What drives organic food purchasing? – evidence from Croatia

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the direction and strength of the influence of inherent factors of the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) and to extend a model with the variable “uniqueness-seeking lifestyle” to better explain the variance in the intention to purchase organic food and the referent actual behaviour. Design/methodology/approach The authors empirically investigated what drives consumers to purchase organic food using structural equation modelling in AMOS. The research was based on an in-person survey carried out on a convenient sample of 411 primary household shoppers in Croatia. Findings The study was able to capture not only the influence of inherent factors in TPB and the extension variable (all proposed constructs were shown to have a significant positive influence on intention, and intention had a significant positive influence on actual behaviour), but also the indirect and mediation effects of the variables within the model, which explain 87 per cent of the variance in intention and 21 per cent of the variance in actual behaviour. Originality/value This study provides empirical evidence of the role that desired uniqueness plays in a situation involving the purchase of organic food and responds to the requests of many researchers to investigate beyond intention and to try to identify what influences actual behaviour. This study proposes a new way of measuring actual purchases by asking a respondent to consider their actual purchase in different product categories. Furthermore, this research proposes measuring intention as a latent variable that consists of the variable “willingness to pay more” as well as the “commitment” to the decision regardless of any perceived obstacles.

Understanding consumer resistance to the consumption of organic food. A study of ethical consumption, purchasing, and choice behaviour

“…The study findings confirm significant association between purchase intentions and choice behaviour, consistent with previous literature (Ham et al, 2018;von Meyer-Höfer et al, 2015). The other major insight of the study is that ethical consumption intentions are also significantly associated with purchase intentions as well as the choice behaviour.…”

“…Prior extended literature in the last decade has examined different issues in regard to organic food and consumers. This includes profiling of organic buyers (Chen, Lobo, & Rajendran, 2014;Hansen et al, 2018;Nandi, Bokelmann, Gowdru, & Dias, 2016;Petrescu, Petrescu-Mag, Burny, & Azadi, 2017), motivations for buying organic food (Hansen et al, 2018;Hasselbach & Roosen, 2015a;Hwang, 2016;Petrescu et al, 2017;Pham, Nguyen, Phan, & Nguyen, 2018a;Scalvedi & Saba, 2018;Sobhanifard, 2018), purchase intentions toward organic food (e.g., Asif, Xuhui, Nasiri, & Ayyub, 2018;Çabuk, Tanrikulu, & Gelibolu, 2014;Ham, Pap, & Stanic, 2018;Hsu & Chen, 2014;Lee & Yun, 2015;Mainardes, de Araujo, Lasso, & Andrade, 2017;Pham et al, 2018;Prakash, Singh, & Yadav, 2018), willingness to pay (Hasselbach & Roosen, 2015a;Lim, Yong, & Suryadi, 2014) and consumer attitude toward consumption (Çabuk et al, 2014;Chekima et al, 2017;Janssen, 2018;Mainardes et al, 2017;Singh & Verma, 2017;Teng & Wang, 2015;Thøgersen, de Barcellos, Perin, & Zhou, 2015b).…”

“…Purchase intention is considered as the most significant predictor of actual buying behaviour (Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975). Numerous attempts have been made in the recent years to understand purchase intention toward organic food as a means to suggest consumer purchase behavior (Anisimova, 2016;Asif et al, 2018;Chang & Chang, 2017;Chen et al, 2014;Ham et al, 2018;Husic-Mehmedovic et al, 2017;Mainardes et al, 2017;Ryan & Casidy, 2018;Teng & Wang, 2015;Yazdanpanah & Forouzani, 2015).…”

Factors Influencing Organic Food Purchase Intention in Developing Countries and the Moderating Role of Knowledge

“…By contrast, PBC is insignificant in Kenya, which is an interesting result. The extant literature on this situation, such as Ham, Pap and Stanic [95], clarified that people from collectivistic countries may experience strong pressure from others and be willing to comply with their opinions. Thus, they do not possess a high level of autonomy and self-confidence (PBC) in terms of decision-making regarding the trial/purchase of novel products.…”

An exploration of distribution channels: Challenges and opportunities for organic food producers in Croatia

“…Due to negative aspects of capital-intensive agriculture, in the sense of negative ecological, social and economic consequences caused by mass production, specialization, standardization of the product and high income, there has been an increased interest of the foreign and domestic scientific and general public for organic agriculture (Petljak, 2011). In recent decades, organic food has become very popular among the producers, retailers and consumers (Jones et al, 2001;Cerjak et al, 2010;Ham et al, 2018). The popularity of organic food is the result of many factors.…”