Influences on purchase intentions of organic food consumers in an emerging economy

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (5) ◽  
pp. 599-620 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neeraj Dangi ◽  
Sapna A. Narula ◽  
Sandeep Kumar Gupta

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the determinants of organic food buying behaviour in an emerging economy like India, where organic food yet has low market share in spite of its potential. Using the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) as the underlying basis, it attempts to explain the effect of attitude, subjective norms and the perceived behaviour control (PBC) on buying intention towards organic food among respondents in Delhi-National capital region, India. Additionally, it attempts to discriminate functional and constructive attitudes. Design/methodology/approach A quantitative questionnaire survey approach was used on 306 respondents and multiple linear regression was used to validate the research model. Findings Attitudes and PBC have a significant positive impact on the intention to purchase organic food. This paper found subjective norms to be weak and barely significant to intention. The results conclude that health motives, past purchase behaviour, knowledge, affordability and trust in organic certification label are the main facilitators in organic food purchase. Primarily, the respondents see buying organic food regularly as being of value and enjoyable to them. A more favourable appearance vs conventional food was negatively related to behavioural intention. Originality/value This research could aid all stakeholders in the organic food sector, particularly emerging economies like India where the organic market is still nascent. It could be an essential driver to improve customer involvement and thus aid them in the decision-making process to choose organic food over conventional food. It also attempts to establish the usability of TPB in assessing functional attitudes based on constructive attitudes for organic food purchase.

2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (6) ◽  
pp. 1515-1530 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neeraj Dangi ◽  
Sandeep Kumar Gupta ◽  
Sapna A. Narula

PurposeThe paper aims to investigate existing research in factors impacting organic food purchase with special reference to eco-labels and identify the relative influence of various determinants.Design/methodology/approachA conceptual framework is proposed of organic food buying behaviour after analysing a sample of 154,072 consumers reported in 91 research studies from 2001–2020. The factors are categorised into four categories on the basis of relatedness. In addition, the factors were analysed based on time, region and national economic status.FindingsThe impact of consumer psychographics, socio-demographic and product-related factor categories were found to be more pronounced compared to supply-related factor category. The results show that among individual factors like health concern, environment concern, knowledge and awareness, eco-labels and price followed by trust in organic food are the most important factors in organic food purchase. The findings suggest that eco-labels increase trust in organic food by reducing information asymmetry in consumers. However, there were differences in perception and factors importance between high-income economies and emerging economies.Originality/valueThe study is unique, as it analyses secondary research based on criteria of high-income economies and emerging economies. The conceptual framework can also be incorporated further into different cognitive models like the theory of planned behaviour.


2018 ◽  
Vol 45 (4) ◽  
pp. 682-699 ◽  
Author(s):  
Waripas Jiumpanyarach

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate teenagers’ preferences, attitudes, and purchasing power towards organic foods in markets and to explain influences of teenagers’ choices and purchasing intentions on organic foods. Design/methodology/approach A paper-based and a web-based survey were conducted among 557 teenagers in Thailand. A choice experiment logit model was used to identify factors influencing decision in purchasing. Findings The study found that teen consumers were likely to buy ready-to-cook organic food items instead of conventional food items because of health and food safety concerned under their budget constraints. The willingness to pay found organic food items (eggs, pork, chicken) had negative impact but organic opinion had positive impact. The attitudes on high price of organic food items were positive impact because of production process, quality, and quantity of products. Research limitations/implications Teenagers’ consumption impacted on food demands in supermarkets and convenient stores because of their attitudes and behaviours in purchasing. The desired food characteristics should be good quality, safety for consumers, and available in the market nationwide. The supported policies for expanding organic markets were benefits for organic farmers to be sustainable farming. Originality/value This study examined the impacts of economic conditions and the premium quality healthy food products on teenagers’ food motivation.


2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 20-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiang Zhao ◽  
Ksenia Gerasimova ◽  
Yala Peng ◽  
Jiping Sheng

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to discuss characteristics of organic food value chain governance and policy tools that can increase the supply of good quality of agri-products. Design/methodology/approach This paper discusses a national organic food supply system in China, identifying the link between an organization form with a social confidence crisis and information asymmetry as the main challenges. It develops an analytical model of the market structure of organic certification based on the contract theory, which considers the certification incentive driven by both farmers and processors. Two cases of raw milk producers and processors provide empirical data. Findings The argument which is brought forward is that product information asymmetry together with strict requirement for ensuring organic food integrity brings the organic milk value chain into a highly integrated organization pattern. A tight value chain is effective in the governance of organic food supply chain under third party certification (TPC), while a loose value chain discourages producing organic products because of transaction costs. TPC is found to be a positively correlation with a tight value chain, but it brings high organizational cost and it raises cost for consumers. Originality/value This is the first paper discussing the governance of organic food value chain in Chinese milk industry.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdul Alem Mohammed

PurposeThis study aims to investigate the impact of perceived values (hedonic and utilitarian), trust and subjective norms on consumers' purchasing intentions of organic food in Saudi Arabia; it also explores the moderating influence of availability on the relationship between the intentions of consumers and their actual purchasing behaviour.Design/methodology/approachA survey with 236 consumers of organic food in Saudi Arabia was carried out. The convergent and discriminant validity of latent variables was confirmed. The relationships among them were tested using Partial Least Square Modelling (PLS).FindingsThe results indicate that utilitarian and hedonic values, trust and subjective norms positively affect consumer purchase intention. They also reveal the moderating effect of availability on the relationship between consumers' purchasing intention and their actual behaviour in the Saudi Arabian context.Research limitations/implicationsThe study contributes to knowledge about the relationships among perceived values, trust, subjective norms, availability and consumer purchasing intentions of organic food, and their actual behaviour in an emerging market. The results enlarge the understanding of consumers' purchasing behaviour in the Saudi Arabian organic food market and point out some opportunities for future research.Originality/valueThe study is original in investigating the factors that influence customers' intention and their actual purchasing behaviour toward organic food in Saudi Arabia. It is a first attempt to test the moderating influence of availability on the relationship between purchase intention and actual purchasing behaviour toward organic food products in an emerging market.


2017 ◽  
Vol 119 (7) ◽  
pp. 1410-1422 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melika Husic-Mehmedovic ◽  
Maja Arslanagic-Kalajdzic ◽  
Selma Kadic-Maglajlic ◽  
Zlatan Vajnberger

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to disentangle the effect of life equilibrium on organic food purchase intentions through a consideration of the evaluation of intrinsic and extrinsic food quality attributes. Furthermore, the study examines the role of health consciousness in achieving life equilibrium. Design/methodology/approach The conceptual framework was developed based on previous research and tested through a quantitative study with end consumers. The hypothesized relationships were tested using structural equation modelling. Findings The results obtained from this study show that the perceived quality associated with the intrinsic attributes of organic food mediates a positive influence of life equilibrium on consumers’ organic food purchase intentions. The study also confirms that life equilibrium mediates the effects of health consciousness on the evaluation of intrinsic and extrinsic food quality attributes. Research limitations/implications The theoretical contributions of the paper lie in uncovering the complex relationships that exist among health consciousness, life equilibrium, perceived organic food quality dimensions and purchase intentions and providing new evidence showing which perceived intrinsic organic food quality dimensions are relevant in shaping consumers’ purchase intentions. Practical implications The research results suggest that organic food managers should focus on developing stronger value propositions that are based more on intrinsic food quality characteristics and less on extrinsic ones. Originality/value This study recognizes the relevance of life equilibrium as a specific consumer lifestyle form, which drives organic food consumption through extrinsic and intrinsic food quality attributes.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Eluiza Alberto de Morais Watanabe ◽  
Solange Alfinito ◽  
Luisa Lourenço Barbirato

PurposeOrganic food consumption is growing, increasing the need for studies investigating the importance of organic certification labels in emerging countries. The research aims to identify the influence of certification labels and fresh organic produce categories (greenery, vegetable or fruit) on consumer trust and purchase intention.Design/methodology/approachAn online experimental survey 3 × 3 was administered among 349 Brazilian consumers. Certification label and fresh organic produce category were designated as independent variables and manipulated to explore consumer trust and purchase intention. The authors performed a multivariate covariance analysis (MANCOVA) to analyze the data.FindingsResults show that the certification label does not directly affect the dependent variables. It acts as a moderator and indirectly affects both consumer trust and purchase intention. Moreover, depending on the fresh organic produce category considered (greenery, vegetable or fruit), consumer trust changes. Sociodemographic characteristics, age and household income are also important. Finally, the greater the purchase frequency (the main predictor of the model), the greater the purchase intention and consumer trust.Originality/valueThe study contributes to deepen and expand studies involving organic food and to pave the way for future studies that aim to investigate the importance of certification labels of organic foods for consumers.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hong Wang ◽  
Baolong Ma ◽  
Dan Cudjoe ◽  
Rubing Bai ◽  
Muhammad Farrukh

PurposeThe COVID-19 outbreak has been rapidly spreading around the world for more than a year. However, few studies have explored the connection between the perceived severity of COVID-19 and purchase intention of the health-related products, for example, organic food. Based on the stimulus–organism–response (S-O-R) framework, this study examines the influencing mechanism of perceived severity of COVID-19 on purchase intention of organic food.Design/methodology/approachTo evaluate the proposed model, an online survey was utilized to collect 1,104 valid questionnaires from China.FindingsThe findings suggest that (1) the perceived severity of COVID-19 has a significant positive impact on purchasing intention; (2) health consciousness acts as a mediating role between perceived severity of COVID-19 and purchasing intention and (3) perceived inconvenience negatively moderates the connection between perceived severity and purchase intention.Originality/valueThe findings of this paper provide new insights into the positive effects of COVID-19 and pave the way for governments and enterprises to promote the purchase behaviour of organic food.


2016 ◽  
Vol 118 (12) ◽  
pp. 2911-2930 ◽  
Author(s):  
Khandoker Mahmudur Rahman ◽  
Nor Azila Mohd Noor

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the domain relevance of a comprehensive yet almost overlooked theoretical framework for studying organic food purchase behavior in a global context. This conceptual paper argues that there exists an apparently powerful model in health behavior domain that may readily be brought into organic food purchase behavior research. The paper argues for domain relevance and proposes that Montano and Kasprzyk’s integrated behavior model may readily be used in organic food behavior studies with some relevant modification. Design/methodology/approach The paper follows an exploratory approach and shows how variables used in the past may be aggregated to the model in question. The challenge is addressed by following both the inductive and the deductive reasoning. Deductive reasoning calls for investigating whether such behavior may be classified as health behavior. Inductive reasoning calls for proving relevance of all the variables in the aforesaid model to the organic food research context. Findings The paper concludes that the Montano and Kasprzyk’s model is theoretically relevant to the organic food behavior domain. However, it is observed that the domain-specific operationalization is necessary for further empirical studies. Research limitations/implications Since the model was rarely tested empirically in predicting organic food purchase intention, the variable-specific relevance may not warrant the relevance of the whole model with intertwined relationships at the same time. Practical implications The paper may pave a way toward further empirical research and may also explain the apparent intention-behavior gap as often reported in literature. Originality/value The paper may provide a useful direction in future organic food purchase behavior studies by showing the domain relevance of an apparently powerful model, along with addition of some newer variables that may enrich the existing model.


2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 321-337 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shivendra Kumar Pandey ◽  
Arpita Khare

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to understand the effect of antecedents like environmental consciousness and cosmopolitanism (COS) on organic food purchase intention (OFPI) with the possible mediation of opinion seeking (OS) and opinion leadership (OL). Design/methodology/approach – A model drawn largely from environmental value–attitude–system model (Dembkowski and Hanmer-Lloyd, 1994) has been proposed and tested. Primary data from four cities across India were collected using a survey. Findings – COS was the primary factor determining purchase intention. A full mediation of OS behaviour was observed between environmental consciousness and OFPI. No effect of OL on OFPI could be established. Research limitations/implications – Because COS is positively affecting the organic food patronage and cosmopolitans are more likely to be socially responsible consumers, the organic food (OF) manufacturers should target brick and mortar stores in more cosmopolitan cities like Bangalore, Delhi, etc. The mediating role of OS has wider implications for marketers and advertisers both. In line with both theoretical underpinning (theory of planned behaviour), empirical studies (Chakrabarti and Baisya, 2009) and ours, it seems that the customer seeks credible information before purchasing organic food. The word-of-mouth and social media are recommended channels for similar reasons. The websites are a must for OF manufacturers because retailers may not provide adequate promotion/information of the products to the consumers. Practical implications – This study enables marketers in the field of OF domain to target the customers better. It also guides them to have a good integrated marketing communication to cater to the opinion-seeking phenomenon of consumers. Originality/value – The paper investigates the OFPI model better suited to urban cities in India. COS construct usage is a novelty of the paper as well as the mediation of opinion-seeking behaviour. Findings have value both for researchers and practitioners in the OF domain.


2014 ◽  
Vol 116 (10) ◽  
pp. 1561-1580 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdullah Al-Swidi ◽  
Sheikh Mohammed Rafiul Huque ◽  
Muhammad Haroon Hafeez ◽  
Mohd Noor Mohd Shariff

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the applicability of theory of planned behavior (TPB) with special emphasis on measuring the direct and moderating effects of subjective norms on attitude, perceived behavioral control and buying intention in context of buying organic food. Design/methodology/approach – Structured questionnaires were randomly distributed among academic staffs and students of two universities in southern Punjab, Pakistan. Structural equation modeling was employed to test the proposed model fit. Findings – Results of the study showed that subjective norms significantly moderate the relationship between attitudes and buying intention as well as between perceived behavior control and buying intention. Furthermore, subjective norms significantly influence attitude toward buying intention. Practical implications – The paper provides useful insights for the academics and marketers. Academics may further explore the role of subjective norms in order to have a better understanding of their effects on TPB components. Whereas, marketers can target the opinion leaders and reference groups to increase the demand of organic food. Originality/value – Majority of previous studies overlooked the role of subjective norms in determining the buying intentions with respect to organic food. The striking feature of this study is an in-depth emphasis on exploring the direct and moderating effects of subjective norms on the elements of TPB. Moreover, to the best of authors’ knowledge, this is a pioneer study that comprehensively examines the linkage of components of TPB with organic food purchasing in Pakistan.


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