Determinants of organic food consumption. A systematic literature review on motives and barriers

Abstract

During the last few decades, interest in organically produced food has steadily risen around the world. Consequently, academic interest in better understanding the different motives and barriers underlying organic food consumption has also increased. But, the scope of these published studies is both broad and fragmented. There is a lack of research that systematically examines and presents a comprehensive review of the different motives and barriers and their association with purchase decisions. The current study shows a systematic literature review of different motives and barriers and their association with purchase decisions in context to organic food. A total of 89 empirical studies was considered in the review. Two popular theoretical frameworks, namely the theory of consumption values and innovation resistance theory, were used to categorize the identified motives and barriers. The primary outcomes of this systematic literature review are: a) descriptive statistics on the selected studies; b) comprehensive summary of motives and barriers mentioned in selected studies using theory of consumption values and innovation resistance theory; c) classification of motives and barriers on consumer involvement, research design and country status; d) framework on the association between motives, barriers and purchase decisions; e) implications for scholars, managers, and policymakers interested in better understanding issues related to organic food consumption.

Introduction

In the past few decades, the consumption community around organic food has amplified across the globe, and so has the demand for organic produce. This growing demand of organic food has motivated the academic community to investigate the motives as well as the barriers toward organic food consumption (Pham, Nguyen, Phan, & Nguyen, 2018a; Ryan & Casidy, 2018). An extensive literature has reported different consumer motives to buy organic food, such as taste, nutritional value, health, environment, and even farmers’ welfare (Bryła, 2016; Wojciechowska-Solis and Soroka, 2017a, Wojciechowska-Solis and Soroka, 2017b). The relative importance of these motives also varied across the different empirical studies (Lillywhite, Al-Oun, & Simonsen, 2013a; Scalvedi & Saba, 2018a; Zakowska-Biemans, 2011). For instance, Zakowska-Biemans (2011) found sensory appeal as the most critical motive followed by health, natural content, and ethical concern. However, Lillywhite et al., 2013a, Lillywhite et al., 2013b found health and safety as the essential motives followed by taste and environment. Similarly, scholars have emphasized the critical role of consumer barriers that can significantly jeopardize the purchase related decision-making process (Kushwah, Dhir, & Sagar, 2019a). Prior literature suggests different barriers with their varying relative importance across studies, such as limited variety, availability, low visibility, higher price, shorter shelf life, lack of knowledge, lack of trust, time and many others (see González, 2009; Lillywhite et al., 2013a, Lillywhite et al., 2013b).

The literature around motives and barriers toward organic food consumption is growing, but no attempt has been made to present a systematic review of this growing body of research. A systematic review can provide useful insights to both academics and practitioners. Academics can utilize a systematic review to understand the determinants which are more highly cited or less cited in the literature and can design their study accordingly. On the other hand, practitioners can also use the findings of this review to understand the most essential determinants based on the summary of the studies in their context and could accordingly design necessary processes and strategies for targeting potential consumers. Due to these reasons, there is a pertinent need to summarize the existing literature on organic food consumption in terms of motives and barriers and its influence on buying behavior.

The review of existing literature suggests three prior related literature reviews that focused on organic food consumption. Hughner, McDonagh, Prothero, Shultz, and Stanton (2007) performed a systematic literature review of studies published until 2004 and summarized the different motives and barriers toward organic food consumption. Scalco, Noventa, Sartori, and Ceschi (2017) employed a meta-analytic review to examine the motivation for buying organic food using the theory of planned behavior. A most recent study by Massey, O'Cass, and Otahal (2018) conducted a literature review that focused on drivers of organic food. To the best of our knowledge, post-Hughner et al.’s (2007) study, there is a lack of a systematic literature review on the different motives and barriers underlying organic food consumption. The current research aims to bridge this open gap in the prior literature through a systematic literature review examining motives and barriers in context to organic food consumption.

The main reasons for choosing the systematic literature review approach were: first, systematic literature review helps in the synthesis as well as the critical analysis of existing literature. This not only provides transparent and reproducible research, but also allows the researcher to determine gaps and future research direction on the studied subject. Second, research work in management has now become more interdisciplinary and interdependent (Parris & Peachey, 2013). Similarly, the literature on organic food is available in different journals with different scope, country, and audiences. Therefore, it was necessary to perform systematic literature review in comparison to traditional review methods as they restrict the scope of the review to a specific set of journals, authors, and other limiting criteria. Therefore, in an extension of the prior review, the current study aims to understand the motives and barriers underlying organic food consumption that has evolved since 2005. The scope of current systematic literature review is a) review the existing literature and identify the motives (positive) and barriers (negative) and b) examine the association between different motives, barriers, and organic food purchase decisions. This is important since both positive (motives) and negative (barriers) antecedents have a significant influence on the purchase decision-making process (see Barbarossa & De Pelsmacker, 2016).

Due to the lack of coherent viewpoints on the identification of different motives and barriers, the current study has employed two well-known theoretical frameworks as a theoretical lens. The study used theory of consumption values (Sheth, Newman, & Gross, 1991) and innovation resistance theory (Ram and Sheth, 1989a, Ram and Sheth, 1989b). This systematic literature review aims to significantly contribute to both theory and practice around organic food consumption by uncovering various interesting dimensions related to the existing literature on the subject.

The motives behind organic food consumption are classified with the help of theory of consumption values. This theory suggests five consumption values, namely, functional, social, emotional, epistemic, and conditional value (Sheth et al., 1991). It has been adopted in multiple domains to understand underlying motives or drivers toward a choice of engaging (or consuming) in a given product, brand, or service. Example, hedonic digital artifacts (Turel, Serenko, & Bontis, 2010), green products (Biswas & Roy, 2015a, 2015b; Lin & Huang, 2012; Mohd Suki & Mohd; Suki, 2015; Yildirim & Candan, 2015) and organic food (Finch, 2005; Kushwah, Dhir, & Sagar, 2019b; Rahnama, 2017). Considering the diverse application of the theory of consumption values in understanding consumer motivation and choice behavior, the current study has employed this framework for classifying the different identified motivating factors into five different value domains.

Innovation resistance theory has been utilized to classify the barriers to organic food consumption into two categories, namely, functional and psychological barriers (Ram & Sheth, 1989a). Functional barriers arise when the consumer experiences significant changes due to the usage of new product or innovation, while, on the other hand, a psychological barrier occurs when the experience conflicts with their existing values and belief system (Ram & Sheth, 1989a). Functional barriers are usage, value, and risk, while psychological barriers are tradition and image. These barriers have been studied in a variety of contexts to better understand the consumer resistance while making purchase decisions, such as mobile banking (Laukkanen, Sinkkonen, Kivijärvi, & Laukkanen, 2007), electronic commerce (Lian & Yen, 2014), and more recently in context to organic food (Kushwah et al., 2019a). Organic food is considered as eco-innovation or sustainable innovation worldwide (Thøgersen & Zhou, 2012). Although the advantages of organic food have been recognized globally, the consumer still faces specific resistance/barriers during consumption. These barriers are very well-documented in the literature; however, there lacks a comprehensive review.

The main research objectives of this systematic literature review are: First, to outline various descriptive by examining the available empirical literature on motives and barriers toward organic food consumption (e.g., publication timeline, context, theoretical foundations, variables (dependent, moderating and control) used in selected studies and so forth). Second, to identify and classify different motives and barriers studied in selected studies using theory of consumption values and innovation resistance theory, respectively. Third, to examine motives and barriers with respect to the studied groups based on consumer involvement, research design, and country status. Fourth, to develop a framework on the association between motives, barriers, and organic food purchase decisions. Lastly, to present different implications for scholars as well as practitioners interested in the domain of organic food consumption.

The structure of the paper will be as follows: Section 2 focuses on the research method employed to search the relevant articles for the study. Section 3 presents the descriptive statistics of the present study (such as timeline, theories, research methods, geographic scope, variables studied (dependent, control and moderating), and so forth. Section 4 Motives driving organic food consumption, 5 Barriers preventing organic food consumption discuss the classification of motives and barriers and the comparison among the studied groups. Section 6 presents an integrated framework of the association between motives, barriers, and purchase decision-making. Lastly, section 7 Implications, 8 Limitations and future work, 9 Conclusion present the implications, limitations, and conclusion of the study.