Consumer knowledge, environmental concerns and subjective norms as predictors of consumer attitude and purchase intention: a study of organic food

Abstract

The paper evaluates the effect of customer knowledge (CK), environmental concerns (ECs) and subjective norms (SNs) on customer attitude (CA) and purchase intention (PI). The primary data was collected from organic food consumers. The relationship between CK, ECs, SNs as independent variables (IVs) and CA and PI as dependent variables (DVs) was tested using structural equation modelling method. The, CK (the knowledge customers have about brand), ECs of the consumers and SNs prevailing in the society significantly affect CA towards organic food brands. The variables CK and ECs do not contribute significantly to PI, whereas, SNs and CA effect PI significantly. CA mediates the relationships between CK - PI and EC - PI fully and the relationship between SN and PI partially. The current study has contributed significantly in understanding the process of developing CA towards organic food products (OFP) and the way CA can be leveraged to improve PI for OFP.