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Article

Examining the Factors That Affect Consumers’ Purchase Intention of Organic Food Products in a Developing Country

by
Mostafa Fawzy Zayed
,
Hazem Rasheed Gaber
* and
Nermine El Essawi
Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport, Alexandria 1029, Egypt
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Sustainability 2022, 14(10), 5868; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14105868
Submission received: 27 March 2022 / Revised: 26 April 2022 / Accepted: 6 May 2022 / Published: 12 May 2022
(This article belongs to the Section Economic and Business Aspects of Sustainability)
Browse Figure
Versions Notes

Abstract

:
The purpose of this article is to investigate the factors that influence consumers’ intention to purchase organic food in Egypt. Given the novelty of organic food marketing in developing countries, much of the factors that influence its consumption are still inadequately explored in the marketing literature. A conceptual model of the factors that impact the consumption of organic food was developed based on the theory of planned behaviour and previous literature in the area of food consumption. To test the conceptual model and to validate the research hypotheses, an online questionnaire was adopted to collect data from 363 consumers in Egypt. The partial least square structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) approach was used to analyse the data. The findings indicated that purchase intention of organic food is influenced by consumers’ attitudes and environmental concern. However, e-WOM, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control and health consciousness did not influence consumers’ purchase intention. Conversely, the results showed that e-WOM had a significant influence on consumers’ attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control, health consciousness and environmental concern. This article contributes by presenting the factors that affect organic food purchase intention in Egypt, and it provides some recommendations for marketing organic food in developing countries.

1. Introduction

Consumers throughout the world have been increasingly concerned about the quality, safety, and environmental friendliness of food due to a number of food safety incidents and environmental concerns [1,2,3]. Consumers are becoming more aware of probable pesticide residues in conventional foods, abuse of chemical materials detrimental to the environment, as well as production methods, which in turn raise issues about modern agricultural practices and promote demand for organic foods [4]. Consumers’ growing interest in organic goods has led to considerable developments and improvements in the organic food industry [5]. This has also been associated with growth in organic product sales at a rapid pace worldwide [6].
Organic food is defined as food produced by farmers using renewable resources and safeguarding ecological assets in order to increase sustainability and protect the environment by avoiding the use of antibiotics or growth hormones in the production process [7]. Furthermore, it includes foods that have been grown without the use of herbicides, pesticides or inorganic fertilisers [8]. Thus, consumers who highly consider the safety of food products demonstrate a high purchase intention of organic food to safeguard their health [9].
Consumption of organic food is a relatively new phenomenon in many developing countries if compared to more developed countries [10]. As a result, data on different factors that influence organic food purchasing intention in developing countries are few [11]. For instance, from the African perspective, traditionally, families tended to consume unprocessed organic foods grown in subsistence agriculture or in their own backyard gardens [12]. However, economic growth, urbanization, and rising prosperity have increased in these countries. This has resulted in an increased demand for ready-made and processed goods [13]. A growing number of families are reverting to regular foods purchased at supermarkets and from neighbourhood sellers [14]. This socio-cultural change has resulted in the increase in the rate of diseases [15]. Because organic food is grown without the use of artificial pesticides, fertilisers, antibiotics, or growth hormones, customers believe it to be healthier than conventionally grown food, which is presumed to be damaging to human health [16]. Organic food intake is seen as a new lifestyle trend [17], as it promotes well-being and health [18].
As more customers are becoming more aware of the quality, safety, and environmental benefits of organic food items and the direct effects on their health, lifestyle, and social convenience [19], an increasing number of people are interested in consuming organic food, which has resulted in a niche market for the organic food sector [20]. Despite the increasing demand for organic food in many African countries, research about the motives of consumers in these countries to consume organic food needs more academic exploration [21], and the marketing literature shows some shortcomings in that area [1,22].
The purpose of this article is to examine the factors that impact the consumers’ purchase intention of organic food in Egypt. Specifically, it examines the impact of e-WOM, environmental concern, and health consciousness on enhancing consumers’ purchase intention. Furthermore, through adopting the theory of planned behaviour, it investigates the role of consumers’ attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control in affecting consumers’ purchase intention. We argue that understanding the determinants influencing consumer desire to purchase organic foods, as well as the empirical findings, will be extremely beneficial to stakeholders. These findings will contribute to the existing evidence regarding customers’ fundamental motivations for purchasing organic foods. Additionally, these considerations will assist stakeholders in developing appropriate market strategies for the long-term development of demand for organic food goods.
This paper is organised as follows: first, the discussion of the conceptual framework together with the relevant hypotheses are presented. This is followed by a section that discusses the methodology that was used to collect and analyse the empirical data. After that, a discussion of the research findings is presented together with contribution to both theory and practice. Finally, the research limitations as well as directions of future research are presented.

2. Conceptual Model, Theoretical Underpinnings and Hypotheses Development

2.1. The Conceptual Model and the Theoretical Underpinnings

A conceptual model has been developed based on the theory of planned behaviour that was proposed by [23], as well as previous literature in the area of food consumption (See Figure 1). According to [23], an individual’s behavioural intention is shaped by three components which are: attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioural control. Based on that theory, our model included these three factors as determinants of consumers’ purchase intentions for organic food. Our model also included the e-WOM as one of the factors that might affect the organic food purchase intention. The e-WOM is a factor that has been recently cited as one of the determinants of food purchase intentions [24,25]. Finally, environmental concern and health consciousness have been added to the model since many recent studies indicated that these two factors have a role in consumers’ decisions of healthy foods [26,27].

Theory of Planned Behaviour

Ref. [28] proposed the theory of reasoned action (TRA). This theory argues that an individual’s actual behaviour is directed by the intention towards performing that behaviour. Based on the TRA, ref. [23] proposed the theory of planned behaviour. This theory supposes that peoples’ attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control are the factors that influence their intention to perform a certain behaviour. Three independent variables are proposed by the theory of planned behaviour. The first is attitude towards the behaviour, which relates to the degree to which the individual views or evaluates the action in concern favourably or negatively. The subjective norm, which refers to the felt social pressure to conduct or not execute the activity, is the second predictor. The third factor is perceived behavioural control, which refers to the perceived ease or difficulty of performing an action and is thought to be influenced by previous experiences as well as predicted barriers and hurdles [23].
The theory of planned behaviour has been used in a huge number of studies in the marketing field that investigated individuals’ purchase intention of food products, e.g., [29,30,31,32].

2.2. Literature Review and Hypotheses Development

2.2.1. The Impact of e-WOM on Organic Food Purchase Intention

With the rapid penetration of social networking websites among consumers, the power of e-WOM has been boosted in influencing consumers’ attitudes and behaviours [33,34,35]. The e-WOM refers to consumers’ willingness to share and talk about their experiences with others on online platforms such as social networking websites [36]. The extant literature shows that e-WOM is a powerful tool that can be adopted by marketers who wish to reach their target customers in a rapid and targeted way [37]. In general, word of mouth is seen as more credible by consumers than traditional corporate marketing communications [38]. With the increasing advertising avoidance that consumers are developing due to the advertising clutter, many corporations have started to adopt online marketing campaigns that encourage consumers to share experiences with others on social media to gain benefits from the power of e-WOM [39].
In our article, we argue that e-WOM has a positive impact on organic food purchase intention. This assumption was supported by recent literature in the field of food consumption. For instance, ref. [25] indicated that e-WOM communication has a positive impact on purchase decisions for healthy food products. Another study by [40] showed that e-WOM communication significantly impacts consumers’ purchase decisions for organic food. Similarly, ref. [41] confirmed the critical role of e-WOM in influencing consumers’ purchasing intention of organic food products. Given the importance of e-WOM in influencing purchase intention of food products, we propose the following hypothesis:
Hypothesis 1 (H1).
e-WOM significantly influences consumers’ purchase intention of organic food products.

2.2.2. The Impact of e-WOM on Consumers’ Attitudes, Subjective Norms and Perceived Behavioural Control

This article argues that e-WOM has a significant impact on consumers’ attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control towards the consumption of organic food. In other words, it impacts the three independent variables of the theory of planned behaviour proposed by [23]. The extant literature provides some support for these assumptions. For instance, the relationship between e-WOM and consumers’ attitudes has been confirmed in many previous articles in the field of consumer behaviour. For example, ref. [42] indicated that e-WOM significantly influences consumers’ attitudes towards branded products and services. This relationship has its roots in the model of the attitude towards the product that was developed by [28].This model explains that attitudes are formed as a result of an individual’s beliefs that a product has certain attributes. Thus, a consumer who receives positive information about a certain product or brand can develop favourable beliefs about it which will result in a change in attitude. These claims were also supported in the literature that examined the role of word of mouth in changing consumers’ attitudes [43]. We argue that consumers’ who receive positive information about organic food on online platforms from others tend to develop positive attitudes towards organic food consumption. Thus, we propose the following hypothesis:
Hypothesis 2 (H2).
e-WOM significantly influences consumers’ attitudes towards organic food products.
Conversely, the relationship between e-WOM and consumers’ subjective norms was also confirmed in the extant marketing literature. Consumers’ subjective norms refer to their belief that other consumers who are important to them will approve or support their consumption actions [44]. It results from social pressure that consumers face from others to perform a certain action. The extant literature provides some evidence for the relationship between e-WOM and subjective norms. For instance, refs. [45,46] indicated that e-WOM has an important role in influencing the subjective norms of consumers. This can be explained by the fact that consumers are exposed to a huge amount of information from others on online platforms and social media about their consumption and purchasing behaviours, which results in individual’s knowledge about what others are consuming and what they are purchasing. From these assumptions, we propose the following hypothesis:
Hypothesis 3 (H3).
e-WOM significantly influences the consumers’ subjective norms towards organic food products.
Perceived behavioural control refers to consumers’ beliefs that they have enough ability and resources to perform a certain behaviour [23]. In our article, we argue that e-WOM has a positive impact on consumers’ perceived behavioural control. The positive relationship between e-WOM and consumers’ perceived behavioural control has been confirmed in some studies in the marketing field. For example, refs. [47,48] indicated that e-WOM has a significant impact on consumers’ perceived behavioural control. The massive information that consumers’ are exposed to from others online can enhance consumers’ beliefs that they have the ability and resources to consume organic food. From these assumptions, we propose the following hypothesis:
Hypothesis 4 (H4).
e-WOM significantly influences the consumers’ perceived behavioural control of organic food products.

2.2.3. The Impact of e-WOM on Consumers’ Environmental Concern

Consumers’ environmental concern refers to consumers’ adjustment of their consumption behaviour to become greener [49]. With the huge efforts that many governments are undertaking to reduce pollution as well as global warming, and to enhance sustainable business practices among organizations to achieve the sustainable development goals (SDGs), many consumers have become more aware of the concepts of the green economy and have started to direct part of their consumption towards companies who respect the environment [50]. In our article, we argue that e-WOM can play a critical role in enhancing consumers’ environmental concern. This relationship has been confirmed in the green marketing literature. For instance, ref. [51] indicated that social media provides new opportunities for consumers to collect knowledge that is valuable for environmental sustainability. They argued that these media can provide an opportunity for the public to learn more about environmental issues. Another study by [52] showed that one of the strongest motives for organic food consumption is environmental protection. From these assumptions, we argue that:
Hypothesis 5 (H5).
e-WOM significantly influences consumers’ environmental concern.

2.2.4. The Impact of e-WOM on Consumers’ Health Consciousness

Consumers’ health consciousness refers to the psychological inclination that motivates consumers to take healthy actions. With the enhancement of public health awareness, more and more consumers have started to think about consuming healthy food [53]. This has also been boosted by the rise in the marketing of healthy and organic food, where more consumers are afraid of becoming obese. The rapid penetration of social media and e-WOM has enhanced the awareness of consumers about healthy consumption behaviours [54]. For instance, many articles in the marketing field have argued that the information that consumers are exposed to on social media has had a major impact on their desire to consume healthier food [55,56,57]. From these discussions, we propose the following hypothesis:
Hypothesis 6 (H6).
e-WOM significantly influences consumers’ health consciousness.

2.2.5. The Impact of Attitudes, Subjective Norms and Perceived Behavioural Control on Organic Food Purchase Intention

The theory of planned behaviour (TPB) that was proposed by [23] indicated that peoples’ intentions to perform certain behaviours are influenced by their attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control towards performing these behaviours. The assumptions of this theory have been confirmed in numerous studies in the marketing literature. For instance, refs. [8,22,48] argued that consumers’ attitudes towards different products and brands have a significant impact on their purchase intention. From these assumptions, we propose the following:
Hypothesis 7 (H7).
Consumers’ attitudes significantly influence their purchase intention towards organic food products.
Conversely, the relationship between consumers’ subjective norms and their purchase intention of food products has been confirmed in the works of [47,58,59]. Thus, we propose that:
Hypothesis 8 (H8).
Consumers’ subjective norms significantly influence their purchase intention towards organic food products.
Furthermore, the relationship between consumers’ perceived behavioural control and their purchase intention was confirmed in the work of [22,60,61,62]. From these discussions, we argue that:
Hypothesis 9 (H9).
Consumers’ perceived behavioural control significantly influences their purchase intention towards organic food products.

2.2.6. The Impact of Environmental Concern on Organic Food Purchase Intention

The relationship between consumers’ environmental concern on purchase intention has been examined in previous consumer behaviour literature. For instance [63] found that environmental attitude has a positive significant effect on the purchase intention of organic food. Similarly, refs. [8,64] found a significant relationship between environmental concern and purchase intention of organic foods. Since organic food is perceived by many consumers to have positive environmental impacts, we think that consumers can have an intention to consume organic food to protect the environment; thus, we argue that:
Hypothesis 10 (H10).
Consumers’ environmental concern significantly influences their purchase intention towards organic food products.

2.2.7. The Impact of Health Consciousness on Organic Food Purchase Intention

The relationship between consumers’ health consciousness on purchase intention has been examined in previous consumer behaviour literature. For instance, refs. [8,22,65] indicated that consumers’ consciousness about the health benefits of organic food can direct their purchase intention towards it. Similarly, refs. [52,66] argued that health consciousness and food safety concerns are major drivers that direct the purchase intention of consumers towards organic food. Because organic food is seen by many consumers as healthier than inorganic food products, we argue that many consumers choose organic food because of its health benefits; thus, we propose the following:
Hypothesis 11 (H11).
Consumers’ health consciousness significantly influences their purchase intention towards organic food products.

3. Methodology of the Empirical Study

Data Collection and Sampling Method

The population of the research study in this paper is organic food consumers in Egypt. This article used a quantitative research approach, where a questionnaire was developed based on previously validated scales in the marketing literature. Specifically, to measure consumers’ e-WOM, six items were adopted from [48]. To measure consumers’ attitudes, six items were adapted from [22]. Furthermore, to measure consumers’ subjective norms and perceived behavioural control, four and three items were adapted from [8], respectively. To capture the environmental concern construct, four items were borrowed from [67]. To measure health consciousness, three items were borrowed from [8]. Finally, four items adapted from [67] were used to measure purchase intention.
A five-point item Likert scale ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree was used to capture all the research constructs. The questionnaire consisted of two sections. The first section contained some questions about the demographic characteristics of the samples. Conversely, the second section contained the questions that captured the main research constructs. The questionnaire items are shown in Table 1. For the purpose of collecting data, the researchers used an online questionnaire. The link to the online questionnaire was posted on a number of Facebook pages of various organic food brands in Egypt. The sampling method in this study was a self-selection sampling [68]. This sampling method has the advantage of gaining access to participants who are committed and informative about the research topic [68]. To ensure that the participants are familiar with the consumption of organic food, two screening questions were included in the survey to ask about their awareness and familiarity with organic food. After three months of multiple posting, 363 complete responses were collected. The researchers followed the recommendations of [69], which indicated that the sample size should include at least 15 respondents for each variable. Since our study’s model included seven variables, the acceptable number of participants should be more than 105, which occurred in the data collection.
The analysis was conducted using SmartPLS3.0. Partial least square structural equation modelling was adopted to analyse the data and to test the research hypotheses. This analysis method is better than other covariance-based techniques, where PLS-SEM does not require normal distribution and has powerful estimation of models that depend on small samples. In addition, it can be used for analysing complex models [70].

4. Findings

4.1. Descriptive Statistics of the Study Sample

Out of 363 respondents who participated in the study, 198 were female and 165 were male. The majority of the participants (178 respondents) were between ages 18 and 24, while the lesser age group who participated in the study was above 45 years (20 respondents). Table 2 shows the frequencies and percentages of the demographic characteristics of the respondents.

4.2. Assessment of the Model

In order to assess the proposed conceptual model, the analysis was conducted on two steps using Smart PLS 3.0. In the first step, the reliability and validity of the model were examined to assess the study’s measurements. In the second step, the hypotheses testing was conducted using a bootstrapping approach using PLS-SEM [71].

4.2.1. Measurement Model

To perform PLS-SEM analysis, it is essential to check the unidimensionality of each block of the measurement model. The Cronbach’s alpha (α) and composite reliability (CR) values were checked to ensure that their values were above the 0.7 threshold [72]. As demonstrated in Table 3, the Cronbach’s alpha (α) and composite reliability (CR) values were above 0.7, which indicate the reliability of all the study’s measurements. The outer loadings of the constructs were checked to ensure that they possessed a loading above 0.7 as recommended by [73]. As shown in Table 3, most items were retained, as they had high loadings. However, only items (eWOM5 and HC2) were dropped since they had item loadings of 0.616 and 0.231, respectively, which is below the recommended threshold.
To check the convergent validity, the average variance extracted (AVE) of the study’s constructs was examined to ensure that was above the recommended threshold of 0.5 [74]. As demonstrated in Table 3, all the study’s constructs were found to have strong convergent validity with AVE values above 0.5.
After the reliability tests of the study’s constructs were performed, the researchers examined the discriminant validity of the study’s constructs by looking at the square root of the AVE of each construct to ensure that it was higher than the correlations between each construct and other constructs in the conceptual model (Fornell and Larker, 1981). As shown in Table 4, all of the study’s constructs possessed high discriminant validity.
For the purpose of confirming the results of the discriminant validity, ref. [73] indicated that the heterotrait–monotrait ratio of correlations (HTMT) is a better indicator for examining discriminant validity in PLS-SEM. As shown in Table 5, all the study’s items possessed strong discriminant validity, where their values ranged between 0.440 and 0.782, which is below the recommended threshold of 0.85 as recommended by [73].

4.2.2. Structural Model Assessment

After the measurements of the study’s model were validated, the researchers tested the research hypotheses using a bootstrapping approach using PLS-SEM [75]. The results revealed that e-WOM had a insignificant effect on consumers’ purchase intention (β = 0.022, t = 500, p = 0.000); thus, H1 was rejected. Conversely, H2 was supported since the results showed that e-WOM had a significant positive impact on customers’ attitudes (β = 0.528, t = 13.852, p = 0.000). The findings also indicated that e-WOM had a significant positive impact on customers’ subjective norms (β = 0.523, t = 12.015, p = 0.000); accordingly, H3 was supported. Furthermore, the significant positive impact of e-WOM on environmental concern and health consciousness was confirmed, where the results were as follows, respectively, (β = 0.404, t = 8.724, p = 0.000) and (β = 0.443, t = 8.527, p = 0.000); thus, H5 and H6 were both supported.
The results also showed that consumers’ attitudes have a significant influence on their purchase intention (β = 0.362, t = 5.487, p = 0.000); thus, H7 was supported. However, H8 and H9 were rejected where the findings showed that that subjective norms and perceived behavioural control had insignificant influence on customers’ purchase intention with the following values, respectively, (β = 0.104, t = 1.960, p = 0.51) and (β = 0.090, t = 1.680, p = 0.094). Additionally, the results indicated that environmental concern had a significant influence on customers’ purchase intention (β = 0.285, t = 4.753, p = 0.000); thus, H10 was supported. However, the findings showed that health consciousness did not influence customers’ purchase intention; thus, H11 was rejected (β = 0.088, t = 1.684, p = 0.093). Table 6 provides a summary for the hypotheses testing.
Regarding the R-square values of the dependent variables, the findings showed that the R-square of attitude was 0.279, which indicates that 27.9% of the change in that construct was explained by e-WOM. The R-square of the environmental concern was 0.191, which shows that 19.1% of the change in that construct was determined by the e-WOM. The R-square of health consciousness was 0.196, which indicates that 19.6% of the change in that construct is determined by e-WOM. The R-square of the perceived behavioural control was 0.277, which indicates that 27.7% of the change in that construct is determined by e-WOM. The R-square of the subjective norm was 0.274, which indicates that 27.4% of the change in that construct is determined by e-WOM. Finally, the R-square of the purchase intention was 0.637, which indicates that 63.7% of that construct is determined by consumers’ attitudes and environmental concern.

5. Discussion, Contribution and Managerial Implications

The research study in this paper provides some contributions to the marketing literature, where it is one of the few studies that examine the factors that affect the purchase intention of organic food in developing countries. This is important for a number of reasons; for instance, the vast majority of the extant literature focuses on consumers’ perceptions towards sustainable marketing practices and organic consumption behaviour in developed countries [58,76]. However, due to the fact that the marketing of organic food in developing countries is still relatively new, the factors that affect its consumption need further exploration [77,78]. In addition, our study contributes by adding e-WOM, environmental concern, and health consciousness to the traditional three dimensions of the theory of planned behaviour, which are attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioural control, in an attempt to provide a conceptual model that explains the consumers’ intention to purchase organic food products.
Our findings showed that e-WOM plays an important factor in enhancing the three pillars of theory of planned behaviour, which are attitude, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control. These findings were supported in previous literature studies that examined the impacts of e-WOM on these factors [47,79]. These findings are interesting in that they show the power of e-WOM in influencing consumers’ attitudes towards organic food. Today, consumers are exposed to numerous posts and advertising on various social media platforms. It seems that these online platforms help educate customers about the usefulness of organic food. Additionally, these social media platforms allowed consumers to read and see posts from others mentioning their favourite food products. Thus, it is expected that online reviews and posts from other consumers will play an important role in shaping how consumers think and feel about organic food products.
Our findings also indicated that e-WOM significantly affects the environmental concern and health consciousness of consumers. These findings have also gained support in some previous studies in green marketing literature [80]. These findings show that consumers are educated about the health benefits and environmental issues from the posts and reviews they are exposed to in online environments such as social media. Thus, the findings highlight the importance of social media platforms, where consumers have the ability to engage in conversations with other customers about the possible benefits of food products.
Surprisingly, our findings showed that consumers’ subjective norms and perceived behavioural control did not influence their purchase intention of organic food products. These findings are inconsistent with prior literature that underscored the importance of these two factors in influencing consumers’ intentions [81,82]. Our findings show that Egyptian consumers consider buying organic food products to be an individual decision that is not affected by the acceptance of their peers, families and friends. In addition, the insignificant impact of perceived behavioural control on consumers’ purchase intentions may be due to their belief that organic food products are available everywhere and that they do not require much effort in obtaining them.
Finally, our findings showed that consumers’ attitudes and environmental concern influence their intention to purchase organic food products. These findings are consistent with some literature that examined the purchase intention of organic food products [8,83]. These findings can be explained by revisiting the theory of planned behaviour, where attitudes towards performing a behaviour is a major determinant of individuals’ intentions to perform that behaviour [23]. Thus, it is clear that companies which operate in the field of organic food should continuously enhance consumers’ attitudes towards organic food to increase their likelihood of purchasing it. Conversely, the significant relationship between environmental concern and purchase intention of organic food products shows that Egyptian consumers are aware of the negative impact of traditional inorganic food on the environment. This finding may be consistent with the nature of the sample, where all the participants were educated, and it is expected that they have full knowledge about the importance of sustainable business practices.
Finally, the findings show that health consciousness did not influence consumers’ intentions to purchase organic food. These findings are inconsistent with the findings of [8,84]. The insignificant influence of health consciousness on consumers’ purchase intention of organic food shows that consumers can buy organic products for other reasons. This shows that the organic food companies in Egypt have failed to market the numerous health benefits of organic food products.
This article provides important recommendations for organic food producers and marketers in Egypt. Since the research study in this paper provided a framework for explaining the factors that affect the purchase intention of customers of organic food, marketers can rely on the study’s findings when executing their marketing campaigns and branding strategies for organic food products. Our findings showed that consumers’ purchase intention of organic food is influenced by their attitudes and environmental concerns. Thus, marketers should take these factors into consideration to enhance customers’ purchase intention. For instance, marketers must aim at enhancing customers’ attitudes towards organic food by highlighting the health benefits of organic food and how this type of food can contribute to the sustainability of the environment. Additionally, they can execute marketing campaigns that encourage customers to show others that they are in favour of organic food consumption. Since our study showed that customers’ attitudes towards organic food are influenced by their peers, family and friends when they purchase organic food, marketing campaigns should take into consideration the power of these groups in shaping customers’ purchase intention, especially in collectivistic societies such as Egypt. Conversely, since the findings showed that the environmental concerns play an important role in shaping customers’ purchase intentions, it is critical for organic food producers to highlight the benefits of organic farming and products in their marketing campaigns.
Our findings also showed the role of e-WOM in enhancing customers’ attitudes towards organic food, environmental consciousness and health benefits of organic food. Thus, marketers of organic food companies should place more effort in digital marketing campaigns, especially on social networking websites. They can utilize the power of social media marketing in engaging customers with organic food brands. In addition, they should benefit from the credibility of e-WOM in shaping customers’ attitudes. Since the majority of the extant literature found that e-WOM is more credible than corporate communications, marketers can use posts on social media platforms (e.g., Facebook, Instagram) that encourage customers’ to share content with their friends on these social networks. Additionally, they can build brand communities on various social networking websites to enhance the power of e-WOM in shaping consumers’ attitudes and behavioural intentions.

6. Research Limitations and Direction for Future Studies

Despite the important insights that this study provides to both theory and practice, it has some shortcomings that can provide directions for future research studies. First, this article only examined organic food purchase intention in a developing country, which is Egypt; thus, the results cannot be generalized to other countries. Further research can examine the factors that affect purchase intention of organic food in other developing and developed countries, where it can include some cultural factors to explain consumers’ consumption [85]. Another limitation can be attributed to the quantitative nature of the study. Despite that quantitative studies can be used to conduct research on big samples, further research can be conducted qualitatively using focus groups or in-depth interviews with consumers to explore further reasons that can enhance customers’ purchase intentions of organic food. Furthermore, this article depended on the theory of planned behaviour to investigate customers’ purchase intention of organic food. Other theories such as the expectation–confirmation model that was proposed by [86] can be used in the future to capture more constructs to interpret customers’ usage behaviour. Another limitation is that our study only examined organic food consumption from the consumer perspective; future studies need to study how organic food producers market their products in developing countries such as Egypt. Future studies can examine how some demographic characteristics such as age, level of education and income impact the consumption of organic food. A final limitation is that the majority of the sample was young aged and students, which might not reflect the age group who has the income to purchase organic food. Thus, future studies can use other data collection methods such as mall intercepts to collect data from actual purchasers of organic food.

Author Contributions

Data curation, M.F.Z. and H.R.G.; Methodology, M.F.Z. and N.E.E.; Project administration, H.R.G.; Resources, M.F.Z.; Writing—original draft, H.R.G. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Funding

This research received no external funding.

Informed Consent Statement

Informed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in the study.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Sustainability 14 05868 g001 550
Figure 1. Proposed conceptual model.
Figure 1. Proposed conceptual model.
Sustainability 14 05868 g001
Table
Table 1. Questionnaire Items.
Table 1. Questionnaire Items.
Latent VariableManifest VariableStatement
AttitudesAtt1I think that purchasing organic food is a good idea.
Att2I think that purchasing organic food is interesting.
Att3I think that purchasing organic food is important.
Att4I think that purchasing organic food is beneficial.
Att5I think that purchasing organic food is wise.
Att6I think that purchasing organic food is favourable.
e-WOMe-WOM1I often read other people’s online food reviews to know what kind of foods are a good decision.
e-WOM2To make sure I choose the right food, I often read other food online reviews
e-WOM3I often consult others’ online food reviews to help choose my food.
e-WOM4I frequently gather information from people’s online food reviews before I go shopping.
e-WOM5If I do not read people’s online food reviews when I go shopping, I worry about my decision.
e-WOM6When I go shopping, online food reviews make me confident in my decision.
Perceived Behavioural ControlPBC1If I wanted to, I could buy organic food instead of normal food.
PBC2I think it is easy for me to buy organic food.
PBC3It is mostly up to me whether or not to buy organic food.
Subjective NormsSN1My family thinks that I should buy organic food rather than non-organic food.
SN2Most people I value would buy organic food rather than non-organic food.
SN3People I value, such as my teacher, think I should buy organic food.
SN4Most friends, whose opinions regarding diet are important to me, think that I should buy organic food.
Environmental ConcernEC1The balance of nature is delicate and can be easily upset.
EC2Human beings are severely abusing the environment.
EC3Humans must maintain a balance with nature in order to survive.
EC4Human interferences with nature often produce disastrous consequences.
Health consciousnessHC1I choose food carefully to ensure good health.
HC2I do not consider myself to be a health-conscious consumer.
HC3I think often about health-related issues.
Purchase intentionPI1I am willing to purchase organic foods if they are available.
PI2I intend to buy organic foods if they are available.
PI3I plan to consume organic foods if they are available for purchase.
PI4I will try to consume organic foods if they are available for purchase.
Table
Table 2. Summary of the demographic characteristics of the respondents.
Table 2. Summary of the demographic characteristics of the respondents.
Demographic CriteriaFrequencyPercentage
GenderMale16545.45%
Female19854.55%
Age18–2417849%
24–3413035.81%
35–44359.64%
45 and above205.50%
City of residenceCairo18250.13%
Alexandria7119.55%
Other11030.30%
Marital statusSingle28678.78%
Married6217.07%
Divorced102.75%
Prefer not to say51.37%
OccupationStudent14138.84%
Self-employed5114.04%
Full-time employment13436.91%
Unemployed3710.19%
Monthly income in Egyptian poundLess than 20009726.72%
2001–400014740.49%
4001–10,0006919%
Above 10,0005013.77%
Table
Table 3. Outer loadings, CR, Cronbach’s alpha, and AVE of the study’s constructs.
Table 3. Outer loadings, CR, Cronbach’s alpha, and AVE of the study’s constructs.
Latent VariableManifest VariableOuter LoadingCronbach’s Alpha (α)Composite Value (CR)AVE
AttitudesAtt10.8700.9310.9460.745
Att20.856
Att30.890
Att40.895
Att50.838
Att60.827
e-WOMe-WOM10.8140.8690.9050.656
e-WOM20.818
e-WOM30.779
e-WOM40.836
e-WOM50.617
e-WOM60.769
Perceived Behavioural ControlPBC10.8310.7690.8650.681
PBC20.802
PBC30.844
Subjective NormSN10.7960.8440.8950.681
SN20.830
SN30.871
SN40.802
Environmental ConcernEC10.7680.8840.9210.745
EC20.898
EC30.907
EC40.874
Health ConsciousnessHC10.8850.7550.8910.803
HC20.231
HC30.878
Purchase IntentionPI10.9230.9590.9700.890
PI20.953
PI30.951
PI40.945
Table
Table 4. Discriminant Validity of the study’s constructs.
Table 4. Discriminant Validity of the study’s constructs.
Atte-WOMECHCPBCPISN
Att0.863
e-WOM0.5280.810
EC0.6940.4010.863
HC0.6310.4430.6060.896
PBC0.5480.5260.5240.5310.825
PI0.7400.4680.6940.5940.5580.943
SN0.6170.5230.4650.4580.5950.5650.825
Table
Table 5. Assessment of discriminant validity using heterotrait–monotrait ratio of correlations (HTMT).
Table 5. Assessment of discriminant validity using heterotrait–monotrait ratio of correlations (HTMT).
Atte-WOMECHCPBCPISN
Att
e-WOM0.572
EC0.7630.440
HC0.7530.5230.745
PBC0.6270.6460.6170.686
PI0.7820.4980.7510.6980.630
SN0.6950.6140.5530.5720.7300.620
Table
Table 6. Summary of hypotheses testing.
Table 6. Summary of hypotheses testing.
HypothesesHypothesized Pathβt ValueSignificance pConclusion
H1e-WOM---------PI0.0220.5000.617Rejected
H2e-WOM---------Att0.52813.8520.000Supported
H3e-WOM---------SN0.52312.0150.000Supported
H4e-WOM---------PBC0.52612.1480.000Supported
H5e-WOM---------EC0.4018.7240.000Supported
H6e-WOM---------HC0.4438.5270.000Supported
H7Att---------------PI0.3625.4870.000Supported
H8SN---------------PI0.1041.9600.51Rejected
H9PBC-------------PI0.0901.6800.094Rejected
H10EC---------------PI0.2854.7530.000Supported
H11HC---------------PI0.0881.6840.093Rejected
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Zayed, M.F.; Gaber, H.R.; El Essawi, N. Examining the Factors That Affect Consumers’ Purchase Intention of Organic Food Products in a Developing Country. Sustainability 2022, 14, 5868. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14105868

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Zayed MF, Gaber HR, El Essawi N. Examining the Factors That Affect Consumers’ Purchase Intention of Organic Food Products in a Developing Country. Sustainability. 2022; 14(10):5868. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14105868

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Zayed, Mostafa Fawzy, Hazem Rasheed Gaber, and Nermine El Essawi. 2022. "Examining the Factors That Affect Consumers’ Purchase Intention of Organic Food Products in a Developing Country" Sustainability 14, no. 10: 5868. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14105868

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