What Motivates Young Indian Consumers to Buy Organic Food?

Abstract

Young people in India might be expected to contribute substantially to the demand for organic food. Yet little empirical research has been undertaken on the factors that drive organic food purchase of young Indians, and how organic food purchase intentions translate into purchase behavior. Drawing on the theory of planned behavior and informed by consumer behavior literature, this paper presents a model with five antecedents of organic food purchase intention and its relationship with purchase behavior. Survey data were obtained from 401 students at higher education institutions in North India. Through structural equation modeling attitude toward organic food purchases and subjective norms were found to significantly influence organic food purchase intention. Organic food purchase intention was found to strongly predict organic food purchase behavior. The research findings may assist Indian and international organic food producers and marketers in fine-tuning their strategies toward the particular demographic of young Indian buyers.

Keywords:

• Young consumers
• theory of planned behavior
• organic food purchase intention
• organic food purchase behavior