Marketing and Socio-psychological Factors Influencing Organic Food Purchase and Post-Purchase Outcomes

Even though reports show that actual demand for organic food is outstripping supply, studies have focused on understanding non-buyers’ attitudes/purchase intention. Information on actual buyers’ motivations for purchase and post-purchase behavior is lacking. This study integrated ideas from the Biophilia Theory and two models to examine marketing and socio-psychological factors impacting organic food purchase and three post-purchase outcomes – satisfaction, willingness to spread word-of-mouth and happiness to continue paying premium prices. Data were collected from 612 actual organic food buyers from two specialized markets in South Africa. An integrated conceptual model was developed and tested with Partial Least Square structural equation modeling. The results revealed that the integrated model with the marketing (product attributes, distribution, and communication), psychological (environmental attitude, behavioral beliefs, perceived value and overall image) and social (family and peers) factors explained 41.9% of organic food purchases. Psychological factors were the strongest purchase drivers. While the purchase explained 43.8% of consumption satisfaction, the satisfaction in turn positively impacted willingness to spread word-of-mouth and happiness to pay premium prices.