Comportamento do consumidor de produtos orgânicos: uma aplicação da teoria do comportamento planejado

Consumer behavior has been an important topic in academic studies as well as for companies’ strategies. According to the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), human behavior is grounded on three constructs: (i) behavioral beliefs, (ii) normative beliefs, and (iii) control beliefs. It is widely recognized that patterns of food consumption have undergone rapid change over the past few years as a result of concerns about environmental sustainability, development, nutritional aspects and also health issues. This study examines the motivations behind the consumer’s decision to purchase organic food, based on the Theory of Planned Behavior, testing a model in the Brazilian context. A survey with 446 consumers was carried out at supermarkets and farmers’ markets in Brazil and the Structural Equation Modeling technique was used to test the model, which is partially validated and presents good fit measures. The findings show that individual values and benefits are significant predictors of the consumer’s attitude toward organic food. However, subjective norms were not well accepted by the sample. Attitude and availability are significantly related to the intention to purchase organic food, but there still a gap between attitude and behavior. The results present features of consumers of organic food in Brazil and validate a TPB model. Key words: organic food, consumer behavior, Theory of Planned Behavior