View article

Organic food contributes to environmental sustainability and is becoming increasingly popular worldwide, although it is generally more expensive than conventionally produced food. Rather different sets of values and motivations are driving consumers' purchase intentions in mature compared with emerging organic food markets. To inquire about similarities and differences in consumers' motives our qualitative, comparative study employs a series of in-depth interviews with organic-food-store clients in Germany and Thailand from February to May 2021. The analysis applied means-end chain (MEC) theory to map the mental decision-making processes. Results were interpreted and compared referring to the Schwartz Theory of Basic Human Value (STV). The findings show a rather similar values base of both samples in terms of the relevance of ‘quality of personal life’ and ‘personal well-being’. Substantial …