A Behavioral Model for Buyers of Organic Products (Components, Antecedents and Consequences)

Within the food market, it would be essential to study the factors affecting the behavior and desire of consumers to buy organic food products. Providing organic food has many health and environmental benefits, nevertheless, the demand for inorganic food compared to organic is growing. The main objective of this study is to provide a behavioral model on buyers of organic products in terms of components, antecedents and consequences. This study has applied and mixed components. In the qualitative part, the Grounded theory is used and in the quantitative part, the technique of structural equations. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and a completed questionnaire, where ten buyers were interviewed. Then, based on the systematic approach suggested by Strauss and Corbin on three main steps of open, axial and selective coding, the behavioral model of the buyers of organic products was presented in terms of components, antecedents and consequences. Finally, the validity of the developed theory was examined and hypotheses were developed. In the quantitative part, the results show that among the causal conditions, the price of organic products, trust, perceived health, advertising, supply of organic products and perceived value have a significant effect on buyers' behavior, while the characteristics of organic products and organic knowledge have no significant effect on buyer behavior. It was also found that buyers' behavior has a significant effect on increasing the share of the organic market and, consequently, on the environmental consequences, the growth of organic markets and the promotion of public health. Finally, it was conjectured via observation that social norms, systematic trust, individual norms, and environmental concerns would increase the share of the organic market further.