There is evidence that the demand for organic food products has been increasing around the world during the last two decades, transforming a niche industry into a well-developed market ^[1][2][1,2]. The total organic agricultural land increased from 11 million hectares in 1999 to 72.3 million hectares in 2019 [3]. However, only 1.5% of global agricultural land is organic and even in the European Union (EU), the share of organic land is only 8%, with twelve countries having shares of over 10%. The EU countries with the largest shares of total organic agricultural land are Liechtenstein (41%), Austria (26%), Estonia (23%), and Sweden (20%) [3].

After the USA, the EU constitutes the second largest market for organic food, with a growth rate of 8% in 2020. From 2010 to 2019, the organic market in the EU doubled in size. On a global scale, EU countries have the largest share of organic food with respect to total food sales, with Denmark and Austria being the leading countries [3]. Even though organic food production and consumption are increasing, in less developed countries and regions in Europe, such as the Western Balkans, organic food is still in the early stages, despite both production and market potential. In developing and transition countries where the preference for organic food is lower, wealthy consumers are increasingly buying organic food products [4].

Kosovo, which is situated in the Western Balkans, has suitable agroclimatic conditions for organic food production of a wide range of agrifood products, particularly in the horticultural sector. However, organic farming is still far below the regional and EU averages—organic agrifood production is dominated by medicinal and aromatic plants which are mainly destined for export to Western Europe.

The share of people consuming organic food has been found to be positively associated with increases in income [5]. On the other hand, higher prices are a significant barrier that reduces the likelihood of purchasing such products, along with inaccessibility and the limited options offered [6].

The literature shows that consumer preference for organic food is largely driven by environmental concerns, health awareness or concerns, and locality/origin ^[7][8][7,8]. The concept of organic food production is as a health- and environment-oriented production system aiming to preserve and improve ecological biodiversity by largely excluding synthetically compounded agricultural inputs.

Food safety represents a major concern for consumers in the Western Balkans, including Kosovo. Public agencies responsible for ensuring food safety enforcement still have limited capacities, conditioned by the weak institutional framework and corruption [9]. As a result, Kosovar consumers use food safety certificates and brands as important indicators to identify and guarantee food safety and quality [10]. In addition, consumers often use organic production certification as a safety and quality cue [11]. Studies by Haghiri et al. [12] and Thøgersen [13] have shown that organic labels are an important credence attribute frequently used as a way to ensure provide food safety, human health, and sustainable agricultural production.

Nowadays, growing demand for organic food is strongly influenced by consumers’ concerns about food they consume—food safety and quality attributes need to be guaranteed by third-party certification. A study conducted by Hoxha and Musliu [14] shows that Kosovar consumers prefer organic products over conventional ones as they consider them to be fresher, safer, and better tasting. In addition, environmental concerns, heightened quality of life, interest in supporting local producers, and animal welfare are all issues that contribute to the value of organic foods [15].

Other factors that have a significant impact on consumer perceptions of and attitudes towards organic food products are the price/quality ratio, distribution barriers, and modern media as a promotion instrument [16]. In addition, consumer behavior related to organic food should be perceived through their awareness and knowledge of organic food products, which have direct and indirect impacts on their attitudes toward and readiness to pay for such products [17].

2. Health Cconcerns

About 75% of newly emerging infectious diseases are zoonoses evolving as a result of genetic, ecological, socioeconomic, and climatic problems [18]. The presence of diseases in livestock, such as mad cow disease, bird flu, swine flu, and contamination with toxins such as melamine have increased consumers’ uncertainty and risk perception about food safety ^[19][20][21][19,20,21]. Recently, Covid-19 has increased consumer consciousness about health and eating healthily [22]. Knowing that developing countries are still facing problems associated with food safety, health concerns might be the main driver of organic food demand [23]. General conclusions about the health effects of organic food cannot be drawn ^{[24][25][26][27]}[24,25,26,27], which means that there is no real scientific evidence that organic food is always healthier than conventional food. Nevertheless, in general, consumers tend to associate organic food with a healthier diet, probably because there is evidence that, for example, the concentration levels of pesticide residues, synthetic fertilizers, and heavy metals are lower in organic food products and that amounts of omega-3 fatty acids are greater in organic milk and probably meat ^[24][28][24,28]. Since the use of pesticides and artificial fertilizers is not allowed in organic farming, consumer perceptions of organic food are directly associated with health and safety issues. Consumers’ life equilibrium mediates the effect of health consciousness on the evaluation of food quality attributes [29]. Consumers’ attitudes towards organic foods are strongly associated with perceived benefits for human health [15]. In addition, a meta-analysis covering 343 peer-reviewed publications has shown that the most important composite differences between organic and non-organic crops/crop-based foods refer to concentration levels of a range of antioxidants such as polyphenolics, which are substantially higher in organic foods [30]. Several studies have argued that the main factor motivating consumers to buy organic food products is health concerns ^{[31][32][33][34][35][36]}[31,32,33,34,35,36]. Consumption of organic food is moderated by individuals’ health concerns, with a stronger influence for the more health-concerned consumers [31]. Purchasing decisions regarding organic food are complex and the importance of motives and barriers varies among the products. However, for most consumers, organic food is associated with a healthy diet ^[33][34][33,34]. Human health is positively correlated with a high relative frequency of choosing eco-labeled alternatives [36]. The role of health as a major motive for consuming organic food has also been identified in studies undertaken in emerging or developing countries ^[37][38][37,38]. In the case of Albania (a neighboring country of Kosovo with which it shares many similarities), a previous study has shown that most consumers consider the health factor to be the most important dimension of organic products, while the impact of organic food production on the environment does not appear to be important at all [38]. A study on the segmentation of the Hungarian organic market showed that one of the main factors influencing organic food purchases is consumer health consciousness [39]. The main reason is related to changes in consumer perceptions of food [40]. In general, the aim of consuming food is no longer just to satisfy hunger, but also encompasses a wide set of different motives and expectations in terms of subjective quality, often referring to process attributes such as organic production ^[41][42][41,42].

3. Labeling of Oorigin

Consumers often use the origin of a food product (local, domestic, foreign, or EU) as a quality cue ^[43][44][43,44]. Origin (e.g., a domestic, regional, or local origin) has been shown to significantly and positively influence the purchase of organic food products ^{[45][46][47][48]}[45,46,47,48]. Origin is considered to be an important attribute, especially for quality-seeking consumers [38]. Another aspect is the place or outlet of purchase. Studies conducted by Hamzaoui and Zahaf [2] and Zepeda and David [49] showed that consumers have doubts about organic products if they are purchased in places other than specialized stores or directly from organic farms. Another study with Croatian consumers revealed that domestic origin was an important food quality cue associated with the absence of risk to personal health, better taste, and reliable producers [50]. A previous study in Kosovo found a strong consumer patriotism—overall, consumer segments preferred local food. Kosovar consumers attributed higher quality and higher food safety to domestic dairy and milk products, which underlines the necessity of trustworthy signaling of the country of origin [10]. A later study in Kosovo also confirmed that consumers have a greater preference for domestic (versus imported) dairy products [51]. Knowing that Kosovar consumers have a positive bias towards domestic food products, labeling of origin can be considered to be an important factor influencing consumers’ attitudes towards organic food products.

4. Organic Ccertification

Organic food production is a credence attribute because consumers cannot directly observe its related quality and safety [52]. Certification is one of the ways of incorporating the credence attribute of organic quality as a guarantee of sustainable agriculture and healthy living [53]. Liang [54] observed that factors such as certification, nutritional values, and environmental protection have a positive impact on the purchase intention of organic food products. Ambiguous labels and failure of organic labels to distinguish organic food from eco-labeled or healthy food may negatively impact consumers’ decisions about organic food purchases ^[55][56][55,56]. Consumers’ trust in organic food is built upon the expectation that all organic supply chain actors act according to the provided guidelines and that there is a well-functioning control system in place. In developing/emerging economies with a weak control system and corruption, organic producers may fail to gain consumers’ trust, as producers or traders may try to cheat to generate higher income [34]. Institutional trust and the behavior of people are largely directed by the efficacy of the rules and principles in place [57]. Consumers may not be willing to pay a premium for organic food products when they distrust organic certification ^[58][59][60][58,59,60]. Consumers’ confidence in the safety and quality of organic food is dependent on a specific certification. Food certificates may be considered untrustworthy due to a lack of trust in formal institutions [42]. However, consumer trust in organic food and organic certification differs between countries. For instance, a previous study revealed that consumer trust in organic food differed significantly between the four studied countries, whereby consumers from Italy and Poland reported higher overall trust and preferred EU certification; by contrast, German and UK consumers showed lower trust and preferred their national certification [61].

5. Environmental Cconcerns

More than 30% of greenhouse gas emissions are produced from the food and drinks supply chains [62]. In addition, the proportion of wasted food is still large and is causing vast environmental, economic, and social problems, which is a consequence of weak management of the value chain and unsustainable development trends [63]. As a result, environmental issues have become a priority for sustainable development ^[64][65][64,65]. The environmental dimension in consumer demand has an important impact on the efforts of businesses to become more environmentally friendly when manufacturing their products [66]. For agricultural businesses, the revised EU Common Agricultural Policy gives more attention to sustainable practices such as precision agriculture, organic farming, agro-ecology, and stricter animal welfare standards. Within the EU’s agricultural policy, enhancement of sustainability-oriented labeling is further reflected via the Green Deal and the Farm to Fork Strategy. The factor “environmental concerns” is important as it motivates consumers, amongst others, to purchase organic food products ^[67][68][67,68]. Environmental concerns are also a significant determinant of consumers’ purchase intentions in the case of green personal care products [69]. Most consumers in wealthy countries perceive organic agriculture to be superior with respect to animal welfare, climate protection, and the environment as a whole [70]. However, occasional organic consumers place significantly less importance on environmental protection and animal welfare compared to regular organic food consumers [71]. Performance of environmentally friendly behavior, such as refraining from car driving, is a good predictor of organic purchase frequency.