Consumer motivations in the purchase of organic food. A means-end approach

Summary

The paper presents partial results from an Italian study on consumer perception and knowledge of organic food and related behaviour. The means-end chain model was used to link attributes of products to the needs of consumers.
In order to provide insights into consumer motivation in purchasing organic products, 60 respondents were interviewed using “hard” laddering approach to the measurement of means-end chains. The results (ladders) of these semi-qualitative interviews are coded, aggregated and presented in a set of hierarchical structured value maps. Consumer cognitive structures at different level of experience are reported and discussed.
Even if organic products are perceived as difficult to find and expensive, most of consumers judge them positively. All consumers associate organic products to health at different levels of abstraction and want good, tasty and nourishing products, because pleasure and well-being are their most important values. Results show that differences exist between groups of consumer with respect to their frequency of use (experience) of organic products and level of information (expertise).