Food Behavior Changes During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Statistical Analysis of Consumer Survey Data from Bosnia and Herzegovina

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Food Behavior Changes During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Statistical Analysis of Consumer Survey Data from Bosnia and Herzegovina sustainability Article Food Behavior Changes during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Statistical Analysis of Consumer Survey Data from Bosnia and Herzegovina Tarek Ben Hassen 1,* , Hamid El Bilali 2 , Mohammad S. Allahyari 3,4 , Darjan Karabaševi´c 5 , Adriana Radosavac 5 , Sinisa Berjan 6, Željko Vaško 7, Pavle Radanov 5 and Ibrahim Obhodaš¯ 8 1 Department of International Affairs, College of Arts and Sciences, Qatar University, Doha 2713, Qatar 2 International Centre for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies (CIHEAM-Bari), 70010 Valenzano, Italy; [email protected] 3 Department of Agricultural Management, Rasht Branch, Islamic Azad University, Rasht 41476-54919, Iran; [email protected] 4 Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences, North-West University, Mmabatho 2735, South Africa 5 Faculty of Applied Management, Economics and Finance in Belgrade, University Business Academy in Novi Sad, 21107 Belgrade, Serbia; [email protected] (D.K.); [email protected] (A.R.); [email protected] (P.R.) 6 Department of Agroeconomy and Rural Development, Faculty of Agriculture, University of East Sarajevo, 71126 Lukavica, Bosnia and Herzegovina; [email protected] 7 Faculty of Agriculture, University of Banja Luka, 78000 Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina; [email protected] Citation: Ben Hassen, T.; El Bilali, H.; 8 Faculty of Information Technology, University Vitez, 72270 Travnik, Bosnia and Herzegovina; Allahyari, M.S.; Karabaševi´c,D.; [email protected] Radosavac, A.; Berjan, S.; Vaško, Ž.; * Correspondence: [email protected] Radanov, P.; Obhodaš,¯ I. Food Behavior Changes during the Abstract: Bosnia and Herzegovina has responded to the COVID-19 pandemic by implementing COVID-19 Pandemic: Statistical quarantine and other social distancing measures. These measures, however, have mental, social, Analysis of Consumer Survey Data and economic consequences on diet and food behaviors. The Bosnian case is particularly pertinent from Bosnia and Herzegovina. since the country has one of the highest global mortality rates relative to its population. In addition, Sustainability 2021, 13, 8617. https:// doi.org/10.3390/su13158617 its health system is fragmented and under-resourced. Consequently, in this study, we analyze the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on Bosnians’ behaviors relating to food. It is based on an online Academic Editors: Sara González survey performed during October–November 2020 with 3133 adult respondents. The statistical García, Riccardo Testa analysis encompassed descriptive statistics (means, percentages, and frequencies), as well as cluster and Marc A. Rosen analysis. The results reveal that the pandemic transformed consumers’ shopping behaviors and food sourcing, reducing shopping frequency and increasing food bought on each trip. Furthermore, there Received: 28 June 2021 was an increase in the consumption of local food items due to food safety concerns. Additionally, Accepted: 29 July 2021 the pandemic improved the awareness of Bosnians towards food with a decrease in food waste. Published: 2 August 2021 Regarding diets, Bosnians tried to have healthier diets during the pandemic. Therefore, COVID-19 might have opened a ‘window of opportunity’ to promote the shift towards more sustainable food Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral consumption and lifestyles. with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affil- Keywords: COVID-19; diet; food behavior; food shopping; food waste; Bosnia and Herzegovina; Balkans iations. 1. Introduction Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. On 5 March 2020, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BIH) announced its first case of COVID-19, This article is an open access article which was the same day a state of emergency was implemented. On 21 March 2020, the distributed under the terms and country recorded its first COVID-19 fatality [1]. As of 18 June 2021, confirmed cases conditions of the Creative Commons reached 204,791 with 179,858 recoveries and 9626 total deaths [2]. The Bosnian case is Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// especially pertinent since it has one of the highest global mortality rates relative to its creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ population. Indeed, with a small population of 3.5 million people and an average of 4.0/). 2910.63 deaths/million, BIH had the third most losses due to COVID-19 globally [3]. Sustainability 2021, 13, 8617. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13158617 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability Sustainability 2021, 13, 8617 2 of 11 In addition, Bosnia and Herzegovina’s health system, according to the World Health Organization, is fragmented and under-resourced [4]. The COVID-19 pandemic evolution in BIH can be divided into four waves: the first in the spring of 2020, the second in the summer of 2020, the third in the fall of 2020, and the fourth during the spring 2021 [3]. During these waves, the Bosnian government (cf. entities of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Republic of Srpska, and Brcko district) applied various measures to halt the spread of COVID-19 (e.g., bans entrance for all foreigners, 14-day mandatory quarantine, restricting movement and gatherings, curfew, closing of kindergartens and schools, closing of restaurants, cafes, and non-food stores, wearing of facemasks, remote work, etc.) [5]. However, overall, the health system in Bosnia and Herzegovina lacked a coordinated and proactive response to the crisis [4]. In addition to the impact on human health, COVID-19 has had negative consequences on the BIH economy. BIH is considered to be a developing country with a gross domestic product (GDP) per capita of about 4866 EUR, 31% of the European Union (EU) average. The economy is driven by manufacturing and agriculture, followed by tourism and service sectors [6]. According to the World Bank [7], the pandemic is the greatest significant threat to the BIH economy since the Great Recession of 2008–2009. It predicts that BIH will face the worst economic recession in 25 years, with significant challenges. According to Cavali´cetˇ al. [8], BIH, ceteris paribus, will undergo a fall in GDP from 3.97 to 9.53% in 2020. The worst-case scenario estimates that the number of unemployed will increase by 96,767 by the end of the year. Solving persistent unemployment and reducing layoffs in the private sector will be a significant challenge during and after the crisis [7]. According to OECD (2020), BIH GDP is estimated to fall by 5% during 2020. The Agency for Statistics of Bosnia and Herzegovina [9] announced that the GDP would fall by 9.3% during the second quarter of 2020. Although the containment measures were crucial to combat the pandemic, they may have contributed to a disturbance of daily food-related behaviors. The COVID-19 epidemic and related measures substantially impacted daily food patterns, diet, and food-purchase behavior [10–13]. Some of these changes also apply to shifting consumer shopping habits, such as fewer shopping visits, stockpiling, online shopping, etc. [14–19], and consumption [20–22], as well as food waste [12,23]. Food research and the food business face many difficulties due to the COVID-19 pandemic, necessitating studying various food concerns in various countries [24,25]. Food consumption research in Bosnia and Herzegovina will add to a global understanding of people’s eating habits during the pandemic. Therefore, in this study, we targeted the evolution of the dietary options and variations in consumption during the COVID-19 pandemic in Bosnian households. This study addresses two questions: (1) How did the COVID-19 pandemic impact food consumption and diets in Bosnia and Herzegovina? and (2) How has the pandemic impacted food purchasing in Bosnia and Herzegovina? To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study that examines the pandemic’s direct effects on food purchasing, nutrition, and consumption habits in Bosnia and Herzegovina. We explain the methodology before presenting and discussing the research results. 2. Methods This study was conducted as part of an international research project entitled “Con- sumer Agency, Food Consumption Behavior, and Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Out- break,” which was sponsored by Western Michigan University’s Food Industry Research and Education Center (FIRE) [26]. The study is based on an online questionnaire performed via Survey Monkey in Bosnia and Herzegovina from 15 October to 16 November 2020 (during the third wave of COVID-19). The link to the survey was sent through email and social media (e.g., Instagram and Twitter). The survey utilized the snowball sampling technique, and participants were invited to disseminate the online survey to their friends and family. The non-probability sampling technique was employed; the study’s partici- pants volunteered to take part. Each responder was informed of the study’s objectives and Sustainability 2021, 13, 8617 3 of 11 context before signing a digital informed consent form covering privacy and information management rules. The questionnaire consisted of 25 different questions (multiple-choice and one option), split into three sections. The first section included questions about the sociodemographic characteristics of the respondents, such as education level, gender, income, etc. The second section sought information about food purchase and consumption behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic, such as food shopping frequency, including panic buying and stockpiling, diet, concerns during grocery store trips, food waste, etc. Finally, the third section included questions about the positive (e.g., calm, optimistic, and excited) and negative (e.g., sad, bored, and scared) emotions during the pandemic. The questionnaire was tested in two stages before delivery. First, an expert panel conducted a qualitative substance validity analysis to improve the study’s validity and reliability. Irrelevant items were omitted based on experts’ views, and the remaining items were modified to make them more factual and straightforward. Second, a pretest of 33 participants was conducted to ensure data accuracy, and the input was used to refine the survey questionnaire before its administration. The total of valid collected answers was 3133.
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