How and Why Does the Attitude-Behavior Gap Differ Between Product Categories of Sustainable Food? Analysis of Organic Food Purchases Based on Household Panel Data.

Isabel Schäufele,Meike Janssen

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.595636

Abstract

Organic agriculture promotes the transformation toward sustainability because of positive effects for the environment. The organic label on food products enables consumers to make more sustainable purchasing decisions. Although the global market for organic food has grown rapidly in recent years, only a part of the organic product range benefits from this positive trend. To develop the organic market further, it is important to understand the food-related values and attitudes that drive the purchase of organic food. Previous research on this topic has suffered from two main weaknesses. Firstly, most studies have been based on surveys and rely on stated behavior instead of actual purchase behavior. Secondly, the focus of most extant studies is predominantly on organic food in general or on food products with a relatively high organic market share, such as milk and eggs. To address this knowledge gap, the present study analyzes the value-attitude-behavior relationship by means of structural equation modeling using household purchase panel data from GfK. The paper provides evidence for the existence of an attitude-behavior gap in the organic market, with this gap found to be much stronger in the case of meat, frozen food, cheese, and sweets than for organic purchases in total. Analysis in different product categories reveals that while purchase behavior is driven by the same food-related values, their relative importance differs.

Highlights

Current food production systems and consumption patterns negatively affect the environment and human health
In order to sustain the growth of the organic market, it is important to understand the factors that drive the purchase of organic food in different product categories
The focus of previous studies has been on organic food in general or on food products such as milk and eggs that have a relatively high organic market share, while little is yet known about purchase drivers and barriers in product categories with a low organic market share

Summary

Introduction

Current food production systems and consumption patterns negatively affect the environment and human health. Biodiversity loss, and diet-related diseases are severe consequences which call for a shift toward sustainable food systems. A major issue with regard to food production systems are negative environmental effects of agricultural practices, i.e., the use of chemical pesticides and fertilizers. The organic label on food products enables consumers to make more sustainable purchasing decisions (Hsu et al, 2020; Vermeir et al, 2020) driven by growing health and environmental concerns (HidalgoBaz et al, 2017). The global market for organic food has grown rapidly in recent years (Willer et al, 2018), driven in large part by public debates on climate change and biodiversity loss as well as individual concerns about diet-related diseases. When asking consumers directly about their attitudes toward organic food, they often state positive attitudes and purchase intentions (Schäufele and Hamm, 2018)

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Conclusion