Polish consumer food choices and beliefs about organic food

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to examine consumers' motives for food choice and to reveal beliefs about organic food. Design/methodology/approach - The paper is based on results of a survey conducted on a sample of 1,010 Polish consumers. The questionnaire included items to identify food choice motives, attributes of organic food and barriers to buy organic products. The data collected was analyzed with SPSS 15.0 using descriptive statistics and carrying out two step cluster analysis to identify consumers' segments. To get better insight into factors decisive to organic food consumption, the segments were profiled according to declared consumption of organic food. Findings - Sensory factors were the most important motives for food choice, followed by price and safety. Consumers with convenience and price orientation in their food choices were less inclined to buy organic products while consumers open to novelties and willing to try new foods more often declared to buy organic products. Polish consumers conceptualize organic food referring to aspects such as healthiness and safety. Despite the developments observed in the organic food sector in Poland, the information related that barriers to buy organic food still prevail. Research limitations/implications - The choice of validated scale items related to food choice and food related lifestyle was limited and there is a need to further explore Polish consumers food related lifestyle and its relation to organic food consumption. Cluster analysis used to identify segments is a method not based on probabilistic statistics, so it is the researcher's interpretation that is most relevant. Originality/value - Prior research concerning Polish consumers food choices with relation to organic food consumption is very limited. Such information is particularly pertinent to food manufacturers and distributors to support developing communication strategies to stimulate organic food market development in Poland.