Behavioral change in buying low carbon farm products in China: An application of the theory of planned behavior

Abstract

As global warming becomes increasingly pressing, many countries have begun to adopt carbon labeling on agri-products. Thus, it is prospective and significant to conduct a study on assessing the behavioral change in buying low carbon farm products in China, a country new to carbon labelling. Using a sample of the actual buying behavior of 873 subjects in China, we first examine the impact of Attitude, Perceived behavioral control, and Subjective (i.e., declarative and injunctive) norms on Actual behavior. Then, we investigate the mediating role of Behavioral intention in Actual behavior's relation with Attitude, Perceived behavioral control, and Subjective norms, respectively. Further, we explore the role of Subjective injunctive norms in the model based on the theory of planned behavior. Declarative norms, Attitude, and Perceived behavioral control explain a significant proportion of variance in actual buying behavior of low carbon products. Intentions fully mediate the relationship between Declarative norms and Actual behavior while partially mediating for Attitude and Perceived behavioral control. Injunctive norms moderate the relationship between Declarative norms and Actual behavior while partially mediating the relationship between Declarative norms and Attitude. Perceived behavioral control partially mediates the relationship between Declarative and Injunctive norms. These results suggest potential revisions to the theory of planned behavior model and practical implications to facilitate behavioral change from diagnostic and interventional perspectives.