Awareness of Healthy Living and Ability to Pay Towards the Decision to Buy Organic Pak Choy in Tasikmalaya, Indonesia

Abstract Public awareness of living healthier has been reflected in food consumption behavior, which has turned towards consuming organic vegetables. However, the assumption that the price of organic products is more expensive is still a discussion in the organic product market. The purpose of a decision-making research on purchasing organic vegetables was to analyse the factors that consumers consider when purchasing organic vegetables. The research method applied was binary logistic regression. Output from logit modeling explained the factors that influence purchases, such as education level, income, distance from home to the outlet, and knowledge of nutrition. Consumers who did not hesitate to buy organic vegetables learned that organic vegetables were safer to consume and supported the body’s metabolism to be healthier. Consumers understood that organic vegetables were free from pesticides, thus avoiding the threat of serious illness from chemical residues. Repeat purchases occurred for consumers who had an income of more than IDR 3,000,000. The price of organic vegetables was tending to be inelastic because consumers did not pay much attention to price increases and were more concerned with the need to achieve a healthy body. Organic vegetables were rarely found in traditional markets because they required special treatment to make them last longer, such as refrigeration. In addition, consumers were willing to pay more for the product due to the better appearance of the product compared to products in traditional markets and the perceived benefits of consuming organic vegetables.