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Factors impacting on purchasing decision of organic food in developing countries: A systematic review

  • Ahmad Durbul EMAIL logo
Published/Copyright: July 8, 2025
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Open Agriculture
From the journal Open Agriculture Volume 10 Issue 1

Abstract

Consumers now have more health awareness; accordingly, the demand for organic food is increasing worldwide. This increase in demand is combined with increased attention from academic researchers. However, most related studies concern developed countries with bigger sizes and more mature markets than developing countries. In addition, the literature lacks systematic research that comprehensively reviews the factors influencing purchase intention in undeveloped markets. In response to these academic gaps, this article aims to identify the role of subjective norms, health awareness, environmental consciousness, safety, price, and brand credibility in determining consumers’ purchase intention of organic food in developing countries through a systemic review of relevant studies. The results demonstrated the role of all these factors in consumers’ purchase intention. In addition, the scarcity of research on precursors of consumer purchase intention is confirmed, especially on food safety, price, and brand credibility. The findings of this study stimulate momentum to enrich the growing literature with studies on consumer behaviors, particularly in developing countries. The findings help managers, marketing strategists, environmentalists, policymakers, and organic food companies formulate various marketing strategies to induce consumers to purchase organic food.

Keywords: subjective norm; health consciousness; environmental consciousness; food safety concern; price consciousness; brand credibility

1 Introduction

The organic food market is overgrowing worldwide. The global market value of organic food was $227.2 billion in 2021, and it is expected to hit $437.4 billion in 2026 [1]. The productivity of organic farming is typically lower than that of conventional farms [2,3]. Accordingly, the prices of organic products are higher than those of conventional food products. However, one of the notable trends in the global economy is the increase in both organic production and organic consumption [4,5,6]. Consumers now have more health awareness; therefore, the demand for organic food is increasing [7,8,9,10] as organic foods surpass other foods in terms of food aspects, agriculture methods, and certification. In terms of aspects, organic foods are free of any pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, genetically modified organisms, industrial solvents, or irradiation [11]. Organic foods are nutritious, healthy, safe, and environment-friendly [8]. By referring to agriculture methods, organic foods are cultivated by adopting distinct means, free of fertilizers, pesticides, and chemicals [12]. Organic agriculture follows the farming system adopted by ancient farmers, with no addition of pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, livestock feed additives, or growth regulators [7,13]. The food and agriculture organization/world health organization Codex Alimentarius Commission [14] defines organic agriculture as an integrated production management system that promotes the use of natural elements such as minerals and products originating from plants and does not permit the use of synthetic pesticides and fertilizers, focusing on agro—ecosystem health – soil biological activity, biodiversity, and biological cycles. In terms of certification, organic food is certified based on the entire production system, starting from soil, plant, and animal to the consumer. The established certification procedures, production and processing standards, and a legal basis set the borderline between organic and non-organic foods [15].

Organic agriculture is practiced in 187 countries and accounts for 72.3 million hectares of agricultural land [5,6,16]. The United States Department of Agriculture emphasized a global shift from chemical-dependent agriculture to farming in organic and eco-friendly ways [16]. This remarkable increase is attributed to the several advantages that organic agriculture brings. Unlike traditional farming systems, organic agriculture promotes sustainability because it improves soil structure and fertility, uses natural elements, and employs environment-friendly techniques such as crop rotation, intercropping, and mulching. More importantly, organic agriculture contributes to health and well-being [17] because it minimizes the adverse effects on humans and nature by avoiding mineral fertilizers and unnaturally produced pesticides [18].

The increase in organic food demand and agriculture adoption combines increased attention from governments and academic research. Governments seek to raise organic food production for economic, ethical, and environmental reasons and are interested in finding ways to increase consumption [19,20]. According to academic researchers, this change in food purchasing behavior is related to consumer attitudes and perceptions toward purchasing organic food products [7,12,21]. Notably, these attitudes and perceptions are influenced by specific factors that vary considerably from one country to another [4]. Food habits and choices are typically affected by cultural traditions, personal food experiences, norms, fashion, physiological needs, availability, lifestyle, and food trends. Accordingly, organic food researchers understand this trend and seek to support the new purchasing behavior trend by determining and promoting the corresponding precursors of organic food purchase intention [9,22,23,24,25].

Purchase intention is defined as the behavior that arises as a response to an object and shows the desire to make a purchase [26]. According to the Theory of Reasoned Action, behavioral intention is defined as a person’s positive or negative feelings toward doing the target behavior, where intention is the most noticeable influencer in defining behavior [27]. In consumer purchase behavior research, purchase intention is perceived as consumers’ willingness to purchase a product. Purchase intention is used to predict actual purchase behavior [21,28,29,30,31]; therefore, it has attracted much interest from researchers [9,22,23,24,25,32]. Subjective norms, health, environment, safety, price, and brand determine purchase intention. Notably, a vast majority of the related studies are concerned with developed countries with bigger sizes and more mature markets than developing countries [33,34,35,36], and a limited number of studies focus on developing countries [37,38,39]. In addition, the literature lacks systematic research that comprehensively reviews the factors influencing purchase intention in unmatured and undeveloped markets. In response to this academic gap, this article aims to identify the role of subjective norms, health, environment, safety, price, and brand in determining the purchase intention of organic food in developing countries by conducting a systematic and comprehensive literature review.

2 Methods

The systematic review approach has become an increasingly popular research tool in social science, including business and economics studies. However, as mentioned earlier, systematic reviews are still rare in organic food research, mainly reviews about developing countries. Systematic reviews represent a kind of secondary evidence that encapsulates findings from published research. Conducting a systematic review comprises several comprehensive, transparent steps that other researchers can reproduce. Therefore, a well-done systematic review has a far lower bias than any other research design [40].

The first step of the systematic review is to formulate research questions. The next phase is to design a review protocol describing the research strategy, the criteria for inclusion and quality assessment, and the process for screening, data extraction, synthesis, and reporting. In this phase, for extracting, archiving, and sharing data and accessing shared data related to the systematic review, we utilized systematic review data repository as an open, web-based repository of systematic review data. This tool allowed us to share articles as co-authors. It represented a central database where we continuously critiqued, updated, and augmented the selected articles. It also improved our access to articles, allowing greater transparency and reliability during the review process, where the preparation and updating phases were done with high efficiency. For tracking the inclusion and exclusion of articles efficiently, Zotero was used as a free, easy-to-use tool to help us organize, annotate, cite, and share the articles. In addition, we used a custom spreadsheet to track each stage of the inclusion and exclusion process.

In addition, it would be more beneficial to use a layout algorithm such as VOSviewer to optimize our research by helping us in text mining and understanding the occurrence of prominent terms extracted from the relevant literature. However, our terms were known in advance; therefore, we just manually created a spreadsheet after renaming each source with the author name, year, and abbreviation forms of the target terms so that it becomes more accessible for us to identify which source contains which term(s). The third step is to summarize and discuss the main findings of the relevant literature [41]. This rigorous protocol minimizes researcher bias in data selection and analysis. It also provides validity, reliability, and repeatability for the study, upon which a comprehensive scientific report on the literature on a specific theme can be filed [42,43].

2.1 The selection processes

This systematic review considers empirical studies that focus on determining the factors that influence the purchasing intention of organic food in developing countries. We established the search strings as “subjective norm OR brand OR environment OR price OR health OR safety AND purchase AND organic food.” We should not have included the theory of planned behavior in the search strings because we targeted all the relevant studies regardless of the applied theory.

The systematic search for relevant studies was conducted in June 2022 using the Web of Science database. All English journal and conference articles published between 2000 and 2022 were considered. The search provided 1298 results. Since we only targeted empirical studies, we excluded review articles and obtained 1249 studies. After screening the results by title and abstract, the number of eligible studies was 95. Then, we started a quality assessment process by checking each article completely using the strengthening the reporting of observational studies in epidemiology Statement (a checklist of items that should be included in reports of cross-sectional studies). After reading the whole article, irrelevant studies were excluded, reaching 68 eligible studies. Later, since our focus is on developing countries, all studies conducted in developed countries were excluded, identifying 39 articles from developing countries. The developing countries were determined based on the list of developing countries declared by the Minister for Foreign Affairs [44]. Due to limited time and based on a discussion between co-authors, we aimed to limit the number of studies by finally excluding any study that examines only subjective norms, as this factor was extensively studied and tested in the other selected studies. We did not use sample size as an exclusion criterion due to the limited number of relevant studies. Furthermore, brand credibility and price are covered by just a few studies. The steps are illustrated in Table 1 and detailed as follows:

  1. We conducted an initial search using the search strings and constrained the results to include English articles only.

  2. We excluded review articles because we aim to collect research results based on empirical data.

  3. We then screened the results by title and abstract to exclude any articles that did not meet our specific search niche.

  4. By checking the whole article against guidelines, we removed any article that may not demonstrate high-quality content or does not measure the intended variables or the intended relationship.

  5. We excluded any research conducted in developed countries because we aim to collect data about developing countries.

  6. We excluded articles that only considered subjective norms because subjective norms were tested extensively throughout the reviewed articles; therefore, we excluded any research that only tested one of our target variables, namely subjective norms.

Table 1

Number of studies remaining after each exclusion step

No. Action No. of studies
1 Initial results 1,298
2 Excluding review articles (49) 1,249
3 Screening results by title and abstract 95
4 Reading the whole article 68
5 Excluding developed countries 39
6 Excluding research that measures only subjective norms (10) 29

Figure 1 displays the selection steps from the search and identification processes including eligible studies.

Figure 1 PRISMA flow diagram.
Figure 1

PRISMA flow diagram.

2.2 Data analysis

After identifying 29 eligible studies, we started the classification process based on the following criteria: publication year, research country, research aims, research method, sample size, independent variables, analysis approach, and findings.

3 Results and discussion

3.1 Research date, region, and discipline

This section sheds light on the number of studies published over the years, the target country, and the publishing journals.

3.1.1 Number of studies from 2002 to 2022

No eligible studies for this review were found from 2002 to 2016. Starting from 2017, the number of articles began to appear and increased from one in 2016 to 10 in 2021 (Figure 2). In 2022, we identified three studies. The increased number of studies over the years reflects the growing interest of business researchers in organic foods. It complies with the fact that food consumption practice is changing worldwide toward organic food as a sustainable option for health and the environment [7].

Figure 2 The number of studies from 2002 to 2022.
Figure 2

The number of studies from 2002 to 2022.

3.1.2 Distribution of studies over countries

In terms of the number of studies, each country has one or two studies, but India and Turkey have preserved a higher number of studies (six for each country), followed by Pakistan (5) (Figure 3). The strength of organic food trends in each country reflects in its research area. For example, the Indian retail market value of organic food is expected to achieve $135.6 million by 2023 [45]. In 2000, the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority of the Government of India launched the “National Standards for Organic Products,” representing a shifting pivot in organic food [46]. In 2006, the organic certification process in India was declared in correspondence with European Union standards for food [46], creating an opportunity for organic food players. In Turkey, the EU harmonization process supported the start of the organic agriculture policies in 2004 with the endorsement of an organic agriculture law. The same year they watched the delegation of certification processes to independent control and certification organizations. From 2005 to 2017, organic production upsurged approximately five times [47]. On the other side of the spectrum, in Indonesia, the country’s population and economy have seen an increase; however, this has not necessarily resulted in upsurged consumption of organic products. It is still a niche, accounting for roughly 1% of global agricultural production, but it has the potential to become mainstream [48].

Figure 3 The distribution of studies over countries.
Figure 3

The distribution of studies over countries.

3.1.3 Publishing sources

Finding the determinants of organic food purchase intention drew the attention of numerous researchers from various disciplines. The British Food Journal published five studies, and Food Quality and Preferences published three studies, while other sources (Figure 4), such as Istanbul Business Research, Trends in Food Science & Technology, and the Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, published one study. The spread of the research topic over a variety of sources shows the multidisciplinary of the topic.

Figure 4 The number of articles per source.
Figure 4

The number of articles per source.

3.2 Research design, methodology, and analysis

All the selected research studies were quantitative studies that depended on collecting data from a well-developed questionnaire. A typical questionnaire contains a section for collecting sociodemographic details such as information about gender, age, educational background, occupation, and average monthly income. All the studies include such a section, as it is essential for ensuring the viability of the chosen sample for evaluating the intended variable and demonstrating whether the sample shows any bias. For example, in their study, Jose and Kuriakose [24] analyzed the demographic information and observed a bias toward women and younger age groups. In addition, Jose et al. [25] ensured the sample homogeneity by inserting a filter question like “What type of organic buyer are you?” – regular, irregular, potential. In this way, they could collect data from only those with some knowledge and interest in purchasing organic food.

For statistical data analysis, there were mainly two common approaches and some other approaches (Figure 5). The first is structural equation modeling (SEM), a multivariate analytical technique that simultaneously performs a series of separate multiple regressions. It is used to test the hypothesized model to determine if there are significant relationships between the research variables. SEM is primarily useful when the research comprises several constructs, each measured by several variables [49]. SEM was employed in [10,12,22,24,37,50,51,52,53,54,55,56,57,58]. The second approach is partial least squares-SEM (PLS-SEM). PLS is a technique that efficiently analyzes data with less restrictive assumptions, small sample sizes, increased model complexity, and more emphasis on exploration rather than confirmation [49]. PLS-SEM was employed in the rest of the studies except for three studies: used factor analysis and correlation [59], used Principal Component Analysis extraction with Varimax rotation [60], and used Exploratory Factor Analysis [61,62].

Figure 5 Data analysis approaches.
Figure 5

Data analysis approaches.

3.3 Research dependent and independent variables

This article aims to understand the determinants of organic food purchase intention in developing countries. The determinants of purchase intention may include attitude, subjective norms, health, environment, safety, price, brand, knowledge, education, moral attitude, behavioral control, and word-of-mouth. This systematic review focuses on how subjective norms, health, environment, safety, price, and brand influence the intention to purchase organic food.

3.3.1 The applied theories

The Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) has been used in the majority of the selected studies [9,10,37,50,52,54,55,58,60,61,63,64,65,66,67] to examine individuals’ purchase intention of organic food [67]. In some studies, the TPB was combined with some other theories, such as the TRA [60,67], self-determination theory [63], and value theory [25]. The consumption values theory was used in one study [23]. It is well known that the TRA [68] stresses the importance of anticipating human behavior by stating that a person’s behavior is influenced by behavioral intentions, which are influenced by attitudes toward the act and subjective standards. The TRA was extended by the TPB [69], which proposes that behavior is determined by a set of an individual’s intentions to engage in a particular behavior. The TPB comprises attitude formation, perceived behavioral control, and subjective norms. Individuals’ attitudes influence their intention to perform a specific behavior (in the context of the current study, attitude toward buying organic food), their perceived behavioral control (i.e., how far consumers perceive their controlling behavior toward a particular action), and their subjective norms (i.e., the importance of others’ opinions, perceived social influence/pressure) [69]. Since organic food is healthier, more nutritious, and tastes better, consumers are becoming more interested and mindful about consuming nutritious and environmentally friendly food. Accordingly, people have a favorable attitude toward organic food consumption [9,55,70]. In describing individuals’ behavior toward the intention of buying organic food, the TPB model has been effectively employed [9,10,37,50,52,54,55,58,60,61,63,64,65,66,67]. Ajzen [69] suggests that the TPB framework can be modified and extended by adding additional constructs or by adjusting the causal path of the constructs to deepen and broaden the framework. Accordingly, several previous studies have extended the TPB with additional constructs such as health concerns [70,71], environmental concerns [55,64,72], food safety [10,59], brand awareness [22,73], and perceived price [64,74] to improve the descriptive and predictive power of the TPB [34].

3.3.2 Subjective norms and purchase intention

According to TPB, the behavioral intention of a person is formed based on three variables: attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control [75]. Subjective norms are considered in this research, which refers to the influence of social pressure on performing or not performing a particular action. Eleven studies (Table 1) examined the role of subjective norms in determining purchase intention. The results of two studies from India and Egypt demonstrated that subjective norms did not significantly impact the organic food purchase intention, implying that buying organic food has yet to become a social norm in a developing country such as India and Egypt [66,67]. The absence of a relationship could be attributed to the small sample size in vast population countries such as Egypt [76] and India [77]. Numerous studies proved that subjective norms directly impacts purchase intention [37,50,52,54,55,60,63,64,65], demonstrating that subjective norms can influence an individual’s intention to behave in a particular way. The existence of a relationship between subjective norms and purchase intention complies with Hofstede’s [78] claim that the role of social influence is higher for collectivistic cultures such as Vietnam than for individualistic cultures such as the USA [79]. People in collectivistic countries value others’ opinions more while indulging themselves in any consumption, unlike those in individualistic countries [80]. People in individualistic cultures such as the USA make their own norms; they also show less importance to others’ opinions regarding any decision [81].

3.3.3 Health consciousness and purchase intention

Health consciousness entails proactive responsibility toward health-related developments. Individuals who are more conscious of their health attempt to reduce illness risks by following preventive measures and living a healthy life. The concept of “Return to Nature” has become a lifestyle [59]. Health consciousness can be defined as how much a person integrates health concerns into their daily activities [82]. Health is considered a significant parameter when purchasing food products in general. Compared to traditionally grown foods, organic foods are generally perceived as a healthier alternative [66]. Retailers emphasizing health awareness and quality can easily attract health-conscious consumers to organic products [59]. In this systematic review, health concern is a significant factor that motivates consumers’ intention in developing countries to purchase organic foods [9,10,23,25,37,50,53,54,58,61,65,66,72,83]. This observation reflects how consumers in developing countries are aware of their health and believe health is crucial when deciding to buy food products like consumers in developed countries.

In addition, health consciousness drives the preference for organic food due to the rising incidence of lifestyle diseases such as depression and heart disorders [84]. These results comply with what is argued about health consciousness, which necessitates the inclusion of good nutritional food in consumers’ diets. Thus, it is linked with the purchase of organic food [84]. In similar results from a systematic review conducted by Rana and Paul [84], the authors observed a relationship between health consciousness and purchase intention in various countries. Similarly, Rana and Paul, in their meta-analytic review [85], found that the health factor has consistently topped the priority chart among the significant reasons for the purchase of organic groceries, milk, fruits, and vegetables.

However, health consciousness failed to impact a consumer’s intention to purchase in a few studies [57,59,60,67]. This controversy requires more investigation with more in-depth studies.

3.3.4 Environmental consciousness and purchase intention

Environmental concern refers to how individuals are conscious of environmental issues, endorse endeavors to address them, or express their readiness to participate in remedial actions [86]. Concerns about the environment directly connect with environment-related behavior [87]. By purchasing organic food, consumers show their environmental consciousness, allowing them to feel like aware people [64]. The role of environmental consciousness in forming the purchase intention of organic food has been tested in 18 studies. This ecological variable demonstrated a significant role in forming the intention in most studies, totaling 13, because purchasing organic food allows consumers to show their conscious identity [23,50,53,54,58,61,63,64,67,70,72,73,83,88]. This result is consistent with what Rana and Paul [85] found in their meta-analytic review, which claimed that concern for natural environmental degradation is the primary motive behind the purchase of organic food. However, environmental consciousness did not influence purchasing intention in five studies [24,50,52,60,66]. The contradictory results call for more in-depth studies on this research topic.

3.3.5 Price consciousness and purchase intention

Price is defined as the amount of money consumers pay for a service or product or the total of values consumers sacrifice to use the benefits of using or having the product or service [89]. Past research revealed that one of the most expressed barriers to organic food consumption is price [74]. Organic food prices are usually higher than their conventional counterparts due to the unavailability of economies of scale and additional costs in the production process. Thus, understanding consumers’ price fairness perceptions and their consequences is crucial for the success of organic food sale prices [74].

Therefore, price is a vital criterion when buying a product or service. Price reflects the face value of the product as well as acts as a signaling cue for the quality of the product, allowing customers to distinguish between products/services. Thereby, consumers evaluate the price of a product subjectively, influencing their buying decision [25]. In this review, only a few studies have tested the role of price consciousness in forming the behavior of purchase intention of organic food. Most studies (9) proved price as an influencer on purchase intention [25,51,52,58,61–63,65,74]. This result is consistent with Soroka et al. [90], as they reported prices as a significant obstacle hindering organic food purchasing decisions. In the same line, Singh and Verma [91] found that price is essential in organic food marketing. However, two studies failed to find any relationship between price and purchase intention [23,60]. This result calls for further research to investigate the role of price in shaping consumer intention. In a similar systematic review, Nagy et al. [92] reported the significance of the price but recommended further research to evaluate its effect on purchase intention.

3.3.6 Food safety concerns and purchase intention

Food safety incidents make consumers more worried about food safety issues [93]. Accordingly, consumers are becoming more aware of the process through which food is processed and the percentage of food pesticides, additives, artificial flavoring, and insecticide residues [84]. Food safety concerns refer to how consumers are concerned about agricultural practices, production methods, and food ingredients. When consumers become more anxious about food safety, they will eat foods that are free of harmful substances and buy pure, natural, and safe foods [94]. Since consumers now pay more attention to quality and ingredients, organic food is generally considered the perfect choice [93]. In this systematic review, there need to be more studies on food safety concerns’ role in triggering purchase intention. In addition, while some studies [9,51,58,59,65] succeeded in finding a relationship between food safety concerns and purchase intention, few studies failed to prove any relationship between India and Turkey [10,57], showing a call for conducting more research in India and Turkey to understand the essential role of food safety in driving consumers’ behavior towards organic food and calling for more studies in this area. This result is consistent with the result found by Kushwah et al. [95], as they reported food safety as an essential motive in organic food purchase intention.

3.3.7 Brand credibility and purchase intention

The term brand credibility was coined by [96]. Brand credibility refers to the extent to which consumers believe in the product information capsulated in a brand that constantly has the competency and willingness to fulfill what has been promised. Brand credibility involves two criteria: trustworthiness and expertise. Trustworthiness refers to the willingness of firms to deliver what they have promised. Expertise refers to the ability of firms to deliver what they have promised. A brand’s trustworthiness is a result of the collective impact of all past marketing actions and strategies performed by the brand. Therefore, brand credibility mirrors the consistency of marketing endeavors through investing in the brand, for example, through advertisement [97].

Brand credibility enhances perceived quality, reduces perceived risk, diminishes information costs, and thus escalates consumer expected utility, as identified by brand purchase intention [96]. Brand credibility strongly affects purchase intention by increasing perceived quality, value for money, and saved information costs and decreasing perceived risk across multiple service categories [98]. The results of this systematic review show a need for more studies on brand credibility and its role in forming the purchase intention of organic foods; remarkably, we have identified just three studies in this regard [22,61,73] (Table 2). These studies proved that brand credibility shapes consumers’ purchasing intentions. In line with our results, a systematic review conducted by Nagy et al. [92] found that brand is one of the credibility factors in purchasing organic food and also confirmed that the role of brand credibility is not well-researched.

Table 2

Summary of the Selected Studies

Study Sample SN HC FS EC PC BC
[66] 220, India — + —
[60] 200, Vietnam + — — —
[65] 400, Malaysia + + + +
[74] 407, Turkey +
[61] 527, India + + + +
[50] 271 P + 245 T + 220 I +, +, + +, +, + −, −, +
[83] 274, Turkey + +
[55] 150, Indonesia +
[64] 246, Malaysia + +
[62] 250, Tunisia +
[59] 155, Pakistan − +
[57] 388, Turkey − −
[51] 239, Turkey + +
[37] 730, Tanzania + +
[25] 275, India +
[63] 725, Philippine + + +
[52] 243, Thailand + − +
[54] 340, Iran + + +
[10] 438, India + −
[72] 396, Vietnam + +
[9] 268, Pakistan + +
[24] 632, India + −
[23] 443, Turkey + + −
[22] 433, India +
[73] 396, Pakistan + +
[58] 464, Bangladesh + + + +
[53] 532, Brazil + +
[70] 418, Pakistan +
[67] 363, Egypt − − +

Notes: “+” = a proved relation, “−” = no relation was found, SN = subjective norm, HC = health consciousness, FS = food safety, EC = environment, PC = price, BC = brand, P = Pakistan, T = Turkey, I = Iran.

Sustainable consumption behavior is becoming increasingly important in modern societies as people become more aware of the environmental impact of their purchasing decisions. Consciousness and perception levels are essential factors that influence consumer behavior toward organic food purchases. Organic food is perceived to be healthier, safer, and more environmentally friendly than conventional food products. Thus, consumers who are conscious and aware of the benefits of organic foods are more likely to purchase them. The perception levels of consumers also play a significant role in their intention to buy organic food. Consumers with positive perceptions of organic foods are more likely to purchase them.

Moreover, consciousness and perception levels mediate the relationship between sustainable consumption behavior and organic food purchase intention. Consumers with higher awareness and a positive perception of organic food are more inclined to adopt sustainable consumption behaviors, such as purchasing organic food products. Therefore, enhancing consumer consciousness and perception levels is crucial to encourage sustainable consumption of organic food purchases.

The results of this systematic review are explainable in light of sustainable consumer behavior and the importance of consciousness and perception levels of individuals. Sustainable consumption behavior is becoming increasingly important in modern societies as people become more aware of the environmental impact of their purchasing decisions [99,100]. Sustainable consumption has led numerous scholars to examine the impact of consciousness and perception levels on consumer behavior toward organic food purchases [13,51,70,99]. Organic food is perceived to be healthier, safer, and more environmentally friendly than conventional food products [101]. Thus, consumers who are conscious and aware of the benefits of organic foods are more likely to purchase them [70,99,102]. The perception levels of consumers also play a significant role in their intention to buy organic food. Consumers with positive perceptions of organic food are more likely to purchase them [7,103,104]. A heightened awareness and positive perception of organic food among consumers increases the likelihood of their engagement in sustainable purchasing behavior [56,72]. Therefore, enhancing consumer consciousness and perception levels is crucial to encourage sustainable consumption of organic food purchases.

4 Conclusion, implications, and future research

Organic food consumption has become prominent worldwide as a form of trendy, sustainable, and, at the same time, healthy type of food consumption. Hence, organic food acts as a source of sustainable consumption and is attracting the attention of buyers. The reasons for organic food purchases in developing countries are many. On the one hand, most of the selected studies demonstrated that subjective norms, health consciousness, environmental consciousness, food safety concern, price consciousness, and brand credibility all have a role in and influence the purchase intention of organic food. These findings comply with several facts. Subjective norms are part of TPB theory. The TPB framework is suitable for predicting organic food purchase intentions across different cultures. For health consciousness, people have increasingly become aware of their health, and they attempt to reduce illnesses and risks by following preventive measures and living a healthy life. By showing their environmental consciousness, consumers are aware and willing to interact personally to solve environment-related issues. For food safety, consumers have become more worried about food safety issues and aware of the percentage of food pesticides, additives, artificial flavoring, and insecticides.

For price consciousness, organic food prices are typically higher than conventional foods due to their unavailability and extra costs in the production process. Higher brand credibility leads to a higher perception of quality and value for money and a lower perception of risks. On the other side, few studies have yet to prove the relationship between those factors and purchase intention. Future research studies are required to justify this controversy. Notably, the scarcity of research on factors that shape the consumer’s purchase intention is apparent, especially on food safety, price, and brand credibility. The findings of this study stimulate the momentum of the growing literature, particularly in developing countries, on consumer behaviors regarding organic foods. The findings help managers, marketing strategists, environmentalists, policymakers, and organic food companies formulate various marketing strategies to induce consumers and enhance their purchase intentions. They could work on significant aspects, such as raising health and environmental consciousness, to develop an improved organic food market.

Our systematic review highlights several factors that impact the purchasing decision of organic food in developing countries. We recommend the following implications for policymakers, practitioners, and researchers based on our findings. First, consumer consciousness and awareness campaigns: our review suggests that consumer awareness is a significant factor influencing organic food purchasing decisions. Policymakers and practitioners should initiate awareness campaigns to educate consumers about the benefits of organic food. These campaigns could be in the form of advertisements, promotions, or educational programs that emphasize organic food’s health and environmental benefits. Second, consumer trust in organic food brands: our review highlights that trust in organic food brands is a crucial factor influencing the consumers’ purchasing decision of organic food. Policymakers and practitioners should improve the credibility and transparency of organic food certification systems to enhance consumer trust in organic food products. In short, our review provides a comprehensive understanding of the factors that impact consumers’ purchasing decision of organic food in developing countries. Policymakers, practitioners, and researchers can use our findings to design effective strategies to promote the consumption of organic food in these countries.

For further research, our review identifies several research gaps in the literature, and more research is required to examine the influence of subjective norms, health consciousness, environmental consciousness, price consciousness, food safety concerns, and brand credibility on the purchasing decision of organic food. Future research should investigate these factors in greater detail to better understand their impact on the purchasing decision of organic food in developing countries. Moreover, more studies are required, particularly on food safety concerns and brand credibility.

Acknowledgments

I would like to include an acknowledgment to Professor Imre Fertő for his supervision and support.

  1. Funding information: The author states there is no funding involved.

  2. Author contribution: The author confirms the sole responsibility for the conception of the study, presented results and manuscript preparation.

  3. Conflict of interest: The author states that there is no conflict of interest.

  4. Data availability statement: The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Received: 2022-12-31
Revised: 2023-04-07
Accepted: 2023-04-07
Published Online: 2025-07-08

© 2025 the author(s), published by De Gruyter

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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https://doi.org/10.1515/opag-2022-0199
Keywords for this article
subjective norm; health consciousness; environmental consciousness; food safety concern; price consciousness; brand credibility
Creative Commons
BY 4.0

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  9. Comparison of milk consumption habits across two European countries: Pilot study in Portugal and France
  10. Antioxidant responses of black glutinous rice to drought and salinity stresses at different growth stages
  11. Differential efficacy of salicylic acid-induced resistance against bacterial blight caused by Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae in rice genotypes
  12. Yield and vegetation index of different maize varieties and nitrogen doses under normal irrigation
  13. Urbanization and forecast possibilities of land use changes by 2050: New evidence in Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam
  14. Organizational-economic efficiency of raspberry farming – case study of Kosovo
  15. Application of nitrogen-fixing purple non-sulfur bacteria in improving nitrogen uptake, growth, and yield of rice grown on extremely saline soil under greenhouse conditions
  16. Digital motivation, knowledge, and skills: Pathways to adaptive millennial farmers
  17. Investigation of biological characteristics of fruit development and physiological disorders of Musang King durian (Durio zibethinus Murr.)
  18. Enhancing rice yield and farmer welfare: Overcoming barriers to IPB 3S rice adoption in Indonesia
  19. Simulation model to realize soybean self-sufficiency and food security in Indonesia: A system dynamic approach
  20. Gender, empowerment, and rural sustainable development: A case study of crab business integration
  21. Metagenomic and metabolomic analyses of bacterial communities in short mackerel (Rastrelliger brachysoma) under storage conditions and inoculation of the histamine-producing bacterium
  22. Fostering women’s engagement in good agricultural practices within oil palm smallholdings: Evaluating the role of partnerships
  23. Increasing nitrogen use efficiency by reducing ammonia and nitrate losses from tomato production in Kabul, Afghanistan
  24. Physiological activities and yield of yacon potato are affected by soil water availability
  25. Vulnerability context due to COVID-19 and El Nino: Case study of poultry farming in South Sulawesi, Indonesia
  26. Wheat freshness recognition leveraging Gramian angular field and attention-augmented resnet
  27. Suggestions for promoting SOC storage within the carbon farming framework: Analyzing the INFOSOLO database
  28. Optimization of hot foam applications for thermal weed control in perennial crops and open-field vegetables
  29. Toxicity evaluation of metsulfuron-methyl, nicosulfuron, and methoxyfenozide as pesticides in Indonesia
  30. Fermentation parameters and nutritional value of silages from fodder mallow (Malva verticillata L.), white sweet clover (Melilotus albus Medik.), and their mixtures
  31. Five models and ten predictors for energy costs on farms in the European Union
  32. Effect of silvopastoral systems with integrated forest species from the Peruvian tropics on the soil chemical properties
  33. Transforming food systems in Semarang City, Indonesia: A short food supply chain model
  34. Understanding farmers’ behavior toward risk management practices and financial access: Evidence from chili farms in West Java, Indonesia
  35. Optimization of mixed botanical insecticides from Azadirachta indica and Calophyllum soulattri against Spodoptera frugiperda using response surface methodology
  36. Mapping socio-economic vulnerability and conflict in oil palm cultivation: A case study from West Papua, Indonesia
  37. Exploring rice consumption patterns and carbohydrate source diversification among the Indonesian community in Hungary
  38. Determinants of rice consumer lexicographic preferences in South Sulawesi Province, Indonesia
  39. Effect on growth and meat quality of weaned piglets and finishing pigs when hops (Humulus lupulus) are added to their rations
  40. Healthy motivations for food consumption in 16 countries
  41. The agriculture specialization through the lens of PESTLE analysis
  42. Combined application of chitosan-boron and chitosan-silicon nano-fertilizers with soybean protein hydrolysate to enhance rice growth and yield
  43. Stability and adaptability analyses to identify suitable high-yielding maize hybrids using PBSTAT-GE
  44. Phosphate-solubilizing bacteria-mediated rock phosphate utilization with poultry manure enhances soil nutrient dynamics and maize growth in semi-arid soil
  45. Factors impacting on purchasing decision of organic food in developing countries: A systematic review
  46. Influence of flowering plants in maize crop on the interaction network of Tetragonula laeviceps colonies
  47. Bacillus subtilis 34 and water-retaining polymer reduce Meloidogyne javanica damage in tomato plants under water stress
  48. Vachellia tortilis leaf meal improves antioxidant activity and colour stability of broiler meat
  49. Evaluating the competitiveness of leading coffee-producing nations: A comparative advantage analysis across coffee product categories
  50. Application of Lactiplantibacillus plantarum LP5 in vacuum-packaged cooked ham as a bioprotective culture
  51. Evaluation of tomato hybrid lines adapted to lowland
  52. South African commercial livestock farmers’ adaptation and coping strategies for agricultural drought
  53. Spatial analysis of desertification-sensitive areas in arid conditions based on modified MEDALUS approach and geospatial techniques
  54. Meta-analysis of the effect garlic (Allium sativum) on productive performance, egg quality, and lipid profiles in laying quails
  55. Review Articles
  56. Reference dietary patterns in Portugal: Mediterranean diet vs Atlantic diet
  57. Evaluating the nutritional, therapeutic, and economic potential of Tetragonia decumbens Mill.: A promising wild leafy vegetable for bio-saline agriculture in South Africa
  58. A review on apple cultivation in Morocco: Current situation and future prospects
  59. Quercus acorns as a component of human dietary patterns
  60. CRISPR/Cas-based detection systems – emerging tools for plant pathology
  61. Short Communications
  62. An analysis of consumer behavior regarding green product purchases in Semarang, Indonesia: The use of SEM-PLS and the AIDA model
  63. Effect of NaOH concentration on production of Na-CMC derived from pineapple waste collected from local society
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