Reexamining the Determinants of Organic Food Purchases in Online Contexts: The Dual-Factor Model Perspective

The ever-expanding market has made organic food a popular research topic, with the primary question being what factors facilitate or hinder consumers in making an organic purchase. The most relevant studies have been conducted in an offline context. As selling organic food online has become a common practice and is underresearched, this study aims to (1) explore the drivers and barriers of online organic food shopping and (2) investigate the shopping behavior of organic food from an omnichannel perspective. The results of partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM), with 278 valid samples, indicate that trust in organic labels and positive review sentiment significantly contribute to the intention to purchase organic food online, which in turn influences online purchase behaviors. For online shopping behavior, the investigation shows that Taiwanese consumers, on a monthly basis, make an average of 3.22 organic food purchases and spend US$156.44 through offline channels, whereas they make 2.34 purchases of organic food and spend US$114.71 via online channels. Organic vegetables and fruits are the most frequently purchased organic foods. Among online channels, consumers prefer visiting the websites of general grocery stores and specialty stores over social media platforms. Our findings suggest that the determinants of organic food shopping differ between offline and online contexts and reveal interesting behavioral patterns of online organic shopping.