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Profile and Motivations of Consumers of Organic Products

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Abstract

The interest in organic farming products is growing, in response to concerns about traditional agricultural practice, food safety, concern for human health, the environment, and animal welfare. Consequently, consumption of organic products has been increasing, through the consumer’s appreciation of the non-use of pesticides and fertilizers, genetically modified organisms or growth stimulants. The objective was to understand the motivations and attitudes of organic products consumers, regarding, consumer’s profile, purchase motivations, attributes associated to this products, and trusted purchase places. A survey was carried out in a food distribution chain in Almada, and online, focused on buying and consumption habits of biological products, as well as their perception about them. Results show that the organic product concept, 2 latent factors (1 – Product dimension and 2 – Economic dimension) account, respectively, 49.1% and 14.3% of the variance. Regarding the profile and motivation of organic products consumers, the results show that who buy these products, is defined as being predominantly female (73%), and with a higher degree of studies (76%) of respondents reported being consumers of organic products. The purchase frequency of these products occurs every week (44%), in large shopping areas (45%). The main reasons for buying these products are related to health (75%) and environmental benefits (61%), in line with the previous studies on this topic. There is a statistically correlation between the motivations for health benefits and environmental concerns (rs = .346, p < .001).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Estoril Higher Institute for Tourism and Hotel Studies, Food Science Department, Estoril, Portugal

    Joana Costa, Cátia Morgado, António Fernandes, Manuela Guerra & Carlos Brandão

Authors
  1. Joana Costa
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  2. Cátia Morgado
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  3. António Fernandes
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  4. Manuela Guerra
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  5. Carlos Brandão
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Cátia Morgado .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto Superior de Engenharia, Universidade do Algarve, Faro, Portugal

    Jânio Monteiro

  2. Instituto Superior de Engenharia, Universidade do Algarve, Faro, Portugal

    António João Silva

  3. Instituto Superior de Engenharia, Universidade do Algarve, Faro, Portugal

    António Mortal

  4. Instituto Superior de Engenharia, Universidade do Algarve, Faro, Portugal

    Jaime Aníbal

  5. Instituto Superior de Engenharia, Universidade do Algarve, Faro, Portugal

    Manuela Moreira da Silva

  6. Instituto Superior de Engenharia, Universidade do Algarve, Faro, Portugal

    Miguel Oliveira

  7. Instituto Superior de Engenharia, Universidade do Algarve, Faro, Portugal

    Nelson Sousa

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Costa, J., Morgado, C., Fernandes, A., Guerra, M., Brandão, C. (2020). Profile and Motivations of Consumers of Organic Products. In: Monteiro, J., et al. INCREaSE 2019. INCREaSE 2019. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30938-1_14

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30938-1_14

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-30937-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-30938-1

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