Bread variety production versus bread variety demand

• Main Author: Pearson, D. J.
• Published: Nottingham Trent University 1982
• Subjects: 658; Management & business studies
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.279555

The original conceptual framework used is embodied in the title and implies mismatch between supply and demand in the case of bread varieties. As the study progressed it became clear that mismatch could exist in other than quantitative terms and a great deal of controversy about British bread was concerned with aspects of a qualitative nature such as taste, freshness and perceived nutritional value. It seemed pre-requisite therefore to categorise the types of controversy which exist about British bread and then to concentrate attention on the most promising category in terms of determining mismatch between supply and demand. Subsequently a body of controversy regarding plantproduced bread (as distinct from bread produced on the premises of small bakers shops) was identified and a collection made of all references by the media to this form of controversy over a ten year period. These references were then synthesised into a testable hypothesis relating to the original conceptual framework of mismatch between supply and demand. In setting out to test the hypothesis that the British public were dissatisfied with plant-produced varieties of bread (that is whether a qualitative mismatch between supply and demand did in fact exist), a national survey of the attitudes towards bread and buying behaviour of 1,000 housewives was conducted. Having surmised the media might be unduly influenced by relatively small but active groups of opinion leaders, additional national surveys were conducted amongst members of consumer groups and teachers or wives of teachers. In analysing results it became clear that significant differences exist between opinion leaders as defined and the average housewife and that the study contributed towards the development of choice behaviour theory. In particular the findings were inconsistent with those of that group of attitude theorists known as the cognitive dissonance school within the field of social psychology.