Exploring the determinants of purchase intention of organic consumers for organic food items: an exploratory study in India

Abstract

PurposeThe ongoing transition in the attitude of consumers toward health and environment has a direct implication on the organic food industries, making it necessary to examine the drivers of the purchase intention of organic food items, specifically in developing economies like India. Therefore, this study tries to frame and validate the instrumental scale by collecting data from 574 organic food item consumers to examine the determinants of purchase intention among consumers in India.Design/methodology/approachThis study has employed advanced statistical tools i.e. Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), Harmon’s single factor test and other statistical measures using SPSS and AMOS 23, for framing and validating the instrumental scale for this study.FindingsThe results of EFA explain 67.714% variance of total research variable variance with six major constructs. Moreover, the result of the CFA confirms the six factors and the proposed instrumental scale. The finding explicates that health consciousness, ecological trustworthiness and functional value are the major drivers of the purchase intention of organic food items.Practical implicationsThis study has major policy implications for organic producers, processor and marketers for understanding the complex phenomenon of organic consumer behavior. The result explains that marketers and producers should adopt ad hoc marketing strategies that aim to promote the organic food items as healthy and safe.Originality/valueThere is hardly any study that has proposed and validated an instrumental scale with these factors collectively in India for studying the purchase intention of organic food consumers in India.