Exploring the Factors on the Social Interaction and Market Development of Organic Agricultural Products: A Case Study of Curitiba Municipality

It is an applied survey that uses a descriptive design with correlation. The population included all managers of Curitiba Municipality Management of Fruit and Vegetable Organization (200 people). Based on Cochran’s formula and simple random sampling, 125 people were selected as the sample size. Two researcher-made questionnaires were used for data collection. The questionnaire on social interaction and market development of organic products consisted of 12 items and the influential factors on social interaction. Market development of organic products included sections on economic factors (5 items), educational factors (8 items), policy-making factors (5 items), and sociocultural factors (7 items). The face and content validity of the questionnaires was confirmed based on the experts’ opinions. Cronbach’s alpha of the research variables was estimated at more than 0.7, indicating the internal consistency of the items and confirmation of reliability. Correlation coefficient, multiple regression, Kruskal–Wallis test, and Mann-Whitney U test were used for data analysis through SPSS software. The economic (0.620), educational (0.532), policy-making (0.205), and sociocultural (0.220) factors and familiarity with organic products (0.182) had a significantly positive relationship at the level of 0.99 with social interaction and the market development of organic products from the perspective of the managers in Curitiba Municipality Management of Fruit and Vegetable Organization. There was a difference between managers’ social interaction and market development of organic products in terms of education majors and organizational positions.