ECOLOGICAL TRAITS AND ORGANIC PRODUCTS CONSUMPTION BEHAVIOR OF OLDER ADOLESCENTS

This research determines and measures factors affecting the consumption of organic products among older adolescents in Lithuania. Previous studies discuss factors were grouped into personal and functional factors according to their impact on the attitude of ecologically conscious older adolescents. Personal factors are explained as the user's personal experience, internal qualities, and personality traits. The study showed that consumers' positive attitude towards organic products is shaped by consumers' personal motivation and available ecological knowledge. Consumers' ecological knowledge is also considered to be one of the essential factors in shaping the positive attitude of ecologically conscious consumers towards organic products. As society faces ecological challenges and searches for solutions to the problem, environmental friendliness and ecologically conscious consumers are increasingly emphasized. Consumers are encouraged to change their attitude towards organic products and to change their purchasing behaviour. However, it is noticeable that emphasizing ecological problems and increasing the assortment of organic products does not encourage consumers to change their consumption habits and purchasing behaviour, therefore, in order to understand what motivates consumers to use organic products, researchers began to analyse the factors that determine the consumption of organic products. Based on recent literature review in this area, three main factors were identified for detailed analysis in this research, which includes ecological awareness, ecological concern, and social norms of older adolescence in Lithuania. Based on the literature review discussion, this research formulates the following objectives and hypotheses for empirical analysis. Using a survey research methodology, data were collected from adolescence across Lithuania and 421 samples were finalized for analysis upon data cleaning and validation. Data was analysed using SPSS software for descriptive analysis and hypothesis testing. Result reveal that both ecological awareness and ecological concerns of older adolescents in Lithuania are strong predictors of their intention to purchase organic products. While personal norms though had some association in descriptive analysis with purchase behaviour, did not show statistical significance in impacting organic products purchase intention. Therefore, the concept of ecologically conscious adolescents consists of the consumer's ecological awareness, whereby the consumer evaluates his/her needs, behaviour and its impact on the environment when purchasing products. Based on this finding it can be stated that there is an influence of the attitudes of ecologically conscious consumers on their intention to buy organic products. Therefore, future researchers may focus more on understanding factors that contribute and promote the development of ecologically conscious consumers in the country. Also it is possible to look into consumer attitudes, how they are formed and what factors lead to the formation of positive consumer attitudes.