An Agenda to Construct an Improved Understanding of Australian Organic Consumers

Abstract

Organic food is claimed to be one of the fastest growing food categories worldwide, with growth rates of 20-30%. There have been considerable research efforts globally seeking to understand the organic food consumer. To date, academic research has been unable to reach a consensus, and we remain incapable of adequately describing who buys and importantly why consumers choose to buy organic food products. The objective of this paper is to examine the merits of using an alternate method to better understand organic food consumers. It is proposed that the Best Worst scaling method be used as a methodological framework to guide research about organic purchasing decisions. The Best Worst scaling method avoids issues related to Socially Desirable Responding; a known effect of using the ever-popular Likert scale.