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Consumer Behaviour Organic Foods Marketing
Essay
This literature review is intended to critically analyze the changing consumer
behaviour as a consequence of recently increasing awareness of organic f oods.
With the ever rising global issues like recession and the resulting inf lation,
consumers are now becoming more and more conscious about what and how they
spend on. Increased environmental awareness has played an equally important in
diverting the much needed attention towards the consumption of basic necessities by
more ethical means. Authors like Carrigan and Attalla (2001) stress on the f act that
consumers nowadays much more inf ormed and sophisticated in nature but still
inf luenced by such changing f actors. Recent surveys indicate a steep climb in the
percentage of population that now considers organic f oods better than conventional
f oods, around 45%. Opinions have however, remained dif f erent and still 47% argue
that it organically produced f oods no dif f erence (Natural Choices, 2007). This review
will aim to cover the f actors that have contributed in inf luencing this certain kind of
consumer behaviour f rom the consumers perspective towards their pref erence or
non pref erence of organic f oods. The review will conclude with some personal
reactions regarding the consumer autonomy.
A recent Organic Industry Survey by the Organic Trade Association reveals a
whopping $26.6 billion in US alone with the organic f ruits and vegetables seeing
increased sales of 11.4% f rom 2008 to 2009 (Food production design, 2010). A whole
new bunch of convincing belief s have apparently seemed to propel the adoption and
wider acceptance of organic f oods, including better taste and greater tolerance
towards animals and environments (Wright, 2001). This drives a strong compulsion to
determine some possible f actors that might have inf luenced their decision to opt f or
organically produced f ood products. The cornerstone of this particular behaviour can
be mere consumer motivation driven by dif f erent attitudes that change the
consumers ideas towards certain belief s. Flemings (1967) concept of attitude as
cited by Bagozzi, Canli and Priester (2002, p.4) simply puts it as a mental state and
inclination of ones body to perf orm an action. People tend to understand and
categorize the products they come across and consequently it af f ects their
perception about f avorable products and unf avorable ones (katz, 1960).
So who is consuming organic f ood then? They are health conscious environment
alert consumers with higher sums of disposable income as noted by (Bellia, 1987;
Carr, 1999) and Mintel (1991) in a series of independent studies of purchaser
prof iles in Northern Ireland. The utilization is seen not only limited to individuals but
to a much broader prospective where two or more individuals and even f amilies are
included. Makatouni and Harpers (2002) speaks of three categories of research
where values inf luencing the consumption were identif ied to centre around human
beings, the well beings of animals and that of the environment. Such values are seen
ef f ectively motivating individuals to opt f or organic f oods. The primary f actors
remained to human and f amily values where the well-being of f amily members was a
prime f ocus. From a diverse set of population Makatouni and Harper (2002) was able
to interpret the particular behaviour where participants choose animal and livestock
well f are into consideration when shopping f or good, this demonstrated the concern
of consumers penetrating all the way down to the supply chain. The study conf irmed
a chain based value associated with organic consumption where the prime inf luence
was again noted as the health f actor but equal importance was noticed to be paid to
values like responsibility towards f amily members, livestock and environment. In
relevance to the theory Makatouni and Harper (2002) attempted to link the consumer
involvement in organic products with their self -relevance using means-end chain
theory. Consumers sometimes tend to take products attributes as means to achieve
their desired values (Reynolds and Gutman, 1984).
Gracia and Magistris (2008) support yet another f unction of value-expressive
motioned by Katz (1960) with their own f indings while investigating consumers'
decision making process f or f oods produced organically with results explaining
health attribute and environmentally benignness being the most important f actors.
The f ormer attribute, however, is deemed to the be the chief motive as indicated by
Zanoli et al., 2004, Magnusson et al., 2003, Lea and Worsley, 2005s study about
motives driving organic f ood consumption too. A valid concern at this stage is if
these motives represent global pref erences or are simply geographically limited.
Biemans (2011) puts f orward his research ef f orts by saying that attitudes certainly
dif f er with respect to geographical context. Additionally, Danish and German
consumers pay more concern to animal welf are than consumers in Italy and hence
pref er organic f oods while Italians consider taste as the most important f actor. So
do organic f oods always promise superior quality to conventional goods then? Not
necessarily, it widely depends on the product category and evidence indicates some
f oods to be of inf erior quality in comparison (Chen, 2009). The argument gets its
support by tests carried out by Fillion and Arazi (2002) in their study to verif y the
substantiality of the claim that organic f ood taste better than their conventional
counterparts. Results revealed that organic juice did taste better than the non-
organic but no such evidence was f ound while testing whole milk. Hence Chens
(2009) argument in this case retains its validity.
Furthermore, consumers high knowledge about organic f oods is f ound to be
sparking of f because it positively inf luences consumer attitudes towards their choice
of opting f or them. Those aiming to choose healthier dietary options are more likely
to have positive attitudes towards products produced organically. However, since
attitudes depend on motivational f actors, behaviours can be changed should one
intend to do so. This might explain the phenomenon of a particular population
choosing organic f oods over conventional f oods and why. Jansson-Boyd (2010,
p.86) writing about the Cognitive dissonance theory acknowledges its proposition of
people changing their belief s, actions and attitudes to reduce disagreements between
choices and consequential decision making process. Hence it can be concluded that
the consumers opting f or organically produced f oods reduced the cognitive
dissonance by changing their attitudes to match it with the cognition i.e.
acknowledging the benef its of organic f oods, consuming and even recommending
them.
The af orementioned attitudes highly depend on the belief s of the consumers.
Consumer experiments and research would suggest that organic f oods are saf er and
healthier than conventional f oods and while this might be true many consumers still
believe that there is not enough reliable inf ormation available regarding the
transportation and conservations practices of these f oods. Such uncertainties
contribute in preventing masses f rom opting f or organic f ood products. Jungbluth,
Tietje and Scholz (2000) agree with this thought. Considering a hypothesis about
what customers believe is what they see and rely on the inf ormation they have to
make decisions and choices, then it can be concluded that consumers are divided
based on the inf ormation they have about organic f oods. Consumers believe that
organic regulations limit the use of pesticides, preservatives and an industrial
addition so they assume the f ood is saf er and healthier. A relevant study of organic
consumers in the U.S. indicates them pref erring organic f ood because of its high
nutritional values and ability to help cure illness (FMI, 2007). On the contrary, others
might argue that the organically produced f oods are subject to the saf ety standards
as that of the conventional f oods, which is apparently true (Foods Standards Agency,
2011).
When the lack of reliable or incomplete inf ormation, there comes purchase barriers.
There is still a large percentage that is misinf ormed about the supply chain of organic
f ood which might also explain why people at large still oppose organic f ood. In
Poland f or example Biemans (2005) through a detailed study concluded that Polish
consumers are of ten misguided by the shop assistants and lack of inf ormation about
the stores of f ering organic f oods. This creates an unnecessary barrier f or the
potential consumers of organic products. Furthermore, the lack of inf ormation about
the mandatory organic certif ication and verif ication process also adds to the mystery
f or consumers on the lookout f or organic f oods. The author believes in the f act that
availability of organic items at local stores would ensure consumer convenience and
compliment the consumption of f ood items produced organically. Makatouni and
Harper in their research also (2002) care to mention some similar barriers put f orward
by Biemans (2005) and include higher cost of organic f ood in the list too. But since it
is presumed that the consumption is more acceptable within the population with
higher disposable income as concluded by (Bellia, 1987; Carr, 1999) hence the
argument loses its validity. However, it can very well help explain the reason f or
consumers buying alternate products, especially considering the alarming inf lation
rate and caref ul spending by consumers even on basic necessities.
To conclude this literature review, it can be understood that reasons owing to the
change in the very diverse and equally complex consumer behaviour can be quite
challenging to interpret. A whole lot of f actors including consumer personality traits,
motives, values and goals af f ect this gradual or sudden change in behaviour
depending on how they perceive the issue. The review dealt with the current organic
f ood consumption issue by relating it to dif f erent f actors that have consequently
af f ected and altered the behaviour of consumers towards it. The f actors were then
linked with theoretical concepts and current research to support the arguments
appertaining to these diverse set of behavioural attributes. It was an intention to
determine and understand the chief f actors responsible f or propelling the ever
increasing percentage of consumers now opting f or organic f ood. As concluded by
this literature, there are some very compelling reasons f or consumers to adopt f ood
produced organically but conventional wisdom would suggest there might be some
barriers and misconceptions keeping them f or doing so. A f ew of these many barriers
were covered to illustrate the idea that consumers have a f ree will over the choices
they make according to the inf ormation they have and they way they perceive it.
Organic f ood consumption is no dif f erent and whether a majority is in f avor or
against it, there are still valid f actors determining their choices, which rightly justif y
the consumer autonomy and these diverse consumer behaviours.