Abstract
When someone decides to buy organic food products trust plays a role. Consumers, in fact, are neither supposed to have the appropriate knowledge to evaluate the characteristics of these products, nor can they control that the food was actually manufactured following the procedures prescribed by organic production. Therefore, trust may contribute to the explanation of both purchasing intention and behavior since it represents a heuristic or shortcut that people adopt in order to reduce the large amount of information that consumers need to take into account. The present research aimed to analyze the role of trust in organic products on buying behavior adopting the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) as theoretical framework. A relational model was tested in which this variable was supposed to act as a background factor associated with all the classical constructs foreseen by the theory and the buying behavior. Also, indirect effects of trust on both intention and behavior were assessed. Two studies were conducted targeting the purchase of organic food products in general (Study 1) and of fresh organic fruit and vegetables (Study 2). In both studies, the data collection was organized in two waves, with a time lag of 1 month. At Time 1, the questionnaires included measures of intention, its antecedents and trust, while at Time 2 self-reported buying behavior was collected. Data were supplied by two convenience samples of Italian adults (237 and 227 participants) and analyzed via structural equation modeling. Results turned out to be overlapping in both studies, since trust was positively associated with attitude and subjective norm, and it was indirectly associated with intention and behavior, thanks to the mediation of the TPB constructs. The outcomes highlighted the importance of people’s trust in organic products as a meaningful antecedent that boosts the TPB-based psychosocial processes that are supposed to stand behind both purchasing intentions and behaviors.
Highlights
Sustainable consumption in the food sector is one of the main strategies for achieving environmental sustainability
Participants were informed about the aim of the study, the purchasing behavior the study was focused on, the estimated duration of the task, and the possibility of withholding their consent to participate at any time, and they were assured that all answers would remain confidential
The results of the present study confirm the efficacy of the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) as a framework for understanding intentions and behavior in the field of organic food purchasing, and the current test significantly contributes to the body of evidence for the predictions specified in the model
Summary
Sustainable consumption in the food sector is one of the main strategies for achieving environmental sustainability. A major challenge in this sector is to both expand and respond to demand without compromising consumers’ confidence in the abovementioned principles and processes, as well as to build trust in the organic products imported, as regards control measures (European Commission, 2014). Organic agriculture has developed rapidly in Europe and North America in response to the feedback coming from both markets and in terms of consumers’ demands. The largest European market for organic food in 2018 was Germany, with retail sales of 10.9 billion euros, followed by France (9.1 billion euros), and Italy (3.5 billion euros) (Willer et al, 2020b). Between June 2018 and June 2019 there was an increase in sales of organic products for domestic use in large retailers of 6% (Nomisma, 2019). Between March 2019 and March 2020, sales of organic fruit and vegetables recorded a growth of 24.8% (Assobio, 2020)
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