Valuing Organic Food-Differences Between Virtue and Vice Categories of Organic Food Products

Drawing on the theoretical frameworks of expected utility, religious and institutional perspectives, we try to understand whether differences exist in consumers’ evaluation of relative vice and virtue categories of organic food products in terms of their food quality and trust. Based on a sample of 428 respondents drawn from diverse market settings, we find that while consumers hold a positive stance towards the quality of relative virtue organic food this is not the case for the relative vice products. However, no differences in consumers’ trust over the organic food labelling of relative virtue and vice organic food products are found. The findings have significant theoretical and managerial implications.