Determinants of Organic Product Purchase Behavior: Literature Review and Critical Analysis

Rezumat

The consumption of organic food products has experienced significant growth in recent years, reflecting increasing awareness of environmental and health issues. This article examines the main theoretical frameworks used to explain consumer behavior regarding organic products, namely the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA), the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), the

Means-End Chain Theory (MEC), and Self-Determination Theory (SDT). Based on a corpus of 63 references including 58 articles published in scientific journals. This literature review analyzes how these models have been applied in the context of organic, sustainable, and green consumption. Each theory is examined in terms of its conceptual foundations, key explanatory variables, and empirical validation. A critical and comparative analysis highlights the theoretical contributions and limitations of each approach, as well as their contextual relevance in studying organic product purchasing behavior, while also underscoring their potential complementarities. Finally, research directions are proposed to further investigate the determinants of organic product consumption.