What Drives Actual Buying Behaviour for Organic Food Consumers?: Insights from SOBC Framework in Emerging Economies

Abstract

This research article responds to the question of what influences consumers’ continuous purchase intention, leading to actual buying behaviour (ABB) for organic food. Specifically, the study examines the relationship between information related to organic food, environmental concerns, perceived value, food safety concerns and perceived barriers with consumers’ attitudes regarding organic food, which eventually affects their purchase intention and leads to ABB. Utilizing the stimulus–organism–behaviour–consequence (SOBC) theory, an empirical investigation is conducted to explore the influence of satisfaction, outcome and belief on organic food cognitive dissonance. A structured questionnaire was used to capture satisfaction, outcome, belief, cognitive dissonance and demographic variables. The questionnaire was developed based on a 5-point Likert scale from the northern part of India, and its validity and reliability were assessed through a pilot study. Responses collected from 356 active organic food consumers were analyzed utilizing advanced partial least squares (PLS) methodology, with cognitive dissonance serving as the dependent variable and satisfaction, result and belief acting as the independent factors. The findings indicate that information concerning organic food, perceived value, food safety concerns and organic food awareness have a significant positive influence on consumers’ attitudes towards organic food, which further positively affects their purchase intention. However, no significant association was found between environmental concerns and perceived barriers with consumers’ attitudes for organic food, which suggests that these antecedents may not be strong drivers of consumer behaviour in this context. The study provides intriguing strategic inputs for organic food producers and marketers.