Organic food purchase decisions from a context-based behavioral reasoning approach

Abstract

While the burgeoning development of organic foods has received great interest from academicians, the green gap has been posing challenges to the understanding of the inconsistency between consumers' actions and their positive intentions towards organic foods. The latest marketing literature has pointed to the potential of the cognitive and reasoning process taking into account context-specificity as the answer to the problem. Applying the novel Behavioral Reasoning Theory, this study sets out to bridge this gap by providing insights into the context-based reasoning process of Vietnamese consumers. PLS-SEM method was employed to test the proposed hypotheses between values, reasons, attitudes, behavioral intention, and actual purchase behavior among 300 consumers from two big cities (i.e., Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh) in Vietnam. The mediation analysis was conducted for reasons and attitudes. The model was also extended using trust and knowledge factors. Overall, the results suggested the strong cognitive routes originated from values onto reasons and attitudes, whereas attitudes and reasons (for and against) positively influenced purchase intentions. Additionally, the mediational effects of both reasons and attitudes were not established. Trust was found strengthening reasons for and attitudes while mitigating reasons against. Consumers' knowledge rendered impacts on intentions but not attitudes. Useful implications for academicians, marketers, and policymakers were also discussed.

Keywords: Actual purchase; Behavioral intention; Behavioral reasoning theory; Knowledge; Organic food; Trust.