What motivates Indian consumers’ to buy organic food in an emerging market?

Abstract

PurposeIndian consumers are showing an increased demand for organic food products; however, little is known about their intention to buy organic foods. The purpose of this paper is to understand how fear towards conventional food products motivates an individual to buy organic food products and whether trust and perceived price as contextual factors are able to enhance the buying intention.Design/methodology/approachA total of 275 valid responses were collected using a self-administrated structured questionnaire, representative of Indian consumers. An ordinary least square regression analysis was used to analyse the effect of trust and perceived price in influencing the relationship between consumers’ fear and intention to buy organic food products.FindingsThe moderating role of trust and perceived price in enhancing the direct relation between fear and intention was established. In addition, cluster analysis results revealed that married women with children are showing a greater interest in buying organic food products.Practical implicationsThe findings of the study are of high importance to all stakeholders in organic food products, as selecting marketing practices which target consumers’ concern is an indispensable part of finding a niche for organic food products.Originality/valueThe findings suggest that even though consumers are fearful towards conventional food products, they displayed negative intention to buy organic food products when their trust towards the third party is low, thus confirming the importance of trust as a buffering agent.