مرکز منطقه ای اطلاع رساني علوم و فناوري - INVESTIGATION OF CONSUMPTION BEHAVIOURS OF ORGANIC FOOD CONSUMERS WITHIN THE SCOPE OF LIFE STYLES

Abstract :

Dissemination of the information about negative impacts of the practices in the food production on human health and environment, in addition to consumers being more environment and health conscious has increased the demand for organic food. The increased demand has also made the rivalry in the organic food production sector more intense. Firms which manage to understand the wants and expectations of the consumers correctly can reach different consumer segments with different strategies and therefore might gain a significant competitive advantage. Therefore, in this study, buying behavior and loyalty of organic food customers are examined with 132 participants, and whether the buying behavior and loyalty changes with respect to different lifestyle groups is tested. In determining the lifestyle group of the participants VALS 2 scale is utilized. For testing the differences in behavior with respect to various demographic variables and different lifestyle groups, ANOVA and t-test are used. The results of the analysis show that age and income levels affect purchasing behaviour and loyalty of the organic food customers, however lifestyle or gender have no insignificant effect on those variables.