Environmental, Health, and Social Consciousness as Drivers of Organic Food Choice

Background/Objectives: The organic food market has grown substantially in recent years, yet the psychological antecedents that shape consumer attitudes and purchase intentions in emerging markets remain underexplored. This study examines how environmental, health, and social consciousness influence consumer attitudes toward organic food, and how those attitudes subsequently affect purchase intention in the Chilean context. Methods: Data were collected via an online survey administered to 255 Chilean consumers using non-probabilistic convenience and snowball sampling. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was employed using SmartPLS, with bootstrapping of 5000 subsamples to test four hypothesized relationships: that environmental, health, and social consciousness each positively affect the attitude toward organic food, and that attitude, in turn, positively affects purchase intention. Results: All four hypotheses were supported. Social consciousness emerged as the strongest predictor of attitude (β = 0.385, p < 0.001), followed by environmental consciousness (β = 0.314, p < 0.001) and health consciousness (β = 0.165, p = 0.005). Attitude demonstrated a strong effect on purchase intention (β = 0.736, p < 0.001), explaining 54.1% of its variance. The three consciousness dimensions jointly explained 57.3% of the variance in attitude. Conclusions: The findings confirm that consumer attitude functions as a critical gateway through which consciousness-based motivations translate into organic food purchase intentions. Social and environmental considerations outweigh health-related concerns in driving attitudes in this context, suggesting that marketing strategies for organic food in Latin America should emphasize community and environmental values alongside individual health benefits.