Investigating the Barriers of Organic Food Buying Behavior

Subject Areas : Agricultural Economics Research

bahareh zandi dareh gharibi ¹ , Alireza Karbasi ²

1 - Ph.D. Student, Department of Agricultural Economics, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran
2 - Professor, Department of Agricultural Economics, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran

Received: 2021-11-15 Accepted : 2023-04-26 Published : 2023-04-21

Keywords: Consumer Resistance, Organic Food, Innovation Resistance Theory,

Abstract :

Introduction: Today, in order to meet the food needs of the growing population, agricultural systems have slightly increased their production by using new technologies. Although this increase in production has been able to solve the problem of food shortages to some extent, but has always been associated with adverse environmental consequences and problems with the health status of humans and other living organisms due to reduced food quality. This has raised concerns about health, safety and the environment in food production and consumption. Accordingly, consumers are looking for a variety of products with higher quality and healthier. Although the demand for organic and healthy food is increasing, these products face problems in entering the consumer basket of households. Methods: The present study attempts to understand the underlying reasons for consumer resistance toward consuming organic food using the theoretical framework of innovation resistance theory (IRT).The required data were collected by collecting 100 questionnaires in 2020 from the citizens of Khuzestan. Structural Equation Modeling approach has been used to analyze the collected data. Findings: The results showed that value barrier shared a negative association with consumer buying behavior. In other words, price plays a decisive role in consumer buying behavior. Therefore, the higher the price difference between organic food products and alternative products, can have a negative effect on consumers' purchases of these products. Another barrier that affects consumer purchasing is barriers to use. This means that access to organic food information and sales centers has a significant impact on the purchase of organic food. The results also showed that despite the significant effect of risk and consumer distrust in these products, consumers tend to consume these products and consumers consider these products healthier than traditional products.

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