Buying organic food as sustainable consumer decision-making behavior: Cognitive and affective attitudes as drivers of purchase intentions toward environmentally friendly products

Abstract

We inspect the relevant literature on trust management in organic agriculture, providing both quantitative evidence on trends and numerous in-depth empirical examples. Our study adds to current research by analyzing environmentally sustainable consumer behavior, consumers’ perceptions, motivations, attitudes, trust, values, and purchasing intentions and decisions regarding organically produced foods, the credence characteristics of organic food and perception of and motives for buying it, and the link between consumer perceptions of certified organic products and pro-environmental food purchasing behavior. We define buying organic food as sustainable consumer decision-making behavior and identify cognitive and affective attitudes that act as drivers of purchase intentions toward environmentally friendly products. Using and replicating data from The Conference Board, Eurostat, FiBL-AMI, The Hartman Group, The Independent, indy100, Nielsen, Organic Trade Association, Pew Research Center, Statista, USDA, and USA Today, we performed analyses and made estimates regarding countries with the largest markets for organic food and with the highest per capita consumption, distinctions consumers make between organic and natural products, the percentages of people willing to pay 20% more or higher for organic groceries, and willingness to pay a premium (more than average price) for products that provide certain organic attributes or benefits. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling.