Abstract:

In economically developed countries is possible in last decade to observe a growing interest of consumers in the origin of products especially in economic and social contexts. Often young people are showing an increased interest in sustainability issues and various alternative business concepts that differ from mainstream production. One of them is the trade concept of fair trade, which seeks to improve living conditions and reduce poverty in the people of the global South, through direct trade relations and shortening distribution channels. Under the Fairtrade brand, agricultural and food products are mainly sold.

The aim of the paper is to evaluate the impact of education on the level of knowledge of Fairtrade production labeling for young consumers - members of generation Y in the Czech Republic. Primary data were obtained through a quantitative research method by questionnaire survey. Respondents (n = 834) were selected through quota sampling and represent a representative sample of the observed group within the population of the Czech Republic.
The results show that the education achieved has an impact on the level of awareness of fair trade issues. The dependence measured by Cramer's V is strong (V = 0.32). Significant differences were found in the method of adjusted residues. There were strong dependence between higher education and the answer "yes" and basic education or education without a GCSE and the answer "no" on question about general awarenees of fair trade. While 52.1% knew the term and at least 26.9% of university students heard about it. In case of respondents with basic education knew term only 7.2 % and 19.1 % at least heard about fairtrade. For group of secondary education without a GCSE 8.2 % knew about fairtrade and 19.6 % heard about this concept. More than three quarters of respondents with a basic education or without GCSE have no awareness abou fair trade concept. The results also show that knowledge of Fairtrade concept depends on the level of education attained. Using the adjusted residual method, statistically significant differences were found, which show higher knowledge among respondents (72.7%) with a university degree and lower among respondents with basic education (51.0%) compared to an average of 65.0 %. Most respondents identified Internet and schools as the main sources of information. It could indicate high importance of education system in relation to current environmental and social issues. This fact can be use in general by higher interest of the young population with higher education in the origin of products and the conditions in products were produced.

Keywords:

Fairtrade, production, consumer, education, knowledge, Millennials.