Consumer concerns with the quality of their diet and with the origins of food products
is a current and important topic in marketing research. It is evident that consumers
are increasingly purchasing organic products primarily for health and environmental
reasons. However, this pattern of behavior is not homogeneous and may depend on
demographic and psychographic variables. Presently, knowledge on Portuguese
attitudes towards organic food is still scarce. This study aims to contribute to fill a gap
in literature concerning the extent to which personality traits may affect Portuguese
consumers’ predisposition to buy and consume organic food products. Specifically, it
has two objectives (i) to describe the buying habits of organic products; (ii) to
categorize personality traits that influence this purchasing decision. A quantitative
methodology based on an online questionnaire to a sample of 375 respondents was
adopted and multivariate analysis methods were used in the evaluation and collection
of statistical data to clarify and explain relationships among the different variables.
Main results suggest that the major indicators for buying organic food products are:
local production, social responsibility, health and quality, diet options and consumer
routines. Moreover, online stores are identified as the preferred place to purchase
organic food products, and durability and cost play an important role regarding the
selection of products to be purchased. Finally, the personality traits that seem to play
a significant role in people who buy organic products are Conscientiousness,
Extraversion and Agreeableness.publishe
