*4.2. Analysis of Producers' Attitudes towards LFPs—Factor Analysis*

In order to examine the latent structure of the relationship between the variables of producers' perceptions toward the local food, factor analysis with the principal component method was applied. The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin sampling adequacy which should be greater than 0.5 for a satisfactory factor analysis (KMO = 0.925) and Bartlett's test of sphericity was significant (χ<sup>2</sup> = 1432.54, *p* < 0.000), therefore all the assumptions were fulfilled in order to proceed with the analysis. Three factors were retained using the Cattell scree criterion and rotated with Varimax rotation. Based on saturation in the assembly matrix and analysis of the internal consistency of the questionnaire, it was decided to exclude from the further analysis two items, which had saturations below 0.40 and whose exclusion increased the coefficient of reliability. Factor scores were established, and we calculated the Cronbach's reliability coefficient for each factor. Cronbach's reliability coefficients are 0.915; 0.867, and 0.762, respectively.

Taking into account the saturation shown in the circuit matrix (Table 3), the obtained factors are grouped into three units. The first factor accounts for 39.24% of the variance (12 items), the second factor contains explaining 22.38% of variance (six items), the third factor explains 12.66% of variance (10 items) in the overall solution.


two most significant findings explain 55.354% and 44.756% of the variance of the factor named 'institutional challenges' from the manufacturers' point of view.

• The third factor can be labeled 'market characteristics and existence of substitutes' and within that factor the three statements have factor loadings (0.724, 0.669, and 0.616) and squared factor loadings of for the most significant statements that explain 52.42%, 44.76%, and 37.95% of the variance of factor named 'market characteristics and existence of substitutes.'


**Table 3.** Exploratory factor analysis for drivers of produce LFPs.

Source: Author's calculation.
