Elsevier

Food Quality and Preference

Volume 39, January 2015, Pages 259-267
Food Quality and Preference

Consumers’ perceptions of organic food attributes and cognitive and affective attitudes as determinants of their purchase intentions toward organic food

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodqual.2014.06.002Get rights and content

Highlights

  • The S-O-R model is applied to explain a consumer buying behavior of organic food.

  • Key organic food attributes influence consumers’ utilitarian and hedonic attitudes.

  • Utilitarian and hedonic attitudes influence intentions to purchase organic food.

Abstract

The current study investigates how consumers perceive organic food attributes, which in turn influence their utilitarian and hedonic attitudes and intentions to purchase organic food. Specifically, consumers’ perceptions of nutritional content, ecological welfare, and price attributes of organic food have strong effects on utilitarian attitudes as well as hedonic attitudes toward buying organic food, while perceptions of the sensory appeal attribute have a strong effect on hedonic attitudes. Interestingly, consumers’ perceptions of the natural content attribute of organic food are not a significant determinant of the two dimensions of attitude. Lastly, utilitarian and hedonic attitudes play an important and influential role in determining behavioral intentions to purchase organic food. This study raises questions about the lack of a theoretical framework in previous organic food studies. Therefore, a modified S–O–R model is applied to provide theoretical support for organic food research. In addition, this study employs a bi-dimensional approach to attitudes (i.e., utilitarian and hedonic attitudes), contributing to a better understanding of consumers’ expectations and perceptions in their behaviors regarding organic food.

Introduction

One of the American core values is health and wellness (Schiffman & Kanuk, 2010), as evidenced by the growing number of US consumers who are concerned about the nutritional value of what they eat (USDA., 2001–2002) and attempt to follow a healthful diet that can decrease the risk of obesity and chronic diseases (Miller & Cassady, 2012). As a result, when consumers make food purchasing decisions, health-related attributes of food have become as important as non-health related attributes such as taste or sensory appeal, familiarity, and convenience (IFICF, 2012, Steptoe et al., 1995). This trend may contribute toward the growth of organic food sales because organic food is generally believed to have a higher nutritional content (Lea & Worsley, 2005).

One reason for the growing demand for organic food is increased environmental consciousness. The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) describes organic food as food “produced by farmers who emphasize the use of renewable resources and the conservation of soil and water to enhance environmental quality for future generations” (USDA., 2007, para. 4). Organic meat, poultry, eggs, and dairy products are free of antibiotics or growth hormones. Also, organic food is not grown or processed with conventional pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, bioengineering, or ionizing radiation (USDA, 2007). Consumers’ increasing demand for organic food may also be attributable to socially-conscious consumerism. More consumers are aware of the environmental, social, and economic impacts their choices may incur (OTA., 2010). According to a national consumer survey conducted by Simmons Market Research Bureau, more than one-third of consumers indicated that they are willing to pay more for environmentally-safe or ethical products than for conventional products (Socially-Conscious Consumerism., 2007).

The aforementioned organic food attributes, along with increasing interest in health and quality of life, environmental preservation, and food safety, have stimulated US families to choose a wide range of organic food products (OTA., 2013). Organic food sales in the US reached $29.2 billion in 2011, a 9.4% increase from the previous year. The US organic food sector has been growing at an average of 9.4% for the past five years and is expected to reach total revenues of $46.5 billion by 2016 (Datamonitor., 2012). Despite this projection, organic food sales constitute only approximately 4% of total US food sales in 2010 (OTA., 2011). Therefore, the US organic food sector has great potential for further expansion.

To effectively respond to the continued growth of the organic food market, companies need to identify the attributes which give organic food an advantage over conventional food and to understand how consumers form their intentions to purchase organic food. Therefore, this study has three main objectives: (1) to investigate how consumers perceive organic food attributes, which in turn influence their attitudes and intentions to buy, (2) to explore how consumers’ perceptions of organic food attributes are related to two dimensions of attitude, the utilitarian and hedonic dimensions, and (3) to propose and empirically test the modified Stimulus–Organism–Response (S–O–R) model, which we have adapted to better reflect the constructs used in organic food studies.

Section snippets

Conceptual background

Organic food research to date lacks strong theoretical underpinnings. Many studies on organic food are more exploratory than theoretical in their attempts to explain the consumer decision-making process (e.g., Essoussi and Zahaf, 2008, Tsakiridou et al., 2008). Although very few theoretical frameworks have been employed in organic food studies, theories that researches have used to study organic food consumption are attitude–behavior models such as the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) and the

Hypothesis development

Health is generally agreed to be the primary motive for purchasing organic food. In previous studies, healthiness of organic food was found to be the most frequently mentioned reason why consumers select organic food (Padel & Foster, 2005). Although it is controversial whether organic food is actually more nutritious than conventional food, some studies found that consumers believe that it is (Lea & Worsley, 2005). Davies, Titterington, and Cochrane (1995) stated that organic food is perceived

Method

Data were collected using a web-based survey to recruit participants from pools of consumer panels registered with a market research company. The samples for this study were primary grocery shoppers in the household who had ever purchased any food product labeled “organic.” A sample of respondents who meet the specific sample criteria was invited by email to participate in the study. As an incentive for completing the survey, participants received a reward currency from the market research

Results and discussion

After non-qualified and incomplete surveys were excluded, the remaining 725 surveys were used for analysis. As widely accepted rule of thumb, structural equation modeling (SEM) should be conducted on samples of no less than 200 (Kline, 2005). However, others suggested that 5–10 responses per each estimated parameter would result in an appropriate sample size (Bentler and Chou, 1987, Hair et al., 1998). Based on this guideline, at least 325 participants are required to test the model. According

Conclusions

This study raised questions about the lack of a theoretical framework in organic food studies that explore consumer behavior associated with buying organic food. The S–O–R model was applied to provide a solid theoretical foundation for the proposed study. Based on the S–O–R model, the study examined how consumers perceive organic food attributes (S) that lead to consumers’ attitudes (O) and behavioral intentions to buy organic food (R). Based on the empirical investigation of grocery shoppers

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