Consumer Behaviour towards Organic Products: The Moderating Role of Environmental Concern

Abstract

The pandemic caused by COVID-19 has changed the mindset of many consumers. They are increasingly aware of the risks of not caring for the planet. Before the pandemic, there was a perceived increase in collective environmental concern and sustainability, but COVID-19 has further accelerated this process and motivated more people to assume this responsibility. Thus, the health crisis could trigger the consumption of organic foods, which are foods produced through environmentally friendly agricultural methods and that have not been artificially altered. It is essential for retailers to know how these consumers of organic foods behave in order to try to modify their strategies. In this context, the objective of this research is to analyze the relationship between attitude, satisfaction, trust, purchase and word-of-mouth (WOM) intentions towards organic products. The results of a survey administered a survey to a sample of 195 consumers show that trust is influenced by satisfaction and attitude. In relation to the behavioural variables, satisfaction is the variable that has the greatest influence on purchase intentions and WOM intentions. In addition, a moderating effect of environmental concern is observed on the proposed relationships.

Consumer versus Organic Products in the COVID-19 Pandemic: Opportunities and Barriers to Market Development

“…Because the majority of consumers are unable to evaluate the features and benefits of the offered products, in many cases, they trust the labels and certifications [13] which, in turn, boosts purchase intention [14]. What is more, if a consumer has great confidence in a product, the person is more willing to recommend it to others [6,15]. At the level of the European Union, the principles of organic production, control, certification as well as labeling of the products of organic farming are regulated by Council Regulation (EEC) 2092/91 of 24 June 1991 on organic production of agricultural products and labeling of agricultural products and foodstuffs.…”

“…According to Cachero-Martínez [6], the pandemic caused by COVID-19 changed the mentality of many consumers. People have started to be more aware of the dangers that are the result of not taking care of the planet.…”

Purchasing Behavior of Organic Food among Chinese University Students

“…Increasing consumers' concerns for personal health and sustainable food have triggered the need to undertake more research on the consumption of organic food [4]. Further, the outbreak of COVID-19 led to changing consumers' mindsets and triggered the need for a healthy lifestyle [5,6]. Consumers care and value organic food production and maintain a stronger preference for organic food [7][8][9][10].…”

Sustainable Consumption in Consumer Behavior in the Time of COVID-19: Topic Modeling on Twitter Data Using LDA

“…Based on the LDA algorithm, we identified six main topics from the area of sustainable consumption that are of importance to Twitter users during COVID-19. The first topic emerging from the analysis concerns organic food consumption, i.e., food that is produced through environmentally friendly agricultural methods, without fertilizers and synthetic chemicals [96]. This result is not surprising given that the concern for health, including healthy eating, is gaining importance among consumers during the COVID-19 pandemic [18,24].…”