An assessment of the motives for the purchase of organic food in Harare

Abstract

The remarkable growth in the purchase and consumption of organic food is widely acknowledged by many practitioners and academics in both developed and developing countries, yet in the Zimbabwean context, there seems to be a paucity of research in this field. To address this identified research gap, the current study attempts to examine the motivational factors for the purchase and consumption of organic food in Zimbabwe. An exploratory factor analysis was used to determine the underlying motivational factors from data that were collected from a sample of 200 consumers in Harare, Zimbabwe. The findings indicate that consumers purchase organic food because of six major reasons: is good for their health, assists environmental sustainability, ensuring values and principles, the naturalness of food, some consumers perceive that some selected organic food products are cheap and help improve one’s ability to cope with stress. In this regard, an understanding of the motivational factors for the purchase of organic food is of crucial importance to marketers as they are able to craft strategies to meet the needs of organic products consumers.