Bi-dimensional values and attitudes toward online fast food-buying intention during the COVID-19 pandemic: An application of VAB model

Chen Yan; Abu Bakkar Siddik; Mohammad Masukujjaman; Qianli Dong; Muhammad Hamayun; Zheng Guang-Wen; Abdullah Mohammed Ibrahim

doi:10.3389/fnut.2022.894765

Bi-dimensional values and attitudes toward online fast food-buying intention during the COVID-19 pandemic: An application of VAB model

Front Nutr. 2022 Nov 25:9:894765. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2022.894765. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Chen Yan¹, Abu Bakkar Siddik², Mohammad Masukujjaman³, Qianli Dong¹, Muhammad Hamayun⁴, Zheng Guang-Wen⁵, Abdullah Mohammed Ibrahim³

Affiliations

¹ School of Economics and Management, Chang'an University, Xi'an, China.
² School of Management, University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), Hefei, China.
³ Department of Business Administration, Northern University Bangladesh, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
⁴ Department of Management Science and Commerce, Bacha Khan University, Charsadda, Pakistan.
⁵ School of Economics and Management, Shaanxi University of Science and Technology (SUST), Xi'an, China.

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to determine the factors of online fast food-buying intention among Bangladeshi Millennials during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study adopted the Value-Attitude-Behavior (VAB) model and designed it as a higher-order constructs model to predict buying intention. Using a quantitative method (i.e., cross-sectional survey), data was collected from 325 respondents via a structured questionnaire and subsequently analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) through AMOS software. The findings of the study revealed that convenience and food quality generate utilitarian values, while subjective norms and novelty-seeking form hedonic values. Also, utilitarian and hedonic values significantly affect cognitive and affective attitudes. As opposed to food quality, the cognitive attitude, affective attitude, self-identity, and subjective norms were observed to affect behavioral intention, with affective attitude producing the strongest association, albeit with the high explanatory power of the model. Consequently, this study offers a number of theoretical and policy implications to design better interventions that address public health regarding fast food consumption.

Keywords: COVID-19; fast food; millennial; online buying intention; value-attitude-behavior model.