Can information and trust about organic food improve consumer's attitude toward buying in Thailand?

• Published date: 01 May 2020
• Author: Thanaporn Sriyakul,Chutipan Sutduean,Thongvanh Sirivanh
• Date: 01 May 2020
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/wfp2.12008

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wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/wfp2 World Food Policy. 2020;6:42–59.

© 2020 Policy Studies Organization

DOI: 10.1002/wfp2.12008

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Can information and trust about organic food

improve consumer's attitude toward buying in

Thailand?

ThanapornSriyakul1

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ChutipanSutduean2

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ThongvanhSirivanh3

1Faculty of Business Administration,

Mahanakorn University of Technology,

Bangkok, Thailand

2Graduate School, Suan Sunandha Rajabhat

University, Bangkok, Thailand

3Faculty of Economics and Business

Administration, National University of

Laos, Vientiane, Lao PDR

Correspondence

Thanaporn Sriyakul, Faculty of Business

Administration, Mahanakorn University of

Technology, Bangkok, Thailand.

Email: ajbamut@gmail.com

Abstract

Thailand is gradually becoming an attractive market for or-

ganic food as tourists from different parts of the world try

to experience unique food items. However, the attitude of

local consumers toward buying organic food is not encour-

aging. Lack of information and trust on organic food pro-

cedures are probably the main factors influencing the local

consumers. In this article, the role of information need, in-

formation seeking, and consumer’s trust on attitude toward

buying organic food were studied. Moreover, this study also

checked the moderating role of price barrier in given rela-

tionships which was not previously discussed in literature.

Data, collected from 292 tourists and residents in Thailand

through questionnaire and responses, were analyzed using

confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation mod-

eling. Results highlighted that all the three independent

variables, information need, information seeking, and con-

sumer’s trust, have significant impact on attitude toward

buying organic food. Price barrier only proved as a sig-

nificant moderator in the relationship between information

need and consumer’s attitude toward buying organic food

while it proved insignificant in other two relationships. This

study also includes implications in industry, consumers,

academia, and future research indications.

KEYWORDS

consumer’s attitude and price barrier, consumer’s trust, information need,

information seeking, organic food

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INTRODUCTION

The world is facing dynamic patterns in each field and the same is the case in food consumption. Food

consumption trends are varying due to environmental and health issues. However, people develop an

interest toward organic foods which seeks the attention of organic food producers. Also, the demand

for global organic food remains vigorous due to inflating sales which is over five billion per annum

(de Medeiros & Ribeiro, 2017; Ganglmair-Wooliscroft & Wooliscroft, 2016). In this regard, Thailand

has shown a rapid socioeconomic development which is accompanied by industrialization and adop-

tion of modernization in the field of agriculture and food production. In the past years, Thailand

was practicing the traditional system in which farmers produce only that food which is enough for

family consumption. Since the plan of National exchange and Social Development was implemented

in 1961 (Nuttavuthisit & Thøgersen, 2017), the Thailand government promoted the export-oriented

agricultural products that maximize the use of organic products due to inclination of people toward

high-quality organic food consumption. This signifies the importance of organic foods due tothe im-

portance of human health and their welfare. Also, the environmental concerns associated with organic

food are growing at rapid pace (Mintel, 2012).

Behavior of theconsumer in Thailand has been highly influenced by some internal as well as

external factors. The internal factors are primarily associated with the decision making of an indi-

vidual, their perception, and attitude toward the products (Ueasangkomsate & Santiteerakul, 2016).

Hence, the internal factors significantly influence the attitude of the consumer, especially those who

are health conscious, toward the purchase of organic foods and the associated products due to the past

experiences. Previous studies have emphasized the importance of these factors that can motivate con-

sumers to buy organic food items (Pedersen, Aschemann-Witzel, & Thøgersen, 2017). However, many

research questioned the benefits of organic food on health. Also, the consumers have different per-

spectives toward purchasing organic food. This might involve the person's value includingattributes

relatedto health which lead to thebetter taste of the organic food products. This also highly affects

the consumer’s attitude toward the purchase of organic food. The study by Buaprommee and Polyorat

(2016) analyzed the information and trust about organic foods that can improve the consumer's buying

behavior. The purchase and consumption of organic food have been widely regarded as the contribut-

ing factors for the consumer’s attitude. These things are partially determined by the socio-economic

responsibility as well as by personal interest shown by the consumer.The beliefs of consumers is

thatorganic food is safer than conventional food due to lesser use of pesticides and synthetic fertiliz-

ers. However, the behavior of consumer has shown that the mental and emotional activities including

the selection and purchase of the products help to satisfy their needs. The study by Saba, Suzana,

and My (2013) analyzed consumer’s trust and attitude toward buying organic foods (ATBOFs) in the

presence of a price barrier (PB). Figure 1 shows the percentage of factors influencing the people to

purchase organic food. Statistics shows that 52% of people purchase organic food because of their

health benefits and 15% purchase for their pesticide-free factor (Figure 1; Bai, Wang, & Gong, 1).

Consumers in Thailand are not intended toward the purchase of organic food due to many rea-

sons such as lack of knowledge and awareness, and consumers not trusting the labels of organic

foods due scams in this industry (Tariq, Wang, Tanveer, Akram, & Akram, 2019). Moreover, the

consumer also mistrusts organic food due to the government's attitude toward organic food (Ayyub,

Wang, Asif, & Ayyub, 2018). However, the attitude toward personal behavior has negative andpos-

itive concerns which might reflect behavior. This is considered not only as the domestic problem but

also as the global problem in both developing and developed countries (Kouy, Sangkumchaliang,

& Aditto, 2016). The other reason that might hinder the consumer from buying organic food is the

price (Wongprawmas, Canavari, & Waisarayutt, 2015). This becomes a crucial worldwide issue