Identifying the factors influencing consumption behavior toward organic food: an empirical study in India

The present study aims to investigate consumer consumption behavior toward organic food in India with the context of sustainable development goals (SDG) 12 by utilizing the extended Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) model. The TPB model was extended by incorporating additional variables, such as health, knowledge, availability, price, and motivation. A total of 1,704 responses from various locations in India were collected and analyzed using SmartPLS 4 software to assess the relationships between the constructs. Bootstrapping with 20,000 iterations was used in hypothesis testing. The current work showed a significant correlation between all variables obtained from the TPB. Health and knowledge positively influence consumer attitudes toward organic food. Furthermore, positive consumer motivation has been found to affect subjective norms. This study supported the incorporation of new components into the TPB model to enhance its reliability and precision in understanding consumers' consumption behavior toward organic food. The price and availability emerged as the significant factors that hinder the consumption of organic food products. The findings will benefit organic food manufacturers, sellers, and policymakers to make decisions by facilitating the advancement of organic food products in the future.