Understanding Demand for Domestic and Imported Organic Food Using Consumers’ Behaviors and Perceptions of Health, Product Attributes, and Labeling

This article explores the relationship between consumers’ organic food demand and proactive health behaviors and perceptions and examines how consumers’ behaviors and perceptions of food information affects this relationship. This study conducts regression analyses with a nationwide survey collected from food consumers in South Korea. Initially, this study analyzes the direct relationship between organic food demand and consumers’ behaviors and perceptions of health. Subsequent analyses incorporate consumers’ engagement and perceptions of information to understand its role in this relationship. Our findings confirm a significant positive relationship between organic food demand and proactive health behaviors and perceptions. Introducing food information use into the analysis results in an insignificance of the direct relationship between organic food demand and health behaviors and perceptions. Also, a positive relationship between health behaviors and perceptions and food information use is observed. The above results imply the importance of promoting consumers’ use of food information for policymakers and food suppliers aiming to attract healthconscious consumers into the organic market.