Intention to buy organic fish among Danish consumers: Application of the segmentation approach and the theory of planned behaviour

More than half of Danes buy organic food products every week; however, this has not been reflected in the retail sale of organic fish and shellfish. Therefore, this paper aims to perform consumer segmentation through the food related lifestyle (FRL) instrument and determine the factors influencing intention to buy organic fish among Danish consumers applying the theory of planned behaviour (TPB). Survey data were collected using a validated questionnaire from 237 Danish convenient consumers. The structural equation model (SEM) was used to analyze the relationships between the TPB constructs. Consumer segmentation was based on the FRL instrument (incl. The shopping scripts, higher-order product attributes, and meal preparation scripts) as a basis for consumer segmentation. Factor analysis with hierarchical clustering yielded four consumer segments: the Careless (31.6% of the respondents), the Rational (17.3%), the Cooks (31.6%), and the Eco-moderate (19.4%). Consumers from the Careless segment had the highest percentage of respondents buying organic fish (39.1%), followed by those from the Cooks (33.1%). However, consumers from the Cooks segment purchase organic fish regularly, followed by the Careless segment (27.3% and 11.5%, respectively). The results from SEM indicated that past experience, perceived barriers such as difficulty to judge the quality, and availability of organic fish were significant predictors of the intention to buy organic fish. However, attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived price were not significant predictors of the intention to buy organic fish. The intention to buy organic fish showed a strong positive correlation with the reported consumption frequency of organic fish. Hence, focusing on perceived barriers, past experience with buying organic, and promoting availability among consumers is likely to trigger a behavioural intention of buying organic fish, thereby potentially increasing the purchasing frequency of organic fish.

Automated summary

More than half of Danes buy organic food products every week, but the retail sale of organic fish and shellfish does not reflect this. This study analyzes the factors influencing Danish consumers' intention to buy organic fish using the theory of planned behavior and consumer segmentation based on the food related lifestyle instrument. The results show that past experience, perceived barriers, and availability of organic fish are significant predictors of the intention to buy, while attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived price are not significant predictors. Increasing the availability and addressing perceived barriers among consumers could potentially increase the purchasing frequency of organic fish.