Effect of organic food-related lifestyle on attitude and purchase intention towards organic food: evidences from Brazil

Resumo

This study aims to analyze the effect of the food lifestyle on the attitude and intention to purchase in relation to organic foods. Using the theoretical basis of food-related lifestyle variables that, supposedly, would influence the consumption of organic foods, a construct (OFRL) was elaborated. A survey was carried out with 651 Brazilian consumers, using questionnaires for online self-filling. The data were analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling with Partial Least Squares (SmartPLS 2.0 software), to evaluate the measurement model and the structural model. There is empirical evidence that the OFRL construct significantly influences the attitude and intention to purchase organic food, with an emphasis on the role of information. Thus, the study revealed a great opportunity for professionals and the chain to unite and work more efficiently with institutional communication. This article is one of the few studies that focuses on the consequences of food related lifestyle to the attitude and intention purchase organic food, in the context of a developing country, validating scales to measure those constructs. In addition, it brings a conceptual structure, which allowed us to conclude that the dimensions of the lifestyle related to food “importance of product information”, “price criterion” and “health” are determining elements of the attitude and intention to buy organic food, as demonstrated by structural equation modeling. From a theoretical perspective, this work consists of validating an OFRL scale as a unique second-order construct, to measure the food lifestyle capable of forming an attitude and intention to purchase organic food.

Keywords: Attitude Scale; Smart-PLS; Organic Attitude Scale;