| المستخلص: |
The pandemic generated by the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID- 19) has had a major impact on individual behavior in general and on consumption choices in specific, as people started to pay more attention to the balance between human and nature and shift to healthier, environmental and nutritional sustainable products (such as organic food). However, the organic food market is still relatively small in size at present, especially in developing countries like Egypt. It becomes of necessity for marketers to understand the emergent changes in consumers' consumption patterns and practices after COVD 19 thus be able to motivate the consumers purchase of organic food. One of growing centrality debates related to sustainability and responsible consumption is the claim that Covid 19 pandemic is a big opportunity for marketers to promote the development of organic food market. Therefore, the presented paper takes its cue from previous researches and aiming at proposing a framework that based on the Stimulus-Organism- Response (S-O-R) theoretical model. Where the environmental stimuli in the COVID context that are related to consumers (health consciousness, information anxiety, fear of Coronavirus) are considered, in addition to their perceived values of organic food and the actual purchasing behavior. Meanwhile, the mediating effect of perceived values on the relationship between consumers’ related environmental stimuli and purchasing behavior was also addressed. The proposed framework consists of three parts; 1- The stimuli derived from environment and related to consumers (health consciousness, information anxiety and fear of COVID 19). 2- The perceived value of organic food (the perceived value of organic food). 3- The actual purchase of organic food. This paper intends to make three contributions to the literature. First, focusing on the relationship between consumers' perceived value and organic purchasing behavior -which was rarely addressed in previous researches- in the context of COVID-19, helps in enriching the existing research of organic consumption. Second, based on the SOR model, consumers related environmental stimuli in the present paper are divided into consumers' health consciousness, information anxiety and fear of Coronavirus, this division may provide a new perspective for the study of organic purchase, thus revealed valuable suggestions for organic sellers. Third, this paper not only focuses on the role of consumer perceived values after the COVID-19 outbreak, but also its the mediating role in the relationship between consumers related stimuli and purchasing behavior. To help for future researchers by empirically apply the proposed model and benefit organic retailers, policy makers and even organic producers; about how to utilize the bright side of the existing pandemic to generate more clients of organic market and guaranteeing ideal sales.
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