Live, Eat, Love: Life Equilibrium as a Driver of Organic Food Purchase

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to disentangle the effect of life equilibrium on organic food purchase intentions through a consideration of the evaluation of intrinsic and extrinsic food quality attributes. Furthermore, the study examines the role of health consciousness in achieving life equilibrium. Design/methodology/approach: The conceptual framework was developed based on previous research and tested through a quantitative study with end consumers. The hypothesized relationships were tested using structural equation modelling. Findings: The results obtained from this study show that the perceived quality associated with the intrinsic attributes of organic food mediates a positive influence of life equilibrium on consumers’ organic food purchase intentions. The study also confirms that life equilibrium mediates the effects of health consciousness on the evaluation of intrinsic and extrinsic food quality attributes. Research limitations/implications: The theoretical contributions of the paper lie in uncovering the complex relationships that exist among health consciousness, life equilibrium, perceived organic food quality dimensions and purchase intentions and providing new evidence showing which perceived intrinsic organic food quality dimensions are relevant in shaping consumers’ purchase intentions. Practical implications: The research results suggest that organic food managers should focus on developing stronger value propositions that are based more on intrinsic food quality characteristics and less on extrinsic ones. Originality/value: This study recognizes the relevance of life equilibrium as a specific consumer lifestyle form, which drives organic food consumption through extrinsic and intrinsic food quality attributes.