A review of sustainability, deterrents, personal values, attitudes and purchase intentions in the organic food supply chain

Abstract

This study aims to enhance our understanding of the organic food supply chain among practitioners, academicians and researchers by underlining the major factors affecting the growth of the organic food business. Previous articles on organic food have been quantitative in nature; therefore, we proposed a qualitative study as a pathfinder for prospective researchers to understand the complex factors involved in the organic food supply chain (OFSC). To do so, this study reviewed eighty-four previous studies on organic foods and proposed a conceptual model for future research; customers' attitudes shall be influenced by sustainability, market deterrents, personal values, demographic and the socioeconomic environment. A customer's attitude has a direct impact on the purchase intention of the OFSC. The study also suggests an investigation of the indirect impact of sustainability, market deterrents, personal values and demographic and the socioeconomic environment on organic purchase intentions. The findings affirmed globally that environment protection, pesticide-free food and animal protection are major sustainability issues. In addition, premium price, insufficient availability and low awareness are the greatest deterrents, considering that personal values such as health benefits, natural contents, superior quality and better taste foster customers to purchase organic foodstuffs. In demographic and socioeconomic environmental contexts, education and income have emerged as major predictors of organic product purchases.