Applying the theory of reasoned action to examine consumers' attitude and willingness to purchase organic foods

Abstract

The organic food market has emerged as a growing trend among consumers. The present study examines the relationship between Health Consciousness (HC), Organic Food Knowledge (OFK), Subjective Norms (SN), Price Perception (PP), Environmental Concern (EC), Attitude (ATT), Willingness to Purchase (WP), and Actual Buying Behaviour (ABB) towards organic food. Furthermore, the study explores the mediating effects of ATT and WP in the relationship between the aforesaid variables and ABB. The data was collected from 240 respondents using convenience sampling approach. The Structure Equation Modelling (SEM) using ADANCO 2.2 is used to test the hypotheses of the conceptual model proposed in the present study. The study found that the variables HC, OFK, SN, EC, ATT, WP significantly affect the ABB. Also, it is observed that EC is the strongest predictor of ATT, WP, and ABB in organic food purchase, whereas PP is the least influencing factor. Further, HC positively influences ATT and WP but shows a negative association with ABB. The antecedents HC, OFK, SN, PP, EC has shown a significant indirect effect on ABB among respondents through ATT and WP. Finally, the theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Green food purchasing behaviour: a multi-method approach of Generation Y in a developing country

“…According to the results, the relationships between subjective norms and purchase intention (H2) are not significant, a different result from previous studies (Matharu et al, 2021;Teixeira et al, 2021). A possible explanation may be that there is a total mediation effect of environmental knowledge and health consciousness in the relationship between subjective norms and purchase intention (Kim and Choi, 2005;Kumar et al, 2022;Smith and Paladino, 2010). Multiple mediation models were analysed considering each model in isolation, only with the relationships of the independent variable (subjective norms) with both mediating variables (environmental knowledge and health consciousness) and the dependent variable (purchase intention), as well as of the mediators with the model-dependent variable.…”

“…In addition to the traditional influences of the constructions proposed by the TPB, some studies seek to observe the effects of moderation, mediation and relationships between the predictors of intention to consume organic foods (Kim and Choi, 2005;Kumar et al, 2022;Smith and Paladino, 2010). For example, Dursun et al (2019) state that the environmental psychology literature provides empirical evidence on the effect of subjective knowledge on pro-environmental behaviours.…”

“…In addition to TPB constructs, scholars have added other variables as influential in the Purchase Intention of organic foods, such as personality traits (Chen, 2007), environmental awareness (de Toni et al ., 2018; Kim and Choi, 2005; Singh and Verma, 2017), food security (Khayyam et al ., 2021), environmental knowledge (Dursun et al ., 2019; Mostafa, 2007; Paul and Rana, 2012; Tarkiainen and Sundqvist, 2005; Teixeira et al ., 2021; Wu et al ., 2022), health awareness (Cavite et al ., 2022; Iqbal et al ., 2021; Kumar et al ., 2022; Paul and Rana, 2012; Tarkiainen and Sundqvist, 2005; Teixeira et al ., 2021) and knowledge of organic food (Ayyub et al ., 2018; Chen, 2007; Iqbal et al ., 2021; Kumar et al ., 2022; Singh and Verma, 2017; Zayed et al ., 2022).…”

“…Furthermore, growing environmental awareness and concern for safer food have led to questions about modern agricultural practices and their potential dangers – e.g. the use of pesticides and their residues in food (Chen, 2007; Kumar et al. , 2022).…”

Understanding Omnichannel Shopping Behaviors: Incorporating Channel Integration into The Theory of Reasoned Action

“…Many studies have confirmed that consumer behavior is led by behavioral intention, which is the outcome of two antecedents, attitudes and subjective norms (Pookulangara, Hawley, & Xiao, 2011). The causal relationships of TRA were validated in various consumption settings such as clothing purchases (Belleau, Summers, Xu, & Pinel, 2007;Kim, Kim, & Kumar, 2003), online shopping (Ashokkumar & Nagarajan, 2021), social media influences (Copeland & Zhao, 2020), mall patronage (Evans, Christiansen, & Gill, 1996), and organic purchases (Kumar, Gupta, Kumar, Singh, & Singh, 2022). Another study objective is to explore how TRA predicts millennials and Gen Z consumers' omnichannel shopping behaviors.…”