有機食品生產經歷了復甦。有機農業已成為傳統農業的一個非常重要的替代方案，主要是因為環境的可持許多消費者將有機食品與健康意識聯繫起來，因此開始有機食用。本文調查了居住在台灣的加勒比人口的一小部分，以確定他們與有機食品有關的購買行為。這是一組獨特的受訪者，因為他們已經或正在進行文化適應，因此他們對環境和同伴影響的變化可能會改變他們對食物的看法。共有211名受訪者回答了這項調查，他們來自加勒比海的許多島嶼，包括聖盧西亞，聖文森特和伯利茲。該調查本質上是探索性的，描述性統計數據用於分析調查結果。結果表明，在購買有機食品時，健康，口味和可用性先於環境/生態效益。還有人認為，儘管社交媒體是有機食品趨勢意識的來源，但它對購買習慣沒有太大影響。人們還發現，雖然文化意義不如購買有機食品那麼重要，但文化，信仰和傳統是購買行為的重要決定因素。

Organic food production has experienced a resurgence. Organic farming has become a very important alternative from conventional farming mainly because of environmental sustainability. Many consumers associate organic food with health consciousness and thus have begun to eat organically. This paper looks into the small segment of the Caribbean population who live in Taiwan to determine their buying behaviour as it relates to organic food. This is a unique group of respondents as they are or have been in the process of acculturation and as a result their perception of food may have been altered as their environment and peer influences have changed. A total of 211 respondents answered the survey and were from many Caribbean islands including St. Lucia, St. Vincent and Belize. This survey was exploratory in nature and descriptive statistics were used to analyze the findings.  The results indicated that health, taste and availability preceded environmental/ ecological benefits when it came to possible organic food purchases. It was also determined that despite social media being the source of organic food trend awareness it didn’t have a very big impact on their buying habits. It was also discovered that although cultural significance was not as important as health if they were to purchase organic food, culture, belief and tradition was a big determinant of buying behaviour.

Chinese Abstract……………………………………………………………………I
English Abstract…………………………………………………………………...II
Acknowledgement…………………………………………………………….......IV 
List of Figures……………………………………………………………………. VII 
List of Tables……………………………………………………………………...VIII 

1. Chapter 1. Introduction…………………………………………………………1									
1.1. Background and motive………………………………………………………...1				
1.2. Problems and Purpose………………………………………………………......1						
Chapter 2: Literature Review………………………………………………….….4							
2.1. Consumer Behaviour…………………………………………………………....4						
2.2. Definition of Culture………………………………………………………...….4
	2.2.1Caribbean Culture……………………………………………………...5
2.3. Attitudes and purchasing behavior…………………………………………......5
	2.3.1. Culture and Theory of planned behavior………………………….….6
2.4. The organic food markets……………………………………………………....7
2.5. Healthy lifestyles and Organic food…………………………………………....7
2.6. Cross- cultural confusion……………………………………………………....8
2.7. Individualism and Collectivism: Cultural approaches to buying behavior…….8
2.8. Cultures effect on food perception………………………………………….….9
2.9. Altruistic versus egoistic Motivations………………………………………....10
	2.9.1. Health………………………………………………………………. 10
	2.9.2. Environment and ecological effects………………………………... 10
2.10. Other socio- cultural-related factors that affect consumer behavior………... 11
	2.10.1. Reference groups…………………………………………………...11
	2.10.2. Sub groups………………………………………………………… 12
	2.10.3. Religious group/affiliation ………………………………………....12
	2.10.4. Social media awareness and reference groups……………………...13	
2.11. Hypothesis Development………………………………………………….….16
3. Chapter 3: Research Methods………………………………………………....19						
3.1. Sample Details……………………………………………………………..…. 22								
4. Chapter 4: Results and Findings ……………………………………………...25
	4.1. Health consciousness……………………………………………….….25
	4.2. Taste……………………………………………………………….…...25
4.3. Organic food Awareness and Influence on social media……………………....26	.
4.4. Purchasing Frequency………………………………………………………….30
4.5. Availability………………………………………………………………….….31
4.6. Social media awareness………………………………………………………. .31
4.7. Cultural significance…………………………………………………………...32
4.8. Discussion……………………………………………………………………...34	
5. Chapter 5: Conclusion……………………………………………………….....36
5.1. Theoretical Implications……………………………………………………….36
5.2. Managerial Implications……………………………………………………….36 
5.3. Limitations………………………………………………………………….….38
5.4. Future Research…………………………………………………………….….38 
References ………………………………………………………………………….39 
Appendix……………………………………………………………………………44 













List of Figures

Figure 1: Theory of Planned Behaviour ………………………………………………….…..6												
Figure 2: Availability and its level of importance on organic food purchases………….…...27

Figure 3: Packaging and its level of importance on organic food purchases………………...27

Figure 4: Health benefits and its level of importance on organic food purchases …………..28

Figure 5: Ecological/Environmental motives and its level of importance on organic food 		purchases ……………………………………………………………………….........28

Figure 6: Cultural significance and its level of importance on organic food 	purchases…......29

Figure 7: Taste and its level of importance on organic food purchases……………………...29
    											
Figure 8: Purchasing frequency of Organic food in Taiwan…………………………………30								
Figure 9: Purchasing frequency of Organic food in Native Country………………………...30						
Figure 10: Social media Influence………………………………………………….………...32

Figure 11: Social media awareness……………………………………………………….….32

Figure 12: Effect of culture on buying behavior……………………………………………..33

 
List of Tables


Table 1. List of papers discussing factors that affect consumers’ buying behavior...........14 									

Table 2. Research questions and sources…………………………………………….…...20 																	
Table 3. Demographic profile of Caribbean Respondents………………………...……...24

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