Consumer willingness to purchase organic products: Application of the theory of planned behavior

Abstract

The organic industry continues to increase year on year, and organic apparel is the second largest organic market in terms of generating annual sales. More and more retailers, such as Nike, Gap and Wal-Mart, are beginning to offer their consumers organic apparel options. Despite this growth, there has been little research that studies consumer purchasing behavior toward organic apparel products: most of the literature about the organic industry focuses on the organic food market. This research applied the Theory of Planned Behavior to examine consumer purchasing intentions toward organic apparel products. Participants at a university in the southeastern United States were asked to complete a questionnaire. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data. Attitude and subjective norm were found to have a direct influence on consumer purchasing intention. Perceived behavioral control and perceived expensiveness were found to indirectly influence intention through attitude. Awareness, an external variable, was found to indirectly influence intention and directly influence attitude and perceived behavioral controls. Implications for organic clothing retailers are discussed.