Accepted Manuscript

Determinant Factors Influencing Organic Food Purchase Intention and the Mod-
erating Role of Awareness: A Comparative Analysis

Muhammad Asif, Wang Xuhui, Alireza Nasiri, Samia Ayyub

PII: S0950-3293(17)30192-1
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.foodqual.2017.08.006
Reference: FQAP 3377

To appear in: Food Quality and Preference

Received Date: 29 March 2017

Revised Date: 3 August 2017
Accepted Date: 26 August 2017

Please cite this article as: Asif, M., Xuhui, W., Nasiri, A., Ayyub, S., Determinant Factors Influencing Organic Food
Purchase Intention and the Moderating Role of Awareness: A Comparative Analysis, Food Quality and
Preference (2017), doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.foodqual.2017.08.006

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 Determinant Factors Influencing Organic Food Purchase Intention and the
Moderating Role of Awareness: A Comparative Analysis
*Muhammad Asif, **Prof. Wang Xuhui ***Alireza Nasiri, ****Samia Ayyub
*School of Business Administration, Dongbei University of Finance and Economics,
Dalian, People’s Republic of China (asifaiwan@outlook.com, +8615566848814)
**School of Business Administration, Dongbei University of Finance and Economics,
Dalian, People’s Republic of China
***Dongbei University of Finance and Economics, Dalian, People’s Republic of China
****School of Business Administration, Dongbei University of Finance and Economics,
Dalian, People’s Republic of China
Abstract:
The study is comparative in nature and focuses on understanding the factors that
affect the purchase intention of organic food in three countries: Pakistan, Turkey and
Iran. The study also endeavors to explain the role of awareness as a moderating variable
in organic food purchase intention. The data employed in this study was collected from
Pakistan, Turkey and Iran using a structured questionnaire. A total of 271 responses from
Pakistan, 245 responses from Turkey and 220 responses from Iran were obtained and
analyzed using structural equation modeling.
The results of the study vary from country to country, but attitude and health
consciousness are found to be better predictor organic food purchase intention. The
awareness of consumers moderates positively in the intention to purchase of organic
food. The relationship of the subjective norms, perceived behavior control and
environment concern with intention to purchase vary across different contexts.
Current study establishes the role of awareness in the organic food purchase
intention which is found to be missing in the literature. Secondly, the study is
comparative in nature and compared the behavior of consumers across Pakistan, Turkey
and Iran. Current study also guides the policy makers of these countries to switch to
organic farming, which will indeed be beneficial for the environment and health, and also
a lucrative business because consumer’s intentions coincide. Furthermore, the study
provides a clear guideline for the practitioners to have an effective marketing strategy in
three different countries by exploring the major motivators of organic food purchase
intention in each country.

1
Key Words: Organic Food, Consumer Behavior, Awareness, Pakistan, Turkey, Iran

2
 Determinant Factors Influencing Organic Food Purchase Intention and the
Moderating Role of Awareness: A Comparative Analysis

Abstract:
The study is comparative in nature and focuses on understanding the factors that
affect the purchase intention of organic food in three countries: Pakistan, Turkey and
Iran. The study also endeavors to explain the role of awareness as a moderating variable
in organic food purchase intention. The data employed in this study was collected from
Pakistan, Turkey and Iran using a structured questionnaire. A total of 271 responses from
Pakistan, 245 responses from Turkey and 220 responses from Iran were obtained and
analyzed using structural equation modeling.
The results of the study vary from country to country, but attitude and health
consciousness are found to be better predictor organic food purchase intention. The
awareness of consumers moderates positively in the intention to purchase of organic
food. The relationship of the subjective norms, perceived behavior control and
environment concern with intention to purchase vary across different contexts.
Current study establishes the role of awareness in the organic food purchase
intention which is found to be missing in the literature. Secondly, the study is
comparative in nature and compared the behavior of consumers across Pakistan, Turkey
and Iran. Current study also guides the policy makers of these countries to switch to
organic farming, which will indeed be beneficial for the environment and health, and also
a lucrative business because consumer’s intentions coincide. Furthermore, the study
provides a clear guideline for the practitioners to have an effective marketing strategy in
three different countries by exploring the major motivators of organic food purchase
intention in each country.

Key Words: Organic Food, Consumer Behavior, Awareness, Pakistan, Turkey, Iran

3
1.Introduction

The world has experienced an exponential growth in the total global sales of
organic food products amounting to approximately 80 billion US Dollars as of
2014 (Willer & Lernoud, 2016). Although the majority of the organic food is consumed
in developed economies like North America and Europe (90% of total organic food
consumption), but a majority of the organic food producers, that is over 86 %, are found
to be in developing countries (Willer & Lernoud, 2016). Based on regional classification,
Asia stood first in terms of the number of organic producers owing to the fact that 40% of
the world’s organic producers are found in this region, and it is ranked as third largest
market for organic products (Willer & Lernoud, 2016).

The rampant growth in the organic food market in Asian countries reflects the
increasing concern of consumers about organic products in developing countries due to
development in quality of life and perceptual swing from conventional diet to healthy diet
(Al-Swidi, Mohammed Rafiul Huque, Haroon Hafeez, & Noor Mohd Shariff, 2014).
India is ranked as first in terms of highest numbers of organic producers in the region as
well as in the overall world. Although India is ranked as first but development may also
be seen in other countries of the region. In Pakistan, agriculture is considered to be the
major sector, and it contributes almost 20% in the GDP of Pakistan (Pakistan, 2016).
Majority of agriculture farming is carried out by adopting the traditional farming
practices which involve the use of chemical fertilizers, which ultimately lead towards
affecting the health of people. There are also a lot of food scandals as adulterated milk,
meat and vegetables, which make the consumers more conscious about the purchase of
food products, and are shifting them from conventional food products to organic food
products. In view of this some of the producers shifted from the conventional food
production system to the organic farming system. The use of dangerous pesticides has
also been cut down dramatically in Pakistan (FAO, 2007). Turkey also has a large food
and agriculture industry that accounted for 8.53% of the GDP of the country of and 25%
of the employment levels in the country. The organic food industry in Turkey is also at its
initial stage, but the organic food producers are increasing day by day since the 1980s,
because multinational companies aim at exporting organic products, particularly to the
EU (Rehber & Turhan, 2002). Over the previous decade, corresponding to these

4
worldwide transformations in consumption inclinations and cross border purchasing
requirements, organic food farming in Turkey has advanced briskly (Oraman, 2014).
Similarly, in Iran the agriculture sector also contributes almost 25% in the GDP of the
country (Mirzaei). As the case with other developing countries, the market for organic
products in Iran is also a new-born market. In 1999, the organic products were first time
reported in Iran, when orchards of flowers for extracting oil, were turned to organic
farming in place of conventional farming. With the passage of time, the increase in
income levels and consumers’ awareness about healthy diet consumption has led towards
development of domestic organic food market.

Numerous studies may be found in the literature explaining the organic food
consumption behavior, but the majority of these studies focused on developed countries,
possibly due to the demand being more in the developed world. However, the increasing
popularity of organic food concept in developing countries is increasing the need to
investigate the behavior of consumers towards organic food in the developing countries.
As these three countries are well known as agricultural producers, so investigation of
consumer behavior towards organic food consumption will provide valuable insights
individually as well as in comparative terms also. Shifting to organic farming may indeed
be beneficial for the environment and health, and also a lucrative business – provided that
consumers’ intentions coincide. So, to find out the consumer intention study aimed at
exploring the determinant factors affecting the organic food purchase intention in
Pakistan, Turkey and Iran. Further the study also tried to establish the moderating role of
awareness in the organic food purchase intention.
2. Literature Review and Hypothesis Development:
The objective of the current study was to explore the factors affecting the purchase
intention of organic food. The “intention to perform behavior of different kinds can be
predicted with high accuracy from attitude towards behavior, subjective norm and
perceived behavior control” (Ajzen, 1991). These three constructs are part of the well-
established theoretical framework i.e, theory of planned behavior (Ajzen, 1985). Theory
of planned behavior in social and psychological studies has been broadly accepted and
pragmatic to evaluate the consumer behavior (Shah Alam & Mohamed Sayuti, 2011).
Theory of planned behavior has been incorporated to explicate the consumer intentions in

5
the food retail market. Its wide applicability enables it to be a significant model to
understand the consumer preferences in the food industry (Kim, Jang, & Kim, 2014). So
that theory of planned behavior with the inclusion of wo more constructs as health
consciousness and environment concern has been used to investigate the organic food
purchase intention. The first construct of theory of planned behavior is attitude, which
can be defined as “the evaluative effect of positive or negative feelings of individuals in
performing a particular behavior” by Fishbein and Ajzen (1977). Attitude considered to
have significant relationship with purchase intention by (Ajzen, 1991; Fishbein and Ajzen
(1977)). Attitude is considered as the significant predictor of organic food purchase
intention by (Hoppe, Vieira, & Barcellos, 2013; Magnusson, Arvola, Hursti, Åberg, &
Sjödén, 2003; Magnusson, Arvola, Koivisto Hursti, Åberg, & Sjödén, 2001; Tarkiainen
& Sundqvist, 2005). So, the first hypothesis can be proposed as:
H1: The attitude has a positive effect on intention to purchase of organic food.
The second construct of the theory of planned behavior is postulated as the subjective
norm. According to Fishbein and Ajzen (1977) it is defined as “the individual’s
perception of the likelihood that the potential referent group or individuals approve or
disapprove of performing the given behavior." Subjective norm also affects purchase
intention related to organic food significantly (Al-Swidi et al., 2014; Tarkiainen &
Sundqvist, 2005). So, the next hypothesis may be formulated as:
H2: The subjective norms have a positive impact on intention to purchase of organic
food.
The perceived behavioral control is defined as “the perceived ease or difficulty of
performing the behavior, and it is assumed to reflect experience as well as anticipated
impediments and obstacles” (Ajzen, 1991). The perceived behavior control actually
measures the self-control an individual has to restrain from performing a particular
behavior or not. The perceived behavior control actually depends on perceived barriers
and ability, which influenced the buying intention of consumers (Thogersen, 2007). The
major barriers in the purchase of organic foods are considered to be price and availability
(Magnusson et al., 2001). The consumers are ready to pay for the premium prices
associated with organic food, but many do not agree at paying this premium (Millock &
Hansen, 2002). Hence positive attitude factor cannot alone describe the consumers
purchase process since many factors influence in forming a particular purchase decision.

6
Ajzen (1991) presented that perceived behavioral control is directly the outcome of an
individual’s belief system about power over a situation and internal factors that have an
influence to facilitate the behavior. But more recent researchers like (Shah Alam &
Mohamed Sayuti, 2011) have presented the contrasting view that perceived behavior is
not a significant predictor in matters like buying Halal and organic food. In the same time
frame researchers like Kim and Chung had presented that control is still a major
contributor in explaining the relationships (Al-Swidi et al., 2014). So, it may be
hypothesized that.
H3: The perceived behavioral control has a significant positive effect on intention to
purchase.
Health consciousness is “the degree to which health concerns are integrated into person's
daily activities” (Jayanti & Burns, 1998). Health considered to be the significant factor
while buying food products (Wandel & Bugge, 1997). According to (Paul & Rana,
2012), the more cognizant consumers are about their health the more positive attitude
towards purchase intention of organic food became. Organic foods are considered
healthier foods compared to conventional food products (Lea & Worsley, 2005). Health
concern was also deemed as one of the most important factors while purchasing organic
food products (Chakrabarti, 2010; Zanoli & Naspetti, 2002). Teng and Lu (2016) also
supported that there is an important association between health consciousness and
purchase intention of organic food. Yadav and Pathak (2016) also revealed health
consciousness as a better motivator of organic food products purchase intention. So,
owing to the above discussion subsequent hypothesis can be proposed as.
H4: Health consciousness has a significant positive impact on intention to purchase
of organic food.
Environmental concern is “the degree to which people are aware of problems regarding
the environment and support efforts to solve them or indicate the willingness to
contribute personally to their solution” (Dunlap & Jones, 2002). As per Gottschalk and
Leistner (2013) the organic food products considered as environment friendly, healthy
and better in taste than conventional food items. According to Kumar (2012), consumers
favor those products which do not harm the environment. Pagiaslis and Krontalis (2014)
have also proven that environmental concern was a major motivator behind the purchase
intention of eco-friendly products. Coddington (1993) pointed out that consumers were

7
concerned about the impact of poor environmental conditions on their health. So, this
state of tension leads to integrate these concerns in their decision making, which resulted
in the inclination of consumers towards organic food.
Environment concern also plays a significant role because the consumers considered
buying organic food as environment-friendly behavior (Smith & Paladino, 2010). Bryła
(2016) identified the price, health, and environmental responsiveness as distinguishing
elements between organic and conventional food in Poland. Hence, we can hypothesize
that.
H5: Environment concerns have positive effect on the intention to purchase of
organic food.
This study also explored the role of awareness as a moderating variable on intention to
purchase organic food. Many customers are aware of the term “organic” but most are
unaware of organic practices (Chryssochoidis, 2000). As per Kapuge (2016), health
consciousness and awareness were the two major factors and revealed a significant
positive influence with purchase intention of organic food. So, it means that more
awareness leads to more impact on intention to purchase. As the context of the study is
developing economies in which the organic food market is in its initial stages,
consequently, the study sought for the role of awareness in the overall purchase intention
of organic food. So, the next hypothesis may be postulated as:
H6: Awareness moderate positively in the purchase intention of organic food.
The dependent variable in the study is purchase intention, which can be defined as the
strength of mind to operate in a particular way means to purchase (Ajzen, 1991).
3. Methodology
Before collecting the quantitative data related to the constructs of the study, the
awareness levels of consumers in each country were checked, and a short questionnaire
was designed consisting of questions related to awareness as in study and some open-
ended questions explaining the motivating factors behind the purchase of organic food
was sent to almost 50 potential respondents. The awareness level in these three countries
was found to be almost same. Based on the short survey a structured questionnaire was
designed to collect the quantitative data from Pakistan, Turkey and Iran. Questionnaire
was adopted from different studies, which were considered relevant for the measurement
of a construct and was designed in English. As to measure attitude, subjective norm and

8
perceived behavior control and intention to purchase a questionnaire adopted from (Ajzen
(2002); Arvola et al., 2008). To measure Health Consciousness, a questionnaire was
adopted from (Tarkiainen & Sundqvist, 2005). The Environment Concern was measured
using a questionnaire of (Roberts & Bacon, 1997). Consumer Awareness of organic food
was measured based on the following two questions: “Do you know what an organic food
is?” and “Are you familiar with the term organic food." All of the constructs were
measured on a seven-point Likert scale. scale.
Questionnaire was translated into Turkish to collect the data from Turkey and into
Persian to collect the data from Iran with the help of a researcher from Turkey and Iran,
then was translated back to English to ensure semantic equivalence of the constructs
(Brislin, 1970) while the questionnaire for Pakistan was presented in English. As to reach
the target respondents of middle class the study seeks help from local researchers and a
list of potential respondents based on their income level was generated. Those
respondents were selected who have the income level as in Pakistan 620 US dollar,
Turkey 800 US dollar and Iran 850 US dollar or more per month. The questionnaire was
uploaded on a software, and the link of the questionnaire was sent to these respondents
through email, group emails, official group mails and social media tools like facebook,
whatsapp and wechat. The questionnaire was also presented in person to some of the
respondents as per convenience to get the data. In Pakistan, questionnaire was sent to
almost 600 respondents and got 325 responses with response rate of 54.16 percent out of
which 271 responses were considered for analysis. In Turkey, the questionnaire was sent
to almost 550 respondents and got 279 responses with a response rate of 50.72 percent
out of which245 responses were considered for analysis. In Iran, the questionnaire was
sent to almost 500 respondents and got 250 responses with response rate of 50.00 percent
out of which 220 responses considered for analysis.

9
3.1 Conceptual Framework:
Figure 1 Conceptual Framework

4. Analysis and Results.

The analysis was done through SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Science) and AMOS
(Analysis of Moment Structure). In the analysis of the data, the two-step approach was
used as suggested by previous studies (Hair, Black, Babin, Anderson, & Tatham, 1998).
In the two-step approach, the measurement model was tested for validity and reliability
through different techniques as Confirmatory factor analysis, etc. Then structural model
was analyzed to test the hypothesis and model fit. Firstly, data was screened through
exploratory factor analysis and cross loading items were dropped from each country data
set.
Convergent validity of all the three countries was assured by the values of chronbach
alpha, which were above the cutoff levels of 0.7 by (Hair et al., 1998); composite
reliability values were above the accepted limit of 0.6 as per (Bagozzi & Yi, 1988) and
average variance explained values were also above the cutoff value of 0.5 by (Hair et al.,
1998) as given in table 1.

10
 Table 1Confirmatory Factors Analysis and Validity Measures

Pakistan Turkey Iran

Cronb Cronb
Cronbac
Items Loadings CR AVE Items Loadings ach CR AVE Items Loadings ach CR AVE
h Alpha
Alpha Alpha
Aw 1 0.75 Aw 1 0.77 Aw 1 0.71
0.754 0.767 0.623 0.712 0.735 0.561 0.742 0.805 0.684
Aw 2 0.83 Aw 2 0.91 Aw 2 0.91

Att 2 0.72 Att 1 0.86 Att 0.78

Att 3 0.74 0.837 0.582 Att 5 0.76 0.873 0.897 0.624 Att 6 0.68 0.750
0.859 0.812 0.553
Att 4 0.83 Att 2 0.71 Att 2 0.71

SN 1 0.64 SN 1 0.81 SN 1 0.64

0.823
SN 2 0.67 0.856 0.564 SN 2 0.80 0.748 0.691 SN 2 0.82 0.716
0.826 0.554
0.817
SN 3 0.88 SN 3 0.86 SN 3 0.89

PBC 2 0.87 PBC 1 0.86 PBC 1 0.67

0.7000 0.757 0.523 0.701 0.713
0.743 0.546 0.746 0.532
PBC 3 0.79 PBC 2 0.72 PBC 2 0.69

HC 1 0.74 HC 1 0.86 HC 1 0.81

0.7000 0.732 0.518 0.727 0.741 0.593 0.715
0.782 0.557
HC 3 0.72 HC 1 0.79 HC 3 0.71

EC 1 0.69 EC 1 0.69 EC 1 0.79

EC 2 0.73 0.729 0.549 EC 3 0.83 0.763 0.780 0.543 EC 3 0.69 0.760

0.771 0.810 0.695
EC 4 0.72 EC 2 0.69 EC 2 0.71

I1 0.69 I2 0.72 I2 0.73

I2 0.81 0.807 0.617 I 3 0.79 0.811 0.819 0.602 I 3 0.74 0.777

0.839 0.823 0.567
I4 0.75 I1 0.82 I4 0.66
Aw. Awareness. Att. Attitude, SN. Subjective Norm, PBC. Perceived Behavior Control,
HC. Health Consciousness, EC. Environment Concern, I. Purchase Intention

Further analysis and results of each country have been discussed as follow

11
4.1 Pakistan:
Descriptive analysis reveals the demographic characteristics of the respondents: 79%
male and 21%female. Education level was 30.3% were bachelors 45.8% were masters,
and 24% were PhD’s or working on their PhDs. The model fit values of confirmatory
factor analysis were GFI 0.918, AGFI 0.857, TLI 0.915, CFI 0.931 and RMSEA 0.0562.
So after ensuring the validity the items selected for a particular construct were combined
for testing the hypothesis by structural model. The model fit values were as AGFI 0.890,
which was above Chau and Hu (2001) cut off value of 0.80, NNFI and CFI were 0.957
and 0.967, which were also higher than 0.95 by (Bagozzi & Yi, 1988). The RMSEA
value was 0.058, lower than the 0.08 suggested by (Browne & Cudeck, 1993).
To see the moderation effect of awareness variable interaction terms was developed by
multiplying the composite constructs of attitude, subjective norm, health consciousness
and environment concern with composite construct of awareness. The hypothesis was
tested through structure equation model, and the results (table 2) showed that attitude was
the significant predictor of organic food purchase intention with estimate value of 0.298
at significance of 0.000. The interaction term of attitude was also significant with an
estimate of 0.369, which means that awareness moderates positively. Subjective norm
was also significantly associated with purchase intention with an estimate of 0.103 at
0.001 significance level. The interaction term of subjective norm and purchase intention
was also significant with an estimate of 0.147 at significance of 0.000. Perceived
behavior control and its interaction term were found non predictor organic food purchase
intention Health consciousness and its interaction terms were also found to be
significantly associated with organic food purchase intention. Environment concern and
its interaction term were found to be non-significant with purchase intention. The overall
explains the ability of the model as represented by R square value was 0.81.
4.2 Turkey:
In Turkey, demographic characteristics of the respondents were 64.5% male and 35.5%
female. The respondent’s education level was 40.5% bachelors, 30.8% masters and
28.7% PhD’s or working on their PhD. The model fit values of confirmatory factor
analysis values were as GFI 0.923, AGFI 0.957, TLI 0.785, CFI 0.921 and RMSEA
0.0559.
After the measurement model, structural model was run through AMOS by making

12
composite variables. The AGFI of the model was 0.860 and that above 0.80 considered
good as per (Chau & Hu, 2001). The values NNFI and CFI were 0.956 and 0.961,
respectively, which were higher than 0.95 and considered good as per (Bagozzi & Yi,
1988). The RMSEA as root means square error of approximation value was 0.065, lower
than 0.08 suggested by Browne and Cudeck (1993). The moderation effect of awareness
was checked by developing interaction's terms of all the variables in the model with
awareness.
The results as presented in Table 2 were as attitude was found to be the weak predictor of
organic food purchase intention with estimate value of 0.055 at the significance level of
almost 5 percent. Interaction term of attitude was also significant with an estimate of 0.14
at the significance level of 0.003, which means that awareness moderates positively
between attitude and intention to purchase. Subjective norm and its interaction term were
the significant predictor of organic food purchase intention. Perceived behavior control,
and its interaction term were significantly associated with organic food purchase intention
with estimates of 0.077 and 0.088 respectively at the significance level of 0.066 and
0.032 respectively. Health consciousness was found to be the best predictor of purchase
intention with estimate value of 0.125, and the interaction term of health consciousness
was also significant with intention to purchase with an estimate of 0.170, which means
that awareness moderates positively and significantly. Environment concern and its
interaction term were found to be non- significant with purchase intention. The model
explains 71 percent of variance, which is considered to be good.
4.3 Iran:
Demographic characteristics of the respondents in Iran were 58.25% male and 41.8%
female. The respondent’s education level was 48.6% bachelors, 26.5% masters and
24.9% PhD’s or working on their PhD. The model fit values of confirmatory factor
analysis were GFI 0.876, AGFI 0.806, TLI 0.898, CFI 0.9301 and RMSEA 0.0687.
The structural model tests the hypothesis and model fit values were as AGFI was 0.894
that were above 0.80 suggested by (Chau & Hu, 2001). The values of NNFI or TLI and
CFI were 0.969 and 0.982, which were above 0.95 suggested by (Bagozzi & Yi, 1988).
The value of RMSEA was 0.047, that were lower than 0.08 suggested by (Browne &
Cudeck, 1993). To see the moderation effect of awareness variable interaction terms was
developed by multiplying the composite constructs of attitude, subjective norm, health

13
consciousness and environment concern with composite construct of awareness.
The results as per table 2 were; attitude was found to be a good predictor of purchase
intention with an estimate of 0.139. The interaction term of attitude was also significant
with purchase intention with an estimate value of 0.187 at the significance level of 0.000,
which means that awareness moderate positively. Subjective norm and intention were
also significantly associated with estimate value of 0.111 at significance of 0.014. The
relationship between interaction term of subjective norm and purchase intention was also
significant with an estimate of 0.112 with significance of 0.036. Perceived behavior
control and its interaction term were found to be non-significant with organic food
purchase intention. Health consciousness was also found to be significantly associated
with purchase intention with an estimate of 0.144 and interaction term of health
consciousness was also significant with intention to purchase with an estimate of 0.152,
which ensures the positive and significant moderation of awareness between health
consciousness and purchase intention. Environment concern was also found to be the
significant predictor of purchase intention with an estimate of 0.216, and its interaction
term was also significant with estimate value of 0.353. Awareness was found to have
been positive significant moderating effect between environment concern and intention to
purchase of organic food. The overall explain ability of the model was 0.68, which are
considered good.

14
 Table 2 Hypothesized Direct Effects
Hypothe Statement Pakistan Turkey Iran
sis Estimate Significance Result Estimate Significance Result Estimate Significance Result
The attitude
H1 positively impacts Supporte Supporte Support
on purchase 0.257 0.000 d 0.084 0.055 d 0.139 0.000 ed
intention.
The subjective
norms effect Supporte Supporte Support
H2 positively on 0.103 0.001 d 0.167 0.002 d 0.111 0.014 ed
intention to
purchase.
The perceived
behavior control
has positive Not Supporte Not
H3 significant impact -0.011 0.709 Supporte 0.077 0.066 0.153 0.239 Support
on intention to d d ed
purchase of
organic food.
The health
consciousness Supporte Supporte Support
H4 positively affects 0.116 0.000 0.125 0.018 0.144 0.000
the intention to d d ed
purchase.
The
Environmental Not Not
H5 concern has Support
positive effect on 0.028 0.295 Supporte 0.046 0.413 Supporte 0.216 0.002 ed
intention to d d
purchase.
The awareness
moderate Supporte Supporte Support
H 6-I positively between 0.298 0.000 0.140 0.003 0.187 0.000
attitude and d d ed
Purchase Intention
The awareness
moderate
H 6-II pos itively between 0.167
subjective norm 0.004 Supporte
d 0.186 0.000 Supporte
d 0.112 0.036 Support
ed
and Purchase
Intention
The awareness
moderate Not Not
H 6-III positively between
perceived behavior -0.063 0.138 Supporte 0.088 0.032 Supporte
d -0.198 0.225 Support
control and d ed
Purchase Intention
The awareness
moderate
positively between 0.138
H 6-IV Health 0.002 Supporte 0.170 0.000 Supporte 0.152 0.000 Support
d d ed
Consciousness and
Purchase Intention
The awareness
moderate Not Not
positively between 0.037
H 6-V environment 0.302 Supporte 0.075 0.152 Supporte 0.353 0.004 Support
d d ed
concern and
Purchase Intention

15
5. Conclusion and Discussion:
The study focused on knowing the factors influencing organic food purchase intention
with moderating role of awareness. Secondly, the results of Pakistan, Turkey and Iran
were also compared. As in Pakistan the attitude and health consciousness found to be the
better predictors of organic food purchase intention, and their interaction terms were also
significant. These findings provide support for the results from previous studies (Al-
Swidi et al., 2014; Bryła, 2016; Voon, Ngui, & Agrawal, 2011; Zanoli & Naspetti, 2002),
in which it was established that health consciousness among consumers positively affects
their intention to purchase organic foods. Environment concern was found to be the non-
significant predictor of organic food purchase intention, which is aligned with the
findings of (Magnusson et al., 2003) who found that egoistic motive like health concern
is the better predictor of organic food purchase intention than altruistic motives like
environment concern. Subjective norm also turned out to be a significant predictor of
organic food purchase intention and interaction term of the subjective norms was also
significant, which implies that increasing the awareness among consumers will lead
towards establishing organic food purchase intention as the social norm. Perceived
behavior control and its interaction term were not significantly associated with intention
to purchase of organic food. It seems that the reason behind this finding may be the lack
of resources or particular control to perform a particular behavior. The combined family
system prevails in Pakistan, which is characterized by the concentration of control on one
hand, and other individuals depend upon the consumption willingness of the member
leading the family.
The purchase of organic food was found to be established as a social norm, in Turkey,
with high estimate value of the subjective norm. The consumers also have control over
their purchase and perceived behavior control was significantly associated with purchase
intention of organic food. The reason behind this may be the nucleated family system
which exists in Turkey, so individuals have more control over their purchase as compared
with the family system in Pakistan. This finding was quite different from Pakistan and
Iran; also contrary to different researchers (Dean, Raats, & Shepherd, 2008) but certain
researchers supported the finding (Ajzen, 2006; Gracia Royo & Magistris, 2007; Riefer &
Hamm, 2008; Voon et al., 2011). The results further illustrate that health consciousness

16
was more of a significant predictor of consumer behavior towards organic food than
environment concern. The finding was also in alignment with (Yadav & Pathak, 2016)
who believe that health consciousness is the better predictor of organic food purchase
intention than environment concern. Awareness moderates positively as the interaction
terms of all the constructs were significantly associated with purchase intention of
organic food except environment concern, which was found to be non-significant.
In Iran environment concern was found to be best predictor of intention to purchase of
organic food which was turned out to be converse to the results of (Magnusson et al.,
2003) but it was aligned with the findings of (Çabuk, Tanrikulu, & Gelibolu, 2014).
Interaction term of environment concern was also significant with intention to purchase
of organic food with high estimate value, which establishes the positive moderation of
awareness between environment concern and purchase intention. Health consciousness
was also significantly associated with organic purchase intention supported by (Yadav &
Pathak, 2016). Attitude and its interaction term were also found to be the significant
predictor of organic food purchase intention. Subjective norm and its interaction term
were also found to be the better predictors of organic food purchase intention. Perceived
behavior control was found to be non-significant with intention to purchase of organic
food, which means that although consumers have positive attitude, and they consider
organic food as healthy and environment friendly but still there is a barrier and this is in
line with another study in Iran conducted by (Yazdanpanah & Forouzani, 2015).
Awareness moderates significantly as awareness increases the impact of attitude,
subjective norm, health consciousness and environment concern on intention to purchase
of organic food.
Current study contributes theoretically by establishing the moderating role of awareness
in organic food purchase intention. The study also compares the motivating factors of
organic food purchase intention across three countries. Secondly, the study also escorts
the practitioners in devising an effective marketing strategy in three different countries
based on the best motivators of organic food purchase intention. The study suggests that
an aggressive marketing campaign may be initiated to make the consumers aware of the
health and other environment-related benefits from consumption of organic food, which
will ultimately influence organic food purchase intention and an increased sale. In

17
addition, this study also guides the policy makers of these countries to switch to organic
farming, which will indeed be beneficial for the environment and health, and also a
lucrative business because consumer’s intentions coincide. In the current study, income
was only criteria considered for targeting middle-class consumers which can be further
improved to include more criteria to qualify for middle class. Further study can also be
enhanced to have more representation of the population by increasing sample size.
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 Appendix
Questionnaire:

Construct Items
I think that purchasing organic food is a good idea.
I think that purchasing organic food is interesting.
Attitude I think that purchasing organic food is important.
I think that purchasing organic food is beneficial.
I think that purchasing organic food is wise.
I think that purchasing organic food is favorable.
My family think that I should buy organic food rather than non-organic
food.
Subjective Norm Most people I value would buy organic food rather than non-organic food.
People I value such as my teacher think you should buy organic food.
Most friends whose opinions regarding diet are important to me, think that
I should buy organic food.
Perceived If I wanted to, I could buy organic food instead of organic food.
Behavioral Control I think it is easy for me to buy organic food.
It is mostly up to me whether or not to buy organic food.
Health I chose food carefully to ensure the good health.
Consciousness I didn't consider myself as health conscious consumer.
I think often about health related issues.
The balance of nature is very delicate and can be easily upset.
Environmental Human beings are severely abusing the environment.
Concern Humans must maintain the balance with nature in order to survive.
Human interferences with nature often produce disastrous consequences.
I am willing to purchase organic foods if they are available.
Intention to I intend to buy organic foods if they are available.
Purchase I plan to consume organic foods if they are available for purchase.
I will try to consume organic foods if they are available for purchase.
Awareness Do you know what an organic food is?
Are you familiar with the term “organic food”

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Highlights:
1. The study is comparative in nature and focuses on understanding the factors that
affect the purchase intention of organic food in three countries: Pakistan, Turkey
and Iran.
2. The study also endeavors to explain the role of awareness as a moderating
variable in organic food purchase intention.
3. The results of the study vary from country to country, but attitude and health
consciousness are found to be better predictor organic food purchase intention.
4. The relationship of the subjective norms, perceived behavior control and
environment concern with intention to purchase vary across different contexts.
5. The awareness of consumers moderates positively in the intention to purchase of
organic food.
6. Current study establishes the role of awareness in the organic food purchase
intention which is found to be missing in the literature.
7. The study also guides the policy makers of these countries to switch to organic
farming, which will indeed be beneficial for the environment and health, and also
a lucrative business because consumer’s intentions coincide.

22