CONSUMER BUYING BEGAVIOUR TOWARDS ORGANIC FOOD PRODUCTS

Abstract

There has been an increment in demand for organic food items in various regions of the world since early twenty first century. The major reasons are expanding consumer awareness of purity, quality as well as food safety. However, the statistics demonstrates that consumption of organic food is still on the rise. In comparison to non-organic food, the proportion is minimal. A situation like this implies the significance of consumer behaviour research, especially the consumer's attitude toward purchasing food that is organic. The purpose of this study was to find influential points on behaviour of consumer towards organic food in Delhi-NCR region. It evaluates consumers awareness and knowledge levels towards organic food products. The “theory of planned behaviour (TPB)” formulated by Icek Ajzen around 1985 was utilised as the theoretical framework since it has been put to use in various studies that pertain to consumer behaviour since as early 1991. The data was collected from citizens of Delhi-NCR region. Simple Random sampling method was used to analyse the sample of data collected. A questionnaire was prepared through google forms and was emailed to emails that were available. The rest of the responses were acquired through the use of social media sharing the link to the form through WhatsApp and through the use of target messaging tools on LinkedIn. The responses were analysed through the use of MS Excel. The test used for analysis on the dataset was Chi-Square test along with Correlation coefficient. The test showed that there is relationship between demographic factors of consumers and awareness levels of consumers regarding organic food products. The demographic variables which were considered were gender, income, age and education. The three constructs of TPB were also analysed using the same test and an association was established between consumer buying behaviour and the three constructs. Lastly, descriptive statistics was applied on some variables to analyse their effect.