Organic food industry is trending with blooming profits and market revenues. Many reasons have emerged for this growth in the industry: health conscious consumers, more awareness due to globalization, increased access to newer products and health variants of conventional food, environment protection and animal welfare concerns, and ethical motives. The practice of companies targeting the ‘ecological consumers’ who can pay a premium for organic food is more than what it was five years ago. The increase in eco-friendly people along with the shift from a ‘producer-oriented market’ to a ‘consumer-oriented market’ is signalling an increase in the demand of organic food. Extant research has shown varied results in terms of health consciousness, food safety concerns, gender differences, and ecological awareness. However, there are limitations and gaps in them like small sample size, rural and suburban difference, varied age differences, and vague assumptions to list a few. In the current research, these gaps are fulfilled by testing a sample of over 4000 participants on the effects of subjective-norms, moral-norms, gender difference, and attitude on intentions to purchase organic tomatoes. The findings suggested that people tend to act based on their subjective-norms more than their moral-norms. In short, people would intend to buy more organic food if they see others (whom they value) buy it. Another interesting finding of this study highlighted the close difference between men and women for intention to purchase organic tomatoes. Even though women had a higher result to buy organic food, men were not far behind. Lastly, attitude of the population was tested. As many researchers have previously noted, the attitude has a large effect on intention behaviour. Companies that are looking to capture the ecological consumers should look out to these findings and plan their marketing activities opportunistically to increase their revenues and profits.

1. Social-factors and our intentions
a study on organic food consumption
By Ananya Jain, MLitt in Marketing
Under the guidance of: Dr. Boyka Bratanova, Consumer Behaviour and Market Research
INTRODUCTION
As people are becoming more health-conscious than ever before, the organic food industry is soaring. The
Department for Agriculture and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) defines organic food as follows:
‘Organic food is the product of a farming system which avoids the use of man-made fertilisers, pesticides;
growth regulators and livestock feed additives. Irradiation and the use of genetically modified organisms
(GMOs) or products produced from or by GMOs are generally prohibited by organic legislation’.
Organic food industry is trending with a worldwide market of $80b (Research Institute of Organic
Agriculture, FiBL, 2017). The Global Organic Food & Beverages Market is poised to grow at a CAGR of around
16.6% over the next decade to reach approximately $456b by 2025 (PR Newswire, 2017). With this, the
companies wish to sell their products to ecologically aware consumers who are willing to pay the premium
price for organic food. Several reasons are proposed from studies in different parts of the world, these are:
health concerns, ethical, moral, political or religious motives, quality or safety of conventional food,
environmental considerations, and personal values (Michaelidou, N., & Hassan, L. M., 2008).
With globalization taking place rapidly, consumers are gaining more exposure and awareness about
different products and trends giving birth to ‘global brands’ and ‘global consumers’ (Sheth, J., 1986). This has
resulted in more health-consciousness and food safety concerns along with expansion of green products at a
fast-moving pace. Increased awareness about environmental issues and animal diseases, consumers are now
worried about the impact of environmental damage on their health and safety. Marketers are now
incorporating this change in the consumer perspective in their decision making (Coddington, W., 1993). Such
concerns motivate a segment of organic food consumer as part of a healthy lifestyle while also being eco-
friendly thereby being an ‘ecological consumer’. Additionally, gender, education, and financial status are
significant factors for building a profile of the ecological consumer. (Paul, J., & Rana, J., 2012).
The change in attitude towards organic food was initially seen at a political level first in Europe
followed by North America and Japan, as a response to the growing interest due to the serious problems
caused by a dominant world-view underlying the technological theories and methodology such as over-
production, environmental-pollution, food-scare, and depopulation of rural areas (Lockeretz, W., 2007; Padel,
S. and Lampkin, N.H., 2007). These studies have helped in understanding organic food consumption over the
years.

2. PAST RESEARCH
Main Articles
1. The role of health consciousness, food safety concern, and ethical identity on
attitudes and intentions towards organic food- Nina Michaelidou & Louise M.
Hassan, 2008
2. Consumer behaviour and purchase intention for organic food- Justin Paul & Jyoti
Rana, 2012
Extant research shows varied results for factors affecting organic food consumption pattern.
The first study focuses on the impact of health-consciousness, food safety concerns, and ethical identity on
intention and consumer attitude towards organic food. It is stated that either the consumers perceive organic
food as a healthier alternative (more nutritious) which enhances their personal well-being or are concerned
about environmental sensitivity and animal-welfare. The study indicates that food safety concern appears to
be one of the most important factors of attitude, but not intention (mostly over residues in food from
fertilizers, artificial additives, preservatives, and chemical sprays). Additionally, the research reveals that ethical
self-identity has a stronger influence on the purchase intention while health-consciousness is the least
important motive shaping attitude towards organic food in relation to other motives. This is surprising since
most health-conscious people take a healthy and nutritious diet which includes a lot of organic food. It
suggests that consumers do not perceive much difference between organic and inorganic food in regards of
taste, shelve life, quality, and overall perceived-value. Although the respondents are alert to changes and
responsible for their health, they associate fewer health benefits (e.g. health-preservation and health-
improvement) with negligible influence on purchase decision.
However, there are several limitations of this research: first, one-third of the respondents in the
sample tested are aged 16 below, living at home, which refers to a possibility that they are not the actual
buyers, merely the end consumers of organic food. Second, there is a steep chance of the presence of aspect
of ‘social desirability’ wherein the respondents might have answered in a way to present themselves in good-
light when participating in research (Crowne & Marlowe, 1964; Paulhus & Reid, 1991) as the researchers based
their study on self-completion questionnaires. The respondents were called to participate from the main ferry
randomly with almost every fifth person being a part of it irrespective of their age. Third, the Island of Arran
has one supermarket and a collection of smaller retail outlets making organic food less accessible to the
consumers since organic foods are known to have a shorter shelve-life, thus small retailers might be reluctant
to stock it (Michaelidou, N., & Hassan, L. M., 2008). And fourth, the sample size of this study is small for
generalization and there is difference between rural and urban populations’ purchase behaviour. All these gaps
in the study call for a more comprehensive research in the factors that influence purchase intentions of organic
food consumers.

3. The second study establishes that ideal target segment for corporations wishing to sell their organic food is the
ecological consumer having an ecological lifestyle who is ecologically aware. In short, they refer to true-blue
greens and greenback greens who are inclined to purchase organic food because of their ethical self, however
it depends on their willingness to spend (The Roper Organization and S.C. Johnson & Sons, 1990). The research
focuses on various factors that influence the intention of consumers to purchase organic food: Demographic
factors (Income, Age, Gender, Education), Health benefits (Deterioration in human health, investment in good
health), and Availability (growing in large retail outlets and supermarkets). Unlike the first study, this research
reports that health content came first in consumers’ mind over the environment protection, satisfying tastes,
organic choice attitude, and status in the society. The intention of purchasing organic food is influenced by the
demographic profile of the consumers (education and location). The study also found that 50.8% of the
participants seek the overall-benefit (healthy content, environmental friendly packaging, and environment
friendly technology) from organic food. Consequently, the researchers also try to study the difference in
satisfaction derived from organic and inorganic food. They suggest that the overall-satisfaction of both is not
the same, in fact, the mean with organic food indicated high satisfaction level. 70.3% respondents thought that
organic food is costlier than inorganic food but 67% of the respondents do not mind paying a higher price for
eco-friendly and healthy contents. The major reasons for not purchasing organic food were: non-availability
followed by high price, taste, and lack of knowledge.
The population for this research study were mostly residents of Delhi National Capital Region, India.
With that being stated, there are certain limitations, first, the research was based on the obtained
questionnaires of respondents aged 25 above as the researchers assumed that people below the age of 25 do
not generally buy grocery products. This is a farce assumption since in India the minimum age of marriage is
quite low: 18 for women and 21 for men (Mortimer, C., 2015) thereby resulting in young adults being the main
buyers of groceries in the households. Second, most of the respondents surveyed had monthly income less
than INR 30,000 (£360) which is quite low for including organic food in their monthly groceries. Third, the
sample size for this study was 301 participants which is quite less to generalize the effect for the whole. With
these gaps in the research and vague assumptions, there is a need for a thorough revaluation. It raises
concerns over the validity of the findings for a larger population. There is a need for a more comprehensive
research study that considers all the above-mentioned limitations and is free from these assumptions and
biases.

4. PRESENT RESEARCH
Current study and Research question
In the present study, we consider a dataset on organic tomatoes since it is consumed widely fruit and is
bought by most of the population as a part of their everyday household groceries. The main aim of the study is
to examine the social factors that influence the intention of consumers to purchase organic tomatoes. With
this, our research question is: Do varied human social factors make an impact on the intentions to purchase
organic tomatoes and hence organic food?
Development of research hypothesis
Many human factors can influence peoples’ intentions to purchase organic tomatoes but for our study, we are
focusing on:
Subjective-Norms
Subjective norm is "the perceived social pressure to perform or not to perform the behaviour" in
question (Ajzen, 1991). Basically, how people think others (whom they value) would want them to
perform? Such individuals tend to be more self-conscious to meet the expectations of others. We wish
to see the effect of how people think others perceive their actions on the intention to purchase organic
tomatoes:
H1: Subjective-norms are positively related to purchase intentions.
Moral-Norms
The World Medical Association defined “morality” as the value dimension of human decision-making
and behaviour. Morals can be understood with words like rights, responsibilities, virtues, good/bad/evil,
right/wrong, just/unjust. Morality is shaped by the rules given by those with authority or role models,
whether people agree with them or not. Basically, morals are unarguable (Pitak-Arnnop, P., Dhanuthai,
K., Hemprich, A., & Pausch, N., 2012). We wish to see the effects of moral-norms on peoples’ intention
to purchase organic tomatoes. Do people who consider themselves to be ‘ethical’ in nature show that
kind of a behaviour?
H2: Moral-norms are positively related to purchase intentions.
Gender Differences
Studies show that women are more inclined to purchase organic food as most ecological consumers are
well-educated, young women, who have more money to spend. For them, the green products should
satisfy their needs as they are conscious about the environmental claims and are ready to pay a

5. premium price for it (Mostafa, M.M., 2007). We want to test the gender difference in our population
and see their intention to purchase organic tomatoes.
H3: Gender difference is positively related to attitude. Purchase intention of women is higher
than that of men.
Attitude & Intentions
Past research shows that attitude has a strong correlational relationship with behavioural intention in
multiple contexts (e.g. Sparks et al., 1995; Shaw and Shiu, 2002). In the context of organic food
purchase, we wish to see the effect of attitude on purchase intentions.
H4: Attitude is positively linked with intentions to purchase organic tomatoes.
Data Collection
The data was collected from 4305 European respondents residing in Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Greece,
Germany, Spain, and United Kingdom. Approximately 2% (¬86) of the total questionnaires were irrelevant for
the study because of various incomplete answers. The sample age group was 18-96 years out of which 355
participants were above 70 years old, and 88 participants were between the ages of 18-20. Out of the vast
sample, 147 people had no formal schooling background. 35% of the respondents (1500 people) lived in a
family of 3 members. With this, 1100 participants fall under the mid category (based on pre-tax household
income). 1471 respondents buy organic tomatoes once a week which is good for testing our research
hypothesis.
Measures and Data Analysis
All elements are measured with multi-item scales and to reduce the effects of response-bias, each of the
measures included several negatively worded items, which were reverse-coded prior to scale construction. The
elements tested are based on human sociology and how different factors impact purchase intention and
decision making. The questionnaires were thoroughly checked and sorted. The data was entered in Statistical
Package for Social Sciences version 24. Various statistical tools and techniques were used to analyse the data
including: Correlation, Independent Sample T test, and Linear Regression.

6. RESULT
Influence of subjective-norms (H1)
The research shows that the preference for organic food could be affected by subjective-norms. A
Pearson product-moment correlation was run to determine the relationship. There was a strong
correlation between subjective-norms and purchase intention, which was statistically significant
(r=0.619, n=4280, p<0.005).
It can be interpreted from the test (TABLE 1) that the subjective-norms (what other people whom I value
think of my action) are positively associated with the intentions to purchase organic food. People who
are under pressure of subjective-norms, often intend to purchase organic food.
Influence of moral-norms (H2)
A linear regression was tested between intentions (dependent/outcome variable) and moral-norms
(independent/predictor variable). It establishes that F(4282)=2692.60, p<0.001; intentions accounted
for 38.6%, since R2=0.386 which is not impactful (TABLE 2). This indicates that intentions are positively
but not significantly related to moral-norms. So, there is a 38.6% possibility of people intending to
purchase organic tomatoes due to their moral-norms. The regression equation was: predicted intention
= 0.718 + 0.917 moral-norms.

7. Influence of Gender difference (H3)
The study found that men had statistically significant lower intention to purchase organic tomatoes than
women (TABLE 3). The independent sample t test revealed p=0.000. The mean of men (4.035) is lower
than women (4.398). However, since the difference is not much, we can state that there is a market for
men as well.
Influence of attitude on intention (H4)
We did a linear regression test to find the effect of attitude (independent/predictor variable) on
intention (dependent/outcome variable). We report that the adjusted R2=0.444, meaning that there is a
44.4% possibility of people intending to purchase organic tomatoes if they have a positive attitude
about it (TABLE 4). The test established that F(4282)=3414.276, p<0.001. The regression equation was:
predicted intention = 0.788 + 0.955 attitude.

8. Discussion
The study found that subjective-norms, moral-norms, and attitudes are positively linked with intentions to
purchase organic food (TABLE 5). People are affected by their surroundings and their social-identity (r=0.619)
more than their ethical self (r2
=0.386). This is interesting because they value what others think about their
actions more than what they should do. Another finding suggests that women are more pro-active when it
comes to buying organic food than men however, the difference between both is minimal (d=0.37) denoting
that men are not far behind! The research in our study contributes to the overall subject of social factors
affecting purchase intention of organic food.
From a marketing perspective, companies should focus more on advertising and selling the overall
package rather than just the product. They should touch peoples’ emotions by highlighting aspects that can
trigger subjective-norms and moral-norms. We strongly suggest companies and marketers to focus on
attracting men through their communication tools since they are not far behind when it comes to purchase
and consumption of organic food. Probably, lack of knowledge is one factor that affects the purchase decision.
SUMMARY
Organic food industry is trending with blooming profits and market revenues. Many reasons have emerged for
this growth in the industry: health conscious consumers, more awareness due to globalization, increased
access to newer products and health variants of conventional food, environment protection and animal
welfare concerns, and ethical motives. The practice of companies targeting the ‘ecological consumers’ who can
pay a premium for organic food is more than what it was five years ago. The increase in eco-friendly people
along with the shift from a ‘producer-oriented market’ to a ‘consumer-oriented market’ is signalling an
increase in the demand of organic food. Extant research has shown varied results in terms of health-
consciousness, food safety concerns, gender differences, and ecological awareness. However, there are

9. limitations and gaps in them like small sample size, rural and suburban difference, varied age differences, and
vague assumptions to list a few.
In the current research, these gaps are fulfilled by testing a sample of over 4000 participants on the
effects of subjective-norms, moral-norms, gender difference, and attitude on intentions to purchase organic
tomatoes. The findings suggested that people tend to act based on their subjective-norms more than their
moral-norms. In short, people would intend to buy more organic food if they see others (whom they value) buy
it. Another interesting finding of this study highlighted the close difference between men and women for
intention to purchase organic tomatoes. Even though women had a higher result to buy organic food, men
were not far behind. Lastly, attitude of the population was tested. As many researchers have previously noted,
the attitude has a large effect on intention behaviour. Companies that are looking to capture the ecological
consumers should look out to these findings and plan their marketing activities opportunistically to increase
their revenues and profits.

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