Consumer Purchase Decisions of Organic Food Products: An Ethnic Analysis

Logit analysis is used to examine the likelihood of Penang (Malaysia) consumers to purchase organic food products (OFP). Results suggest that OFP purchases by consumers of various ethnicities are affected by similar and dissimilar sociodemographical and attitudinal factors. Specifically, Malay purchase decisions are motivated by females, urbanites, and those with higher income levels. Additionally, attitudinal characteristics for Malays include those with food-safety concerns, sick friends/family, health-supplement expenditures, and those who consider price or availability to be important attributes. Meanwhile, the Chinese market consists of older female consumers with fewer children, who are concerned about food safety and who acquire health supplements regularly. Lastly, consumers of Indian/other ethnicity are solely motivated by being users of health supplements.