Eating Clean and Green? Investigating Consumer Motivations towards the Purchase of Organic Food

Abstract

Growing consumer concern for health and environment issues has resulted in increased attention towards the purchase and consumption of organic food. This has driven an increase in organic research, especially as marketers seek to understand the motivations behind consumer purchases of organic goods. This study explored the effects of health consciousness, environmental concern, organic knowledge, availability, quality, price consciousness, subjective norms, risk aversion, perceived control and familiarity on organic attitudes, organic purchase intentions and organic purchase behaviour. These variables formed the antecedents of the causal model which utilised Ajzen and Fishbein's (1980) Theory of Reasoned Action as the framework of analysis. Results showed strong support for the relationship between organic knowledge, subjective norms and environmental concern on organic attitudes. While health consciousness, quality, subjective norms and familiarity were found to influence purchase intentions, familiarity was the only variable found to exhibit a significant relationship with organic purchase behaviour. This paper will discuss the implications of these results for marketers. It will also consider the limitations of the study and areas for future research.

Motives Underlying Organic Food Consumption in Turkey: Impact of Health, Environment, and Consumer Values on Purchase Intentions

“…Product attributes such as quality (Lockie et al, 2002;Smith & Paladino, 2010;Hamzaoui-Essoussi & Zahaf, 2012;Ergin & Ozsacmaci, 2011), better taste (Lockie et al, 2002;Dahm, Samonte, & Shows, 2009;Hasançebi, 2010;Hughner et al, 2007;Stolz, Stolze, Hamm, Janssen, & Ruto, 2010;Hamzaoui-Essoussi & Zahaf, 2012;Ergin & Ozsacmaci, 2011), nutrition value, and freshness (Fotopoulos & Chryssochoidis, 2000) have also found to be influential in organic food consumption.…”

Use of Structural Equation Modeling to Predict the Intention to Purchase Green and Sustainable Homes in Malaysia

“…Furthermore, others have argued that attitude and self identity are interrelated. There are studies which found that individuals who view themselves concerned with environmental issues are more likely to have favorable attitudes towards practicing environmentally responsible behavior (Raisbeck & Wardlaw, 2009;Smith & Paladina, 2010;Pino et al, 2012).…”

“…In the case of green products, price and availability have the potential to limit or even prevent individuals' green purchases. Magnusson et al, (2001) and Smith and Paladina (2010) both argued that many individuals consider price to be an important determinant of green purchases. For example, price is often perceived to be a major barrier to the purchase of organic produce (Lea & Worsley, 2005;Magnusson et al, 2001;Michaelidou & Hassan, 2010).…”

Antecedents and outcomes of consumer environmentally friendly attitudes and behaviour

“…Some of the measures employed were: personal values, such as security, fun/enjoyment, and self-gratification (e.g., McCarty & Shrum, 1994;Jansson, Marell, & Nordlund, 2010); ethical ideologies, such as deontologism and teleologism (e.g., Spash, 1997;Chan et al, 2008); societal factors, such as liberalism and social altruism (e.g., Straughan & Roberts, 1999;Paladino, 2005); cultural orientations, such as collectivism and individualism (e.g., Laroche, Bergeron, & Barbaro-Forleo, 1999;McCarty & Shrum, 2001); and personal environmental beliefs, such as faith in others, perceived consumer effectiveness, and susceptibility to normative influence (e.g., Ellen et al,. 1991;Minton & Rose, 1997;Smith & Paladino, 2010). Although these parameters provided very useful insights in explaining ecologically friendly behaviour, they were often criticized as being difficult to measure and implement (Brooker, 1976;Balderjahn, 1988;Chan, 1999;Kilbourne & Pickett, 2008).…”