Purchasing Motivations of Regular and Occasional Organic Food Consumers: the Incidence of Food Safety and Ethical Concern

This study was aimed at analysing the impact that food safety concerns and ethical motivations exert on habitual and less frequent consumers’ intention to purchase organic food. A total of 303 subjects, classified as “regular” or “occasional” users according to their buying habits, were interviewed by means of a paper-and-pencil questionnaire. While food safety proved to be a major determinant of the first group’s intentions, the ethical dimension was found to affect the decisions of the latter category of buyers. Suggestions for producers and marketers were drawn from the obtained results and the limitations of the study were, finally, discussed.

Citation:

Gianluigi Guido, M. Irene Prete, Giovanni Pino, and Alessandro M. Peluso (2011) ,"Purchasing Motivations of Regular and Occasional Organic Food Consumers: the Incidence of Food Safety and Ethical Concern", in E - European Advances in Consumer Research Volume 9, eds. Alan Bradshaw, Chris Hackley, and Pauline Maclaran, Duluth, MN : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 442-443.