Dasari Panduranga Rao, Ramanjaneyulu Mogili and Samala Nagaraj
Purpose: The purpose of this research is to examine what factors motivate consumers to buy organic food products and how motives affect the consumers' intention to purchase and actual purchase of organic food products. Design/methodology/approach: The respondents were carefully chosen for data collection with mall intercept method and approached buyers with the questionnaire at the outlets of large Indian organic food selling stores in selected two metro cities. A total of 580 valid questionnaires were obtained, wherein responses were recorded on Likert-type scale anchoring five-points where 1 indicates strongly disagree and 5 indicates strongly agree. Then, the analysis was carried out by using Exploratory Factor Analysis and Multiple Regression Analysis. Findings: The findings implied that, Health consciousness, Environmental and Animal welfare concerns are key motives and the organic food consumption motives positively affect the consumers' intention to purchase and actual purchase of organic food products. Research limitations/implications: The study limited to analyse few motivating factors such as health, environmental and animal concern. Practical implications: This research provides valuable insights for organic food retailers and manufacturers by indicating consumption motives (health consciousness, environmental motives and animal welfare concerns) are the most important determinant of purchase intention and actual purchase behavior among the several predictors. Originality/value: This study is one among the very few studies which addressed the research on consumption motives, intention to purchase and actual purchase behavior toward organic food products in Indian context.