Motivators and barriers to sustainable food consumption: Qualitative inquiry about organic food consumers in a developing nation

Abstract

The present research attempts to qualitatively explore the motivators and barriers of organic food consumption in the Indian context. The data were collected using semistructured in‐depth interviews and analyzed using grounded theory. The theoretical sampling technique was used to interview 34 consumers who have purchased organic food in the past. The findings reported health consciousness, environmental consciousness, social identity, consumer ethnocentrism, and concern for farmers as the factors that motivate organic food purchase among consumers. The factors such as high prices of organic food, unavailability, trust issues, and limited marketing communications from the firms were identified as major barriers to organic food purchase and consumption. The study is one of the initial attempts to qualitatively explore the consumers' motivation for organic food consumption in the Indian context. The findings will help policymakers to devise suitable strategies so that they can effectively target the organic food choices by understanding the motivators/barriers, and promote the sustainable lifestyle in the society, as food consumption plays a crucial role in achieving environmental sustainability.

Exploring Influential Factors Including COVID-19 on Green Food Purchase Intentions and the Intention–Behaviour Gap: A Qualitative Study among Consumers in a Chinese Context

“…With regard to measuring the purchase frequency, respondents were categorized into three groups: (i) regular buyers (i.e., consumers buy more than green food), (ii) irregular buyers (i.e., buy green and other food equally), and (iii) casual buyers (i.e., buy other food more), based on the categorization used by Rana and Paul [ 42 ]. For qualitative questions such as exploring factors that drive green food purchase intention and trigger IBG, grounded theory was used to conduct data coding [ 39 ], which followed the procedure from Yadav et al [ 43 ]. Data coding was analyzed in different phases: (i) open coding (i.e., identifying recurring patterns in the responses), (ii) axial coding (i.e., merging the closely related open codes under broader dimensions), and (iii) selective coding (i.e., looking for connections and statements) [ 39 ].…”

Quality and Nutritional Parameters of Food in Agri-Food Production Systems

“…While the effects of the agro-food industry on the environment and nutrition lead consumers to organic foods, food availability and affordability can also encourage the purchase of non-organic foods [21]. Several studies reveal that some of the prominent motivating factors for buying organic food are health-promotion or nutrition, attractiveness, nutritional and biological value, domain-specific innovativeness, origin, regionalism, health benefits and awareness, product quality, health and environmental consciousness, social and self-identity, food safety, trust, freshness, credibility, emotions, perception, and sensory properties such as taste, appearance, odour, flavour, intensive aroma, mouth feel and texture [22][23][24][25][26].…”

Is it really organic? Credibility factors of organic food–A systematic review and bibliometric analysis

“…For example, general trust in the certification system is low in Thailand [ 27 ], but it can create trust if consumers know about the certification body [ 30 ]. The preference for certification from a developed country and lack of trust in the local certifiers can be seen in the case of Brazilian [ 31 ], Russian [ 32 ], Indian [ 33 ], Vietnamese [ 34 ], and Chinese [ 35 ] consumers.…”

“…CSR activities of organic food companies can positively influence consumer trust of organic food [ 69 ]. The lack of known brands can cause trust issues in certain markets [ 33 ].…”