Designing a three-phase pattern of organic product consumption behaviour

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to design a pattern of sustainable behaviour of consuming organic products involving three phases: cognition, motivation and volition. The theory of planned behaviour (TPB) was selected as the basis of a study of consumer behaviour. For the development of the model, a combination of self-determination theory (SDT), planning and other factors was used based on a literature review. The theoretical framework is presented as 15 hypotheses. The results showed that the statistical hypotheses were confirmed at a significance level of 0.05. However, low self-determination did not affect intention. Thus, H11 was not supported. A significant relationship was identified among the confirmed structures in all three phases studied herein, and the estimated field model explained approximately 55% of the variance of the overall behaviour of organic product consumption. The most important variables in the cognitive phase were environmental concerns, with a path coefficient of 0.45; in the motivation phase, attitude towards behaviour had a path coefficient of 0.52, and during the volition phase, action planning had a path coefficient of 0.54. Considering the combination of the cognitive, motivation and volition phases, using actions to inform and persuade and availability may increase the sustainable behaviour of consuming organic products and may help managers and policymakers achieve their goals. Suggestions are developed in the closing part of the paper.