Drinking “Green”: What Drives Organic Wine Consumption in an Emerging Wine Market

Abstract

The global fever for wine demands concerted endeavors for understanding determinants of wine consumers’ purchase decisions. Applying the cognitive appraisal theory, this study aims to identify factors that motivate Chinese consumers to purchase organic wines by incorporating consumers’ values (i.e., health consciousness), cognitive evaluations (i.e., social trust), and affective references (i.e., positive emotion) into the conceptual model. Moreover, the moderating effect of product familiarity on the conceptual model is examined. A multistage data collection via multiple sample techniques was employed. A total of 1,745 responses were collected in a 2-year duration from all 33 Provincial Level Administrative Units in China. The findings confirm the significant role of the three antecedents on consumers’ purchase intention of organic wines, regardless of their product familiarity level. It is also found that the relative importance of the three antecedents to consumers’ purchase intention show different patterns for consumers with varying levels of product familiarity. Implications of the study are drawn based on the study findings.