Social Identity as a Driver for Organic Food Consumption

Sammanfattning: There has been a large increase in consumption of organic food in Sweden during recent years. The sales increase on the Swedish organic food market in 2014 was the largest in the world, which made the Swedish market interesting to study. Whereas previous studies have investigated motives such as health and environmental care, this study explores the extent to which social identity is a driver for organic food consumption by measuring different aspects of social identity, such as social value, assimilation, the role of social context, moral identity and self-expression. The method in this study consists of a pre-study with expert interviews as well as a main study consisting of a questionnaire. We use parametric tests to compare groups and study whether there is a difference between consumers who buy less and more organic food. We find evidence that social identity is a driver for organic food consumption and that this driver is stronger for consumers who buy a greater extent of organic food. These findings provide valuable insights of the motivations of organic food consumers and can aid marketers in their targeting strategy.