Investigation of the purchasing behavior of organic product consumers in the pandemia process

The pandemic caused by COVID-19 has changed the mindset of many consumers. Individuals are now more aware of the changing and polluted world. While there was a perceived increase in environmental concern and sustainability prior to the pandemic, it is clear that the COVID-19 pandemic has further accelerated this process and motivated more people to take on this responsibility. Therefore, the health crisis has been able to trigger the consumption of organic foods, which are foods produced with environmentally friendly agricultural methods and not artificially modified. The state of anxiety and panic caused by the COVID-19 pandemic crisis that has emerged in the world has also caused a rapid and great change in the behavior of consumers. Especially, there have been great changes in organic food consumption and purchasing behaviors. The fact that individuals prefer to eat at home, want to adopt healthy habits and have changed their consumption habits during the pandemic period reveals the necessity of focusing on consumers' food purchasing behaviors and doing more research. The aim of the study is to examine the purchasing behaviors of individuals consuming organic products during the pandemic process according to different variables. The sample of the study is limited to Edirne. As a result of the study, it is seen that there are positive and significant relationships between attitudes towards organic foods and purchasing behavior during the pandemic process. Accordingly, when attitudes towards organic foods increase positively, purchasing behaviors towards organic foods also increase during the pandemic process. In addition, the variables of attitude towards organic foods and purchasing behavior towards organic foods during the pandemic process have significant relationships with the gender, age, education and income levels of the participants, their state of having the disease, and the frequency of organic product consumption.