Consumption of organic food products: an emerging market perspective

Abstract

Abstract:The study was conducted by using a well-structured survey instrument designed to measure attitude, lifestyle and buying patterns of lead organic consumers. Non-probability convenience sampling approach was used to arrive at a total sample of 358 organic consumers. Exploratory factor analysis of the attitudinal and lifestyle related variables under study revealed the existence of five distinct factors. The Cronbach's alpha coefficient for the factors ranged from 0.63 to 0.857. Based on the grouped variables, the five factors were named as: health consciousness: cognitive component; health consciousness: behavioural component; environmental concerns; health over price and normative influence. The saved factors were then used to arrive at a three-cluster solution, namely, socially concerned; health conscious and environmental concerned consumer segments. Further the cluster analysis was validated through a discriminant analysis with 99.4% accuracy. Occupation, marital status and education had a significant association with the segment composition.