Attitudinal inconsistency toward organic food in relation to purchasing intention and behavior

Abstract

PurposeThis study aims to examine the attitudinal inconsistency among Taiwanese consumers toward organic agriculture/food, and its relationship to their willingness to pay a premium and purchase for organic product.Design/methodology/approachA telephone survey consisting of 913 households was made to reach an estimated 3.3 percent sampling error with 95 percent confidence level.FindingsIt was found that those who were female, who had higher occupation prestige, who had college education levels, who were aged in their 40s, and who possessed an optimistic opinion toward the necessity of organic farming tend to pay a premium for and buy organic food. The majority of Taiwanese respondents showed a high level of concern about pesticides but a low trust in organic food, which revealed an attitudinal inconsistency toward organic agriculture/food. A multiple discriminant analysis with a moderating variable shows that consumers' trust in organic food and their pesticide concern jointly explain the respondents' willingness to pay a premium and purchasing behavior. The influence of consumers' pesticide concern on their willingness to pay a premium and purchase actually depends on their levels of trust.Originality/valueAs a whole, lack of trust and confusing organic product certification levels is the main barrier to Taiwan's organic agriculture development. Further communication and policy modification is needed to reinforce consumers' confidence in organic agriculture/food.

Green Awareness and Purchase Intention for Organic Products

“…It is stated on previous research that customer trust level determines customer purchase intention towards organic product [16], it is also supported by study from [17], explained that customer trust is positively significant to influence customer buying decision. Especially for organic product of a customer trust can be assessed by four important cases which is the level of reliable, dependable, trustworthy, and expectations [18].…”

Marketing Mix Influencing Organic Foods Purchase of Mexican Consumers

“…However, several studies have established marketing constructs on aspects that may explain why we buy a product (Stead et al, 1991;Tung et al, 2012). In this case we developed four constructs from a business management approach (price, product, communication, and distribution) to be related to the organic food purchase construct.…”

“…There have been numerous publications related to organic foods purchase (Montoro-Rios et al, 2006), specifically in the early 90's increases their strength (Schahn & Holzer, 1990; W. E. Stead, J. G. Stead, & Worrell, 1991;Banerjee, Gulas, & Iyer, 1995;Govidnasamy & Italia, 1999) to keep growing since then (De Ferran & Grunert, 2007;Chen, 2007, Bansal, 2008Grundey & Zaharia, 2008;Hartmann, Apaolaza-Ibáñez, & Forcada-Sainz, 2005;Ojala, 2008;Gifford & Bernard, 2011;Tung et al, 2012). …”

“…Gifford and Bernard (2011) found out that the effects of presenting information prior purchase organic products increased by 50% of participants the WTP. Besides that those who were female, who had higher occupation prestige, who had college education levels, who were aged in their 40's, and who possessed an optimistic opinion toward the necessity of organic farming tend to pay a premium for and buy organic food (Tung et al, 2012(Tung et al, , p. 1003. However, the likelihood of paying a premium for organic produce decreases with the number of individuals living in the household (Govindasamy & Italia, 1999).…”

“…These factors have been investigated as influences of the purchase decision: price strategies (Bhate & Lawler, 1997;L. K. Mathur, & I. Mathur, 2000;Moon et al, 2002;Tung et al, 2012), product strategies (Martinsons et al, 1997;Chen, 2001;Handfield et al, 2001;Pujari, Wright, & Peattie, 2003;De Caluwe, 2004;Bhaskaran et al, 2006;Jansen & Stevels, 2006;De Ferran & Grunert, 2007), distribution strategies (Handfield et al, 2001) and communication strategies (Carlson, Grove, & Kangun, 1993;Banerjee, Gulas, & Iyer, 1995;Carlson & Grove, 1996;Mohr, Eroglu, & Ellen, 1998;Wagner & Hansen, 2002;Lankard & McLaughlin, 2003) but not altogether in cause-effect analysis.…”