014). It is interesting that Denn's supermarket is the biggest organic food retailer which is nationwide as well as Alnatura, in Russia there has been observed the lack of truly nationwide organic food shops. But at the same time Organica and Eco Garmonika allow people from all over Russia to order the products they want which then will be delivered directly to home. It gives us the reason to consider them also as a nationwide supplier. More than that, all of them are rather active in Internet as long as they have web-pages in various social networks. In common they have official web-sites, where consumers could get acquainted with basic principal of their work process, products selection, contacts, etc. They also keep accounts in Facebook and Instagram, although Organica and Eco Garmonika also have a page in national Russian social Network called Vkontakte. This, in turn, facilitates the access to the target population of our online survey.

In order to obtain representative results we are going to distribute our questionnaire among the consumers of these shops simultaneously via before mentioned Internet communities. However, the sample was also supplemented by two organizations, which are “Ecological Union” in Russia and Bioland in Germany. Both of them are private certification bodies who provide services for ecological certification and labeling based on their private standards, which are, nevertheless, oriented towards European Council regulations on organic production. They also have web-pages in social networking sites Vkontakte and Facebook respectively. The questionnaire was also distributed there in order to collect data from people who participate in their Internet communities.

Moreover, national Russian and German governmental laws and private regulations on organic production, processing, distribution and labeling were analyzed. These are European Union law on organic production (Council Regulation No 834/2007/EC of 28 June 2007 on organic production and labeling of organic products and repealing Regulation № 2092/91/EEC; Commission regulation (EC) №889/2008 laying down detailed rules for the implementation of Council Regulation № 834/2007; Commission regulation № 271/2010); German law on organic production (The Organic Farming Act - ЦLG); Bioland Standards; Demeter Standards; GOST P 56104-2014 on organic food products: terms and definitions; GOST P- 56508-2015 on organic products: rules of production, storage and transportation; GOST Р 57022-2016 on organic production and the procedure of voluntary certification of organic production; and Vitality Leaf standards. Moreover, following Media sources were analysed in terms of different techniques and instruments that are used to cover the topic of organic food: The Local DE, Bild, Taz.archiv, Spiegel и Deutsche Welle in Germany; Gazeta.ru, Arguments and Facts, Komsomolskaya Pravda, Izvestia, RIA news and Rossiya 24 in Russia.

When comparing German and Russia organic food retailers it is important to be aware of strong differences in general living conditions between too countries. Thus a substantial part of Russian population suffer from poverty and economic inequality and this have resulted in inadequate eating patterns with widespread consumption of low quality and fake foods, as well as insufficient intake of proteins and calories. (Berg L., Kjaernes U et al., 2005) But it is known also the social standard of living varies a lot from region to region in Russia. St. Petersburg region is considered to be one of the wealthiest Russian cities what means that there are more people with a high income here. The average level of income in 2016 was approx. 660€ which is one of the highest among other Russian regions and higher than the countries' average income (http://bs-life.ru/rabota/zarplata/srednyaya-zarplata2016.html). As long as the price difference between organic and conventional food differs a lot - cost for organic food could be a way higher when compare to the conventional one - only people with sufficient income can afford to buy such food (Kolchevnikova O, 2013). That's the reason why organic food consumption in Russia concentrate, beside Central region, in St. Petersburg.

When speaking about Germany it is reasonable to mention that organic food consumption here is not “focal” but rather commonly spread. It is connected to the fact that the price level for organic food in Germany is still practically on the same level as the conventional one (Rehder L.E., Le A., 2014). Moreover the average income in Germany in 2016 was approx. 4900€ what is very high in comparison to the standard of wages in the rest of Europe (http://bs-life.ru/rabota/zarplata/srednyaya-zarplata2016.html). This indicates more possibilities for buying organic food nationwide.

This is also proved by presence of numerous different distribution channels. Thus, initially, the only possibility to buy organic products for German consumers was either directly from farmers or in healthy food stores. But with the entry of supermarkets and discount stores into the organic food sector, the supply of organically produced food has risen substantially. It is estimated that all in all there are over 2,400 organic food retail shops in Germany. (Gottschalk I., Leistner T., 2013). At the same time in Russia only two options exist for purchasing organic food: specialized all-organic stores and high-end supermarkets, for instance Azbuka Vkusa and Globus Gourmet (Kolchevnikova O, 2013). After looking for the location of shops offering organic food we can say that most of them in Russia are located in Moscow and St. Petersburg, while in Germany they could be found nationwide.

To conclude we can say that German market is a part of European market which is mature. More than that Germany is widely famous as a country with a big market share for organic products and ranks №2 among others European markets (http://www.ein-herz-fuer-bio.org/sites/default/files/downloads/germany.pdf). As well as St. Petersburg could be named as a second largest market (after Moscow) for organic products within the borders of Russian market due to some social and economic reasons (Kolchevnikova O, 2013). With the common way of organic food distribution through specialized stores they remain the centers of organic food consumption. It allows us to state that the comparison between the chosen shops is rather justified.

VI. The aims of the research

In order to answer the main research question following aims have to be fulfilled:

· To define how the concept of organic food is understood by Russian and German consumers as well as to know their reason for buying these products;

· To find out what is the initial source of information consumers get to receive the very first knowledge about organic food;

· To understand what the decisive factor is for consumers when making decision about purchasing an organic item;

· To eliminate what are the major sources of information consumers used to pay attention the most when buying an organic item and to test if there are dependences between these sources and consumer's level of trust;

· To distinguish the main differences in national legislation on organic food in Russian and Germany;

· To analyze the differences in media coverage of the organic food topic in both countries.

VII. Hypothesis

H1: It could be assumed that German and Russian consumers understand the concept of organic food with some degree of differences;

H2: It is possible to expect that German and Russian consumers buy organic food for different reasons;

H3: Both Russian and German consumers are expected to receive the initial information about organic food mainly by means of their personal contacts;

H4: It is expected that German and Russian consumers will base their final decision about buying an organic item on different ground;

H5: Organic consumers in Germany are expected to have higher level of trust in organic products than Russian consumers do;

H6: It is expected that in Germany the level of consumer trust in organic food positively related to eco labels, while in Russian it is expected to be positively connected with personal communication;

Additional hypothesis:

H1: It is reasonable to assume that organic food legislation is better developed and stricter in Germany in comparison to Russia;

H2: It could be expected that the topic of organic food in Germany is reported more often and in more positive light than in Russia;

H3: Organic consumers in Russia and Germany differ in socio-economic characteristics

VIII. Methodology

According to the aims of the study, it was decided to stick to the mixed methodology of data collection and analysis, which includes both qualitative and quantitative methods. The methods include online survey, structured interviews, qualitative analysis of documents and media content. Online questionnaire was used at the basic tool, while formalized interviews were considered to be more as a supportive instrument.

In order to estimate consumer trust in organic food we will use the methodology, which was applied by U. Kj?rnes et.al in their research on trust in food in general. However, according to the tasks of this research the initial scheme was slightly changed. Respondents are planned to be asked about their level of confidence in the organic origin of food, as well as the level of their agreement/disagreement with the proposed statements which consider such organic food features as nutrition, quality, ethics and value for money. We are going to ask if consumers think that organic food is safer, tastier, more nutrient, and less harmful for the environment in comparison to conventional food and if they agree to pay more money for organic food in comparison with usual substitutes. We will give the options following values: strongly agree - 5; agree -4; neither agree or disagree -3; disagree -2; strongly disagree -1. Then the results of every respondent's evaluation will be summed up and divided by the number of statements in order to calculate personal trust in organic food index. Then the results of personal indexes will be summed up and divided by the number of respondents. In this way it would be possible to estimate general trust in food index, where 1 will be “total distrust” and 5 will mean “total trust”. One additional parameter which should be added to this index is the time dimension. Respondents will be asked about the duration of their organic food consumption.

In order to investigate the question of information acquisition two main questions will be asked. First is about the way respondents usually receive initial information about organic food before start to buy it. And the second one is devoted to the sources of information about organic origin of a product consumers tend to pay attention the most when purchasing organic products. For this purpose following options always -5; often -4; sometimes -3; rarely -2; never -1 will correspond to each source of information, which are recommendations, information on a packaging; ecolabels; brand name; information from mass media, and advertisement. After that regressions between the trust index and the source of information will be calculated in order to show if the level of trust depends on the sources of information about organic products. In this case trust index is considered to be dependent variable, while the frequency of paying attention to different information sources is independent variable.

We also use the trust index as dependent variables when participation in social media and decisive factors for choosing the products are independent one. We will identify if there are some correlations between these variables.

One more method which is going to be implemented in this research is structured interview. It is aimed at receiving more detailed information about consumer experience in organic food consumption and serve as an additional tool in proving the hypothesis stated in the beginning. The interview guide consists of 10 questions which correspond to those, included in the questionnaire but allow respondents to give fuller answers.

IX. Data collection and analysis

The questionnaire (as the main tool of the research) will be formulated in English and then will be translated in two languages (both Russian and German). It consists of three parts. The first has questions which allow to build the “the trust in organic food index”. The second devoted to the information sources and will consist of questions which help to receive the data on how consumers tend to get know about organic origin of the food. And the last part will include some questions about socio-economic characteristics of respondents. The questionnaire will be distributed among the consumers of the chosen organic food stores via Internet. For this purpose social networks Facebook (for both countries) and Vkontakte (only for Russian side) is used. The questionnaire will be distributed on the web-pages of communities of specialized organic food shops and in two groups of private certification bodies. The general sample compiles 44 260 consumers in Germany and 36 210 in Russia. The difference between the sizes of the samples could be explained by the overall imbalance between the market shares for organic food in both countries and significant differences in the consumption volume in Russia and Germany as well (http://www.ifoam-eu.org/en/germany, http://sozrf.ru/rost_2013/). Respondents for interviews will be found by means of the snowball method. The general sample consists of ecologically oriented consumers who buy organic on the regular basis.

The methods of analysis used over the survey data are for the most part relatively simple and straightforward. Excel Analysis ToolPak will be used to make a statistical analysis of data obtained from the online survey. In the course of data analysis acquired from interviews, the ATLAS software package will be used. Each interview will be coded and then analyzed on the basis of theoretical concepts. No special tool will be used for the analysis of normative base and media content as it is not necessary for the aims of the research which are to find common similarities and differences in those sources.

X. Expected outcomes

After the research is finished and results are analyzed and interpreted it is expected that some of the hypothesis formulated in the beginning will be fully confirmed and some partly confirmed. It is possible to expect that information sources influence consumer's trust in organic food both in Russian and Germany, but the level of trust depends on a certain source of information. As we expect personal contacts might have some influence in their combination with institutional arrangements, which are mostly certification and labeling. It is also reasonable to say that the way legislative base works in both countries have a big influence on consumer's grounds for trust in organic food, while Mass Media plays more negative role, rather than positive one.



Appendix II Questionnaire for consumers (in English)

Hello!

I am Master student from the Faculty of Sociology at Saint-Petersburg State University conducting research on trust in organic food for my thesis. The goal of research is to elicit what consumers think truly organic products are and what is the basis for their trust in them. I would be pleased if you participate in this survey. Your sincere answers will allow identifying which products could be named really organic and why people think they are trustworthy. Answering these questions will take no more than 10 minutes.

Please, read questions carefully and choose one of the options proposed. If it is difficult for you to make a choice, then mark, please, the one which you think is the closest to your opinion. Most questions are about your opinion and attitude. There is no right or wrong questions.

All the responses will be processed in common and no personal data will be disclosed.

1. At the moment, how long do You buy organic food?

· Less than 1 year

· 1-3 years

· 3-5 years

· More than 5 years

· Difficult to say

2. Where do You mostly buy organic products today?

· Specialized organic food stores

· Usual supermarkets/hypermarkets

· Discount markets (for Germany only)

· Open-air markets

· Directly from the farm

· Internet-shops

· Depends on situation

3. Which categories of products do You buy today most often? (several options possible)

· Fresh vegetables

· Fresh fruits

· Meat and meat products

· Fish and fish products

· Milk and diary products

· Eggs

· Cereals

· Bread and bakery products

· Beverages

· Semi-finished products

· Cookery

· Other (please specify)______________________________________

4. According to your opinion, organic food is (several options possible):

· Food that is produced without any chemical additives (e.g. pesticides, growth promoters, artificial fertilizers, toxic chemicals, etc.)

· Food produced with environmentally/animal friendly techniques

· Products that don't contain any artificial additives (colorants, aromatizers, stabilizers, etc.)

· Food with minimal processing that save its nutritive elements

· Products that are labeled «organic»

· Products produced by yourself (in a garden, at summerhouse, in own household)

· Food free from genetically modified organism (GMO)

· Difficult to say

· Other (please, specify)_____________________________________

5. Please, continue the statement «I buy organic food, because…» (several options possible):

· It is healthy

· It tastes good

· It is produced in environmentally friendly way

· Animals are treated better

· It is safe

· It's production is better controlled than conventional one

· I want to support local producers

· Someone recommended me

· It is a family tradition

· Difficult to say

· Other (please specify)______________________________________

6. In the following question, please, identify the level of your agreement/disagreement with the proposed statements

	Strongly agree	Agree	Neither agree or disagree	Disagree	Strongly disagree	Difficult to say
I am confident that the food I usually buy is really of organic origin
In comparison to conventional food organic food is more safe
In comparison to conventional food organic food is more tasty
In comparison to conventional food organic food have more nutrients
In comparison to conventional food organic food is healthier
In comparison to conventional food production of organic food is less harmful for the environment
I agree to pay more for organic food in comparison to conventional one

7. How often do You usually pay attention to the following information?

	Always	Often	Sometimes	Rarely	Never	Difficult to say
Recommendations from other consumers (either personal or in social networks)
Information about product composition on a packaging
Ecolabels
Brand name
Information from Mass Media (TV, radio)
Advertisement

8. Where did you get information about organic food for the first time? (several options possible)

· «World of mouth» (recommendations from family members, friends, acquaintances, etc.)

· Mass Media

· Advertisement

· Social networks (i.e. Facebook, Instagram)

· Bought accidentally to try

· Difficult to say

· Other (please specify)______________________________________

9. If You have a problem or seek for an advice concerning organic products whom do You most likely contact to? (several options possible)

· Can ask other consumers in person

· Sometimes ask other consumers online

· Prefer to ask a producer personally

· Have never faced this problems

· Difficult to say

· Other (please specify)______________________________________

10. What can you name as the decisive factor in the choice of organic products?

· Recommendations and advices of social surrounding (family, friends, acquitances, etc.)

· Information on the packaging

· Eco labels

· Brand name

· Advertisement

· Difficult to say

· Other (please specify)______________________________________

11. Do you participate in any Internet-communities, connected to the topic of organic food?

· Yes, participate in a community in a social network

· Yes, registered in a forum about organic food

· Yes, I am the member of ecological organization

· No, do not participate anywhere

· Other (please specify)______________________________________

To conclude, some biographical questions

12. What is your gender?

· Male

· Female

13. How old are you?

· 18-20

· 21-29

· 30-39

· 40-49

· 50-59

· 60 and older

14. What is your marital status?

· Single, never married

· Married or domestic partnership

· Divorced

· Widowed

15. Do you have children?

· No

· Yes, one child

· Yes, more than one child

16. Which of the following statement better describe financial situation of You/ Your family?

· Don't have enough money for the daily costs

· Entire salary goes to the daily costs

· We have enough money for the daily costs but buying clothes is difficult

· In general we have enough money but need to borrow money to buy expensive items

· We can afford almost everything but the purchase of flat or a country house is difficult

· Everything is affordable

17. What is the highest educational level you complete?

· No education/primary education

· High school

· Higher education (bachelor, specialist, master)

· Postgraduate and higher

18. What is your employment status?

· Working fulltime

· Working halftime

· Retired

· Working at home

· Student

· Temporarily unemployed

19. In which city do you currently live?___________________________

Thank You very much for Your help!



Appendix III. Interview guide (in English)

Hello!

First of all, I want to thank you for taking the time to meet with me today. My name is Ivanova Mariia. I am a student of Master Program «Studying in European societies» at St. Petersburg State University. I am currently making my research project for the Master thesis which topic is «Consumer trust in organic products on the Russian and German markets». My research represents a comparison between Russian and German market for organic food and especially the reasons due to which consumers trust in these commodities. I would like to talk with you about your experience of organic food consumption. Your participation is very important as help in understanding the process of consumer trust formation in organic products. It is important for me to create an overall picture of organic food consumption in contemporary Germany.

The interview should take less than an hour. I will be taping the session because I don't want to miss any of your comments. Although I will be taking some notes during the session, I can't possibly write fast enough to get it all down. That's why I would like to record our conversation as it will also save time writing your answers entirely. The information will be used only for my personal analysis purposes. Your identity will be kept anonymous in reports if you like. Remember, you don't have to talk about anything you don't want to and you may end the interview at any time. This interview is an ordinary conversation, and there is no right or wrong answers there.

Are there any questions about what I have just explained? If no, let's start.

1. Could you, please, tell what kind of organic products do you usually buy?

2. What do you understand, in general, as organic food?

ь Which qualities should a product have in order to be called organic?

ь Is the presence of these qualities very important for you? How could you understand that product really has these qualities/ characteristics?

ь Why do you prefer organic products to conventional one?

3. Could you say that when buying organic food, you are absolutely sure that you buy a real organic product and not a forgery? What makes you trust in pure ecological origin of a product?

4. Could you, please, remember and briefly tell me how and why did you start to buy organic food?

ь What «pushed» you to this decision?

ь Maybe you had a particular reason for that? Or it was just a spontaneous decision?

5. Could you also remember, when you have started to buy organic food, was there someone in your surrounding who already was buying these items?

ь In case there were someone, who were they? Were it relatives, friends, acquaintances, colleagues?

ь Did this have any impact on your personal decision about starting to eat organic food? Maybe, someone told you about their experience, share impressions with you, gave advices and recommendations to try organic food?

6. Tell me, please, do you buy organic food in a particular place now or prefer to go shopping at different places? Maybe prefer a concrete producer or trade mark?

ь Do You usually pay attention to eco labels?

ь If a product doesn't have any bio signs, how could You understand that it is organic?

7. Have You ever read any regulations concerning the production of organic food?

ь If You rely on labels, do You know what are the requirements for producers to receive them?

ь Which label do You prefer and why? Do you trust it?

ь Were there any cases when You bought products with no organic labels on them but still considered to be organic? If, yes, how could You identify that it is organic?

8. If yes, does someone from your surrounding also buy organic food at this place (buy food from this trade mark/ producer)?

ь Maybe you go shopping for organic food together?

ь Or share your impressions later with each other and give advices each other in regard to organic food in general or organic food store/trade mark/producer in particular?

9. Could you, please, remember, when you have some problems with the choice of organic product or with finding a place where to buy a good organic food, or you didn't know if it is worth buying food in this or that place, from this or that producer, do you consult (seek advice) other consumers?

ь If yes, who are they?

ь Do you know them very well or it is just other consumers whom you don't know personally?

10. Do you participate in any Internet-community connected with organic food?

ь Maybe you are a member of some group on Facebook or Instagram?

ь Maybe you read some blogs?

ь If yes, does it help you somehow? Do you receive any valuable information there?

ь Could information from these sources change your opinion about organic food?

11. And, finally, how do you think, information about organic food that you receive from your acquaintances, friends, colleagues or family is more reliable, trustworthy than one from Mass Media, advertisement, etc.

ь If yes/no - why? Does it influence your consumer behaviour somehow?

In order to finish our conversation could you please if possible tell me some information about yourself? What is your age? What is your marital status? Do you have children? Where do you currently live? And your name, if possible.

Is there anything more you would like to add? If not then thank you for your participation! If you are interested, I can share my MA paper with you once it is finished.



Appendix IV. Table of respondents

Russian case

Name	Gender	Age	Marital status	Children	City
Anastasiia Prikazchikova	Female	31	Married	No	St. Petersburg
Anastasiia Rogova	Female	25	Married	No	Vsevolozhsk
Mariia Prokophieva	Female	27	Married	One child (1,5 years)	Pushkin
Olga Taranova	Female	31	Married	No	St. Petersburg
R5	Female	34	Married	One child	St. Petersburg
Elena Shershneva	Female	60	-	No	St. Petersburg

German case

Name	Gender	Age	Marital status	Children	City
Hanellore Ingang	Female	58	Married	2 children	Werther
Anna	Male	33	Married	One child	Bielefeld
Nina	Female	24	Unmarried	No	Fьrth
Sebastian	Male	27	Unmarried	No	Bielefeld
Susanne	Female	-	-	-	-
Lidia	Female	45	Married	Two children	Bremerhaven



Appendix V. Example of the interview transcript (German)

February, 5. Female, 58.

Hanellore Ingang, (HI)

M: So, I think that the first question, it's like to start, I want to know what kind of products do you usually buy? I mean organic products.

B: Almost all we buy. All products

M: Like milk, fruits, vegetables?

H: I say not everything. Ok, we try to buy as much biological products as it is possible. Yeh, as Bruno said, milk, vegetables…

B: Meat

H: Meat, yes. Meat, we generally never buy other meat. But, it's ok, we try not eat too much meat, we like meat but don't eat like many German people meat every day. Ok, when we go to a restaurant, sure we would like to eat meat and we eat meat, normally it's not biological, but we try

B: It depends

H: Hm?

B: It depends whether biological restaurants

H: Yeh, but it's not the way we chose when we go, for example, to a restaurant, we are not looking, it's not the first point, that it must be biological but, yeh, with the meat for example, it's like…maybe I can explain. We try to buy in special shops, for example, here there are two farms, close to Werter. It's a farm <…>, they started, I think, 30 years ago to produce organic food and we went there every time and buy once per week vegetables, all that stuff and, for example, meat , we have also here a little farm very close, it's called Maas, they also when we want to eat meat then we go there and the other stuff is that…

B: Fresh meat

H: Fresh meat, they have animals, yeh, so we know directly that it's from there. But, sometimes we also goto the Lidl, little shop here in Werter, it's not biological butchery, we go there, because it's not biological, but it's local. They say that they get the animals from farmers around. So, we also go there sometimes, but we never buy

B: They are not recognized by biological labels. They are only recognized by local

H: Local food, genau, local meat. And the other thing is we, not yet, but as you saw, we are here in a little bit countryside, so, for example, our eggs, we have our own chicken, so, we the eggs from our chicken. And we know, we saw it's biological, because

B: And rabbits

H: Yes, we also have rabbits. Bruno is from countryside, his family is from farmers

B: Little farmers

H: Little farmers and so for many years we have rabbits and…we eat them. And the other stuff is Bruno has also an older brother, he lives in the north from Hannover, Wendland, it's called Wendland and he has ships, so sometimes we also take from him meat, He makes sausages, but he is also social worker, but it is like a hobby and so we take from him meat.

M: Ok, and you are absolutely sure that he produces this meat in organic way and he doesn't use any prohibited, you know, chemicals?

H: Yes, because we see ships and they are eating grass and we know he doesn't give them toxic stuff

B: And normally he uses only biological products to make the sausages, for example, he can catch from pig meat and combine with sheep maet to make sausages and in this case he announces “I have the sheep and this sheep is biological

H: But not the part of the pig

B: They are only local

H: Because he understands, some sausages it is not possible to make it only from the meat of the sheep and so he needs to buy a little bit pork meat, but it is also from the Redna there. Ok, it's not absolutely 100% but we try to

B: We try to choose our food with labels Bioland, Demeter, and so on. If it's not possible, it should be local and if it's not local, sometimes we eat it nevertheless

H: Yes, we are not dogmatic. But, ok, maybe we can, first we have to answer the question, because you said, finally, everything we buy biological. That's not true, for example, things for cleaning, the house, we are not buying every time. There are existing biological stuff

B: And clothes also

H: Yes, and clothes, them we but normal stuff. Sometimes I buy also biological things. For example, I told that I <speaking in German> I showed you this Willhelmsdorf. When I on this online shop they also have, for example, to clean the dishes, they have biological stuff. Sometimes I take from them, but sometimes I also go to ALDI and buy there. It depends.

M: Ok.

H: It's a big price difference between both.

M: You mean the price difference between different organic producers ?

H: Aldi and when you, for example, buy biological this stuff for cleaning the dishes, for example in Aldi, it's, I think, it's 1 Euro and others is 2 Euros. But sometimes I but it because, yeh, it depends, because, generally, maybe as of the next questions, because we would do this, because, you would like to continue with this, or?

M: Yeh, I think we can continue, I mean the next question is about your motivation to buy organic.

H: Ja, genau. It's not because only, for me, sure I want to eat healthy food, but that's only one part. For me it's also important, how to explain this, I think with the normal way we in Germany and also in other countries they are producing, for example, meat or vegetable is in a way where they destroy bios and where they put a lot of toxical things inside and for me also to buy healthy food is something against this way of producing things. Like, for example, with the animals, I stop eating chicken because when I saw once, it's many years ago, I saw how chickens are gathered and treated and they are in big houses and one close to the other and it's a way…

B: With antibiotical

H: With antibiotical, it's not for me human way to treat animals and therefore it's this way is a political way, when I am eating healthy food.

M: So, you are actually eating organic food not for your so to say egoistic motives, but also some altruistic motives, so to preserve environment, and…

H: Yes, exactly

M: And to treat animals better?

H: Yeh. For example, animals also, vegetables. I think it's a big problem with genetic…

S: With the toxicity of the soil. But it's supporting in a way that other ways of doing and producing food can have a chance, because I mean mass production kills all this other in matters of price. So they are able to contribute and see people are making efforts to do, to produce in this way and to survive.

H: Yes, but I think that the change in the beginning it was that people who try to produce biological stuff, it was very difficult for them because everybody was laughing at the them, hahaha, what are thwy doing, and products are a little but more expensive, though, sure, I think it was be able also to support this people so they can grow up. And in Germany now there is a very big…one part of the producers that produce today biological

S: Sector, sector so to say

H: And the other thing is that also, you know, what I told you before about chicken. For me it's also a question of how we deal with other countries, for example, with Africa. You know, here in Germany they produce a a lot of chicken and then they sell it to Africain countries, market and destroy, for example, the market in Africa, local market in Africa. And that's also one reason for me why I don't want to buy for example this chicken, because they destroy the other market and people are already poor and they getting poorer and poorer. You know it's not only local, it's to see what are the relations with other countries

M: Yes. It's very interesting because I have never heard about this before

S: No, the ruin, the ruin other markets

M: I know about this phenomenon, yes, but I have never heard that people explain their desire to buy organic food by this, it's very interesting

B: For example they buy it in Germany or in Europe the legs of a chicken and then export it to…

H: Ghana, for example, I think

B: Yes, Ghana and it destroys regularly local market because they are cheaper than the farmers in Africa sell it

S: Yes the have the same problem in South Africa, they are fighting with but they didn't win the battle. They still expose their chicken on us now. And it's gonna destroy the local market

H: Yes, it's the same thing with the clothes. The all clothes that we throw, our all clothes into these boxes and then they send it, for example, to Africa. And then people there buy this type of clothes and the local clothes they are more expensive, and the other things are destroyed

...