Attitude-intention Relationship Research Articles

Enhancing the Theory of Planned Behavior with Perceived Consumer Effectiveness and Environmental Concern towards Pro-Environmental Purchase Intentions for Eco-Friendly Apparel: A Review Article

The textile sector has become a significant source of pollution due to increasing carbon emissions, heightened greenhouse gas emissions, and growing landfill contributions. In response, the industry is turning towards sustainable fashion, which is gaining popularity as an eco-friendly practice. This study utilized the theory of planned behavior (TPB) alongside variables such as environmental concern, personal moral norms, and perceived consumer effectiveness to predict eco-friendly apparel purchasing intentions among educated Indian youth. The research applied variance-based partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) to assess the proposed model. Results revealed that perceived behavioral control significantly and positively impacts purchasing intentions, followed by personal moral norms, general attitude, and perceived consumer effectiveness. Environmental concern was shown to indirectly influence purchasing intentions via the primary TPB variables and personal moral norms. Additionally, multi-group analysis (MGA) was used to investigate the moderating effects of perceived consumer effectiveness on the attitude-intention relationship, finding that individuals with higher perceived effectiveness displayed a more consistent attitude-intention correlation compared to those with lower perceived effectiveness. This study offers valuable insights for professionals and policymakers, suggesting the development of tailored sustainable marketing strategies and policies to address local market conditions.

Role of consumer ethnocentrism and perceived regulatory efficacy of organic food certification agencies on attitude-intention relationship

Role of consumer ethnocentrism and perceived regulatory efficacy of organic food certification agencies on attitude-intention relationship

What factors affecting investment decision? The moderating role of fintech self-efficacy.

This study aims to determine, from the perspective of investors, the factors that predict Islamic unit trust (IUT) investment intentions. Additionally, this paper examines the moderating effect of fintech self-efficacy (FSE) on the relationship between attitude and investment intention. A total of 392 data were collected from IUT investors in Malaysia and analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling. The findings reveal that subjective norms have the highest impact on investment intention, followed by attitude and FSE, while religiosity is not significantly associated with investment intention in Islamic unit trust funds. Attitude significantly mediates religiosity-intention and Islamic financial literacy-intention relationships. FSE significantly moderates the attitude-intention relationship. The results shed light on the key factors that increase investing behavior and have direct managerial implications with regard to marketing strategies and target markets. These findings suggest that IUT service providers should take the lead in attracting customers through effective and targeted marketing initiatives, particularly by enhancing customers' FSE and capabilities. This study provides empirical evidence on the interrelationships between Islamic financial literacy, religiosity, and FSE in examining investors' behavior using the Theory of Planned Behavior framework. The study explores the moderating role of FSE on the relationship between attitude and investment intention.

Social norms moderating the attitude-intention relationship in adopting sustainable products

Rapid economic growth, global consumption patterns, and prevailing human practices are primary contributors to environmental degradation. This study aims to understand the moderating role played by social norms in shaping consumer attitudes and their intention to buy sustainable personal care products. Psychosocial factors related to the environment, including environmental orientation, environmental knowledge, and perceived environmental responsibility, were taken as independent variables. The research population includes urban educated consumers in the region of Delhi, the capital of India. The survey instrument was shared among 390 participants via e-mail, Google Groups, and other social networking sites. The data from 238 respondents using the convenience sampling technique were collected, and AMOS structural equation modeling (Version 23.0) was used for analysis. The results validate the role of social norms as a moderator in the association between attitude (β = 0.186, p < 0.05) and intentions (β = 0.215 at p < 0.05) to acquire sustainable personal care products. The results also indicated a positive relationship between consumer attitude and purchase intention (β = 0.301, p < 0.01). The findings suggest a positive correlation between an individual’s environmental orientation, knowledge and responsibility, and inclination toward sustainable personal care products. The study shows a significant positive impact of environmental orientation on attitude toward sustainable personal care products (β = 0.332, p < 0.01). Also, a positive association between environmental knowledge and attitude (β = 0.291, p < 0.01) and perceived environmental responsibility (β = 0.227, p < 0.05) was observed.

Assessing the Effects of Customer-perceived Values Toward Organic Food: The Moderating Role of Media Exposure to Food Safety Issues

Despite a plentiful supply of organic food in emerging economies, consumers are slow to adopt sustainable organic food behaviors. India is one of the top five nations in the world in terms of the total amount of agricultural land that is certified as organic, but the domestic organic consumption in the country itself is really sparse. Using the framework of the theory of reasoned action, this investigation explores how customers’ perceived values (health and hedonic values) influence their attitude toward purchasing organic food. Also, it elaborates on the moderating effect of media exposure to food safety issues to know its strength in the attitude–intention relationship. This research utilized PLS-SEM to analyze the structural relationships among the constructs, with 202 responses from consumers in India. The study found the strongest influence of hedonic value over health value and subjective norms on the green purchase attitude of consumers. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study that investigated the moderating effect of media exposure on food safety issues on consumers’ attitude–intention relationship in a developing nation context. The study highlighted that people who have regularly been exposed to food safety related issues around them are more willing to buy organic food. Thus, it contributes to a more robust attitude–intention relationship among customers toward the purchase of organic food.

Mediating Role of Leadership-led Change in Adoption of Waste-to-Energy in Nigeria

The use of renewable energy has increased in the past several years. Innovative forms of sustainable alternative energy production, such as solar and wind, are well-recognized energy sources. This paper reviews waste-to-energy (WtE), an innovative and evolving form of renewable energy, and its possible adoption in Nigeria to address this nation’s energy crisis and pollution problem. The theoretical framework of this paper draws from the theory of reasoned action (TRA) and the leadership-led change framework to consider the role of leaders and their influence to adopt WtE. Four factors act as antecedents to the formation of attitudes and subjective norms about WtE, which then affect intentions to adopt WtE. Intentions then become a predictor of behavior for adopting WtE. Through this framework, we examine the predicted potential for WtE as a solution for energy and pollution issues in Nigeria. We modeled leadership-led change as a mediator in the relationship between attitude and intention to adopt WtE in Nigeria. Our results show that leadership-led change partially mediates the attitude–intention relationship in the adoption of WtE. This paper makes two contributions: First, we offer an empirical account of Nigerian leaders’ intention to adopt WtE as a solution for its energy and environmental problems; and second, we offer an extended TRA model that incorporates a leadership-led change framework.

Pro-environmental purchase intention towards eco-friendly apparel: Augmenting the theory of planned behavior with perceived consumer effectiveness and environmental concern

ABSTRACT The textile industry has emerged as a major pollution source owing to a rise in carbon footprint, the spike in greenhouse gas emission, and increasing landfill waste. Sustainable fashion has become a new style statement and industries are shifting their orientation towards environment-friendly manufacturing. The theory of planned behavior (TPB) model was employed with environmental concern, personal moral norms, and perceived consumer effectiveness to better predict the eco-friendly apparel purchase intention of educated Indian youths. Variance-based partial least square-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was applied to evaluate the hypothesized model. Findings indicated that perceived behavioral control has a strong significant positive influence on purchase intention followed by personal moral norms, attitude, and perceived consumer effectiveness. Environmental concern was found to have an indirect effect on purchase intention through three primary TPB variables and personal moral norms. Multi-group analysis (MGA) was performed to examine the moderating effect of perceived consumer effectiveness on an attitude–intention relationship. The highly perceived consumer effectiveness group was shown to have a more consistent attitude-purchase intention relationship as compared to the low-perceived consumer effectiveness group. The study promulgates insights to professionals and policymakers to formulate sustainable marketing strategies and policies to cope with the indigenous market conditions.

Assessing the Empirical Evidence of Attitude Intention Relationship in the Purchase of Energy Efficient Vehicle

Despite warnings about limited fossil fuel as well as the detrimental impacts of burning such fuels, the number of conventionally fueled vehicles in use is growing worldwide. While energy efficient vehicles (EEVs) produce far less emissions and provide power from renewable sources, EEVs are yet to get full acceptance from the local market and the penetration rate is still low. In Malaysia, thesales trend shows that there is a low level of EEV purchased, where energy efficient vehicle only owned 3 percent of market share in Malaysian automotive industry. To fill this gap, this study focuses to examine the relationship between consumers’ attitude towards EEV and their intention to purchase energy efficient vehicle. Data was collected using quantitative approach through mall intercept survey method at ten selected malls in Peninsular Malaysia. Respondents were intercepted at the entrance of the mall and were invited to take part in the survey. The complete process of data collection took five months and comprised a total of 515 respondents. The hypothesis in the present study was tested using Partial Least Squares (PLS). The analysis revealed a positive relationship exists between consumers’ attitudes on EEVs and intention to purchase EEVs. The present study provides recommendations, limitations, and suggestions for future study.

Personal values as drivers of socially responsible investments: a moderation analysis

PurposeThe present study attempts to analyze if personal values, namely collectivism, materialism and environment attitude, have an impact on attitude to invest in socially responsible investments (SRIs). Second, it examines the impact of attitude on SRI intention which may further be moderated by religiosity beliefs. Third, the moderated relation is further tested separately for two groups of gender.Design/methodology/approachThe study uses cross-sectional data collected from 534 north Indian retail investors. PLS–SEM has been applied in this study using the latest version of SmartPLS (v. 3.2.9) software to examine the complex model of moderation analysis.FindingsThe results of PLS–SEM suggested that collectivism, materialism and environment attitude significantly influenced attitude which further led to SRI intention. The moderating role of religiosity was found to be significant on the attitude–intention relationship. Further, a significantly higher moderation of religiosity was found in females as compared to males.Research limitations/implicationsBesides collectivism, materialism and environmental attitude, there could be other facets of an investor's personality that were not considered in the study. The present research was conducted in India, and Hofstede (1980) calls Indian culture to be collectivistic in nature, where the influence of pro-social and environmental concern on SRI intention is bound to be high; thus, findings need to be tested further at the global level.Practical implicationsCompanies and financial institutions can enlarge their investor base for socially responsible products by propagating tailor-made financial products that can keep the personal values of investors intact in addition to providing satisfactory financial returns. Female investors can be encouraged to invest in SRI by promulgating the aspects of morality and ethics in their marketing and promotion strategies; eventually, this will lead to an upsurge in the proportion of female investors in financial markets.Originality/valueThe present study contributes to the growing body of research in the area of sustainable investments. This research has contributed to building and testing a moderation analysis of attitude–intention relationship with respect to SRI by adding investor's religiosity beliefs and his/her gender as moderating variables to better comprehend the relationships under study.

Received vs. given: Willingness to pay for sponge city program from a perceived value perspective

Rapid urbanization and global climate change have led to urban flooding on the one hand and water shortages on the other hand, which presents a global issue. To deal with the urban flooding and water quality issues, China has introduced the sponge city initiative to optimize urban water ecosystem. As a large-scale public project addressing environmental issues, the sponge city initiative is subject to public financial support and perception. Willingness to pay (WTP) is an effective tool to explore public behavioral intention and evaluate integrated benefits of project. This study aims to investigate the pathway to improve WTP from a ‘perceived value’ perspective based on Theory of Planned Behavior. Guyuan city, one of the pilot sponge cities in China, is chosen as a case study, and a questionnaire survey was administered in the affected communities with 656 respondents. Under the framework of planned behavior, the results showed that: (1) Perceived behavioral control had the strongest effect on WTP, especially the obstacle from perceived economic capacity was highlighted; (2) The consistency of attitude-intention relationship was identified, while subjective norm was not critical to WTP; (3) Perceived value was highlighted as the antecedent to predict WTP indirectly via the dual frameworks from value to behavior; (4) A 8.3% surcharge of domestic water tariff was accepted as reasonable for the sponge city development. These findings provide practical implications for government and developers to optimize financing and operation of sponge city developments. As a result, the sustainable performance of sponge city could be improved.

Retirement village buying intention

Purpose The well-being of the elderly is a growing issue of concern for countries around the world. One way to enhance the elderly well-being is to provide housing options suitable to their needs and lifestyle. Retirement village is an accommodation concept foreign to the Malaysian population. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to bridge this literature gap by analyzing factors that may inhibit or motivate the buying intention of a retirement village unit among the elderly in Malaysia. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from 261 Malaysian elderly and analyzed using structural equation modeling PLS. Findings The results indicated that attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control and social sustainability were significant predictors that explained elderly buying intention of retirement village. Originality/value The study also found a significant moderating role of religion in attitude–intention relationship. The paper concludes with the study’s implications, limitations and recommendations for future research.

A comparative study of relative roles and sequences of cognitive and affective attitudes on tourists’ pro-environmental behavioral intention

Attitudinal interventions are commonly implemented to nudge pro-environmental actions. However, the relative roles and sequences of cognitive and affective attitudes on tourists’ pro-environmental behavioral intention (PEBI) and how PEBI variants impact the attitude-intention relationships require further investigation. Based on the theory of planned behavior, this paper compares the differential effects and sequences of cognitive and affective attitudes on tourists’ low-effort and high-effort PEBI. Structural equation modeling results of two studies conducted in a nature-based and an urban destination showed a superior role of affect, i.e., affective, but not cognitive attitude, guided tourists’ PEBI, irrespective of implementation difficulty variants. This finding supports the automatic-processing rather than the controlled-processing hypothesis of attitude-intention processes in the tourism context. The results of sequential models further confirmed the above conclusion and supported the “affective” model wherein affective attitude predicts cognitive attitude when shaping subsequent PEBI. These studies advance understandings of relationships between and sequences of attitudes and PEBIs and challenge predominant cognitive interventions in environmental communication practices.

Application of vested interest theory to prevention of non-medical prescription stimulant and marijuana use: Unforeseen benefits of attitude-behavior inconsistency

BackgroundVested interest (VI) has been found to enhance attitude-behavior consistency in several contexts. With an eye toward a potentially novel method of prevention (i.e., reducing perceived VI to minimize attitude-behavior consistency among those positively inclined toward psychotropic substance use), the current investigation explores whether VI moderates attitude-intention consistency regarding nonmedical use of prescription stimulants (NUPS) and marijuana. MethodsEmphasizing prevention, the study focused exclusively on non-users. Study 1a assessed college students (N = 310) attitudes, VI, and intentions regarding NUPS among those with no prior NUPS experience. Respondents were sampled using Amazon’s Mechanical Turk. Study 1b investigated marijuana-abstinent college students (N = 93), recruited from college classrooms. ResultsThe pattern of results was similar in both studies. In addition to an association between attitudes and VI, analysis revealed main effects for attitudes and VI on substance use intentions. Moreover, VI moderated the attitude-intention relationship (p < .01). Attitudes were most weakly associated with usage intentions when perceptions of VI were low (vs. moderate or strong). ConclusionResults of these studies replicate and expand prior findings relating VI to drug use, and suggest a potential path for future prevention efforts. The current study was cross-sectional, however if the causal pathways are as theorized, an intervention that reduces subjective VI has the potential to reduce positive attitudes while simultaneously reducing the influence of favorable attitudes on intentions.

Consumer Responses to Explicit Sexual Stimuli in Advertising: Artistic vs Provocative Style

This study extends prior research on sexual appeal advertising by developing a model of consumer responses to explicit sexual stimuli conveyed through different expressive styles (artistic versus provocative). A between-subjects experimental design (N=369) was conducted. The theoretical model includes ad-, brand- and behaviour-related variables. Structural equation modelling was used to estimate the hypothesized relationships.Findings reveal that the use of an artistic format stimulates a better response than the use of images in merely provocative poses. From a female consumer perspective, all paths were positive and significant when exposed to the artistic nudity stimuli, with the only exception of the positive emotions-purchase intention relationship. Results suggest a moderating role of the mode of representing sexual images on attitude-intention relationships. From a male consumer perspective, the response was similar, but any effect was present between attitude towards the advertisement and purchase intention. Support was found for a moderating influence of expressive styles on positive emotion-attitude towards the brand relationship.The paper sheds new lights on the way explicit sexual stimuli can be represented, offering a contribution to improving the communication effectiveness of products and brands that exploit sexual stimuli.

Influence of Business Incubators Performance on Entrepreneurial Intentions and Its Antecedents during the Pre-incubation Stage

AbstractThe pre-incubation phase is critical in the forming of entrepreneur’s intention and however it is almost missing in literature. Using the entrepreneurship models based on the beliefs–attitude–intention relationship, a sample of 167 pre-incubated entrepreneurs within the well-known System of Business Incubators of the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education was surveyed and its statistical analysis developed with Structural Equation Modelling methodology. Our findings confirm that (1) entrepreneur’s perception concerning the incubator’s performance directly and positively affects the desirability, self-efficacy and the facilitating conditions, (2) the perceived desirability and feasibility in entrepreneurship, as well as the first ones, self-efficacy and facilitating conditions, positively influence the entrepreneurial intentions. Furthermore, contrary to the traditional mind-set that supports risk is a barrier, results suggest that (3) the risk perceived by pre-incubated entrepreneurs positively influences entrepreneurial intentions and the desirability that is attributed to that behaviour. Finally, these results also provide insights for organizational leaders and policymakers into managing business incubators and organising their formative programs. The effectiveness of incubators is clear but it is also important to communicate it properly so that incubated individuals can perceive it.

Alcohol, Sex, and Screens: Modeling Media Influence on Adolescent Alcohol and Sex Co-Occurrence

Alcohol use and sexual behavior are important risk behaviors in adolescent development, and combining the two is common. The reasoned action approach (RAA) is used to predict adolescents’ intention to combine alcohol use and sexual behavior based on exposure to alcohol and sex combinations in popular entertainment media. We conducted a content analysis of mainstream (n = 29) and Black-oriented movies (n = 34) from 2014 and 2013–2014, respectively, and 56 television shows (2014–2015 season). Content analysis ratings featuring character portrayals of both alcohol and sex within the same five-minute segment were used to create exposure measures that were linked to online survey data collected from 1,990 adolescents ages 14 to 17 years old (50.3% Black, 49.7% White; 48.1% female). Structural equation modeling (SEM) and group analysis by race were used to test whether attitudes, norms, and perceived behavioral control mediated the effects of media exposure on intention to combine alcohol and sex. Results suggest that for both White and Black adolescents, exposure to media portrayals of alcohol and sex combinations is positively associated with adolescents’ attitudes and norms. These relationships were stronger among White adolescents. Intention was predicted by attitude, norms, and control, but only the attitude–intention relationship was different by race group (stronger for Whites).

INTERPLAY OF THE DRIVERS AND DETERRENTS OF LEISURE COUNTERFEIT PURCHASE INTENTIONS

Drawing on complementary theoretical perspectives, in this study we empirically investigate the drivers and deterrents underlying the formation of attitudes to leisure counterfeits and purchase intentions, and examine rationalization as a moderator of the attitude-intention relationship. The research model is examined via mail survey data of adult consumers using structural equations modelling. The findings indicate that perceived benefits and moral intensity significantly influence attitudes, while the impact of performance risk is negligible. The attitude and moral intensity significantly predict the purchase intention. Our analyses confirm rationalization as a salient factor moderating the relationship between attitude and behavioral intention. Based on this pattern of results, we discuss study implications in three areas: the perception of positive consequences for oneself, the perception of consequences for others, and the use of previously rarely examined consumer justifications. The finding that performance risk is not significant in affecting consumer attitude calls into question various appeals featuring adverse effects of buying counterfeits for an individual.

Attitude, learning environment and current knowledge enhancement of accounting students in Malaysia

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of accounting students’ attitude on their current knowledge enhancement intention and the moderating role of the learning environment on the attitude-intention relationship. The relationship between current knowledge enhancement intention and level of current knowledge acquired is also investigated. Design/methodology/approach – Copies of a structured questionnaire were randomly distributed to 400 final-year accounting students from three major public universities and 243 completed questionnaires were analyzed. Findings – Attitude is a significant predictor of students’ current knowledge enhancement intention, which, in turn, positively impacts their level of current knowledge. The learning environment significantly moderates the attitude-intention relationship. An inhibiting learning environment tends to accentuate the differences in current knowledge enhancement intention between students with good attitude and those with poor attitude toward current knowledge enhancement. Research limitations/implications – The study has the limitations often associated with self-administered questionnaire research. The findings also may not be generalizable to other student and current knowledge settings. Practical implications – There is a need to re-orientate the accounting curriculum design and the accounting academics’ attitude from one that is overly technical focussed to one that emphasizes on other competencies necessary for sustained professional success. Educators and teaching pedagogy that promotes a culture of lifelong learning and current knowledge enhancement among students should be encouraged. Originality/value – This study fills the gap in the literature by examining the role of the learning environment not as a direct determinant of students’ attitude and their intention, but rather as a moderator of the attitude-intention relationship. The implication is that modifying the learning environment could facilitate or promote development of the desired attitude and hence, intention. The findings of this study support the moderating role of the learning environment in the relationship between current knowledge enhancement attitude and intention of accounting students in Malaysia.

An investigation of mothers’ and tween daughters’ clothing preferences and purchase intentions toward a prosocial clothing company

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to invoke a consumer socialization approach to compare mothers and tween daughters on variables that may shape their clothing preferences and consumption behaviors. Additionally, this study explored the variables that predict how mothers and daughters respond to Pretty Brainy, an online clothing company that incorporates prosocial messaging into its product design and marketing. Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected from 106 mother-daughter pairs using an online survey. In completing the survey, participants were instructed to view and evaluate the Pretty Brainy brand web site and clothing. Findings – Mothers and daughters assigned similar degrees of importance to several clothing characteristics – including aesthetics/design, comfort, fit, use of socially responsible construction/production methods, and use of high performance technology – providing support for the consumer socialization model. Mothers and daughters were not similar on all clothing constructs explored, however, differing on the importance of some clothing characteristics examined (notably, brand name), as well as past socially responsible clothing purchase behavior, clothing involvement, and proximity of clothing to self. These differences may be explained in part by the mothers’ and daughters’ respective life stages. Among both mothers and daughters, attitude toward brand was the strongest predictor of purchase intention toward Pretty Brainy, which is consistent with established models of the attitude-intention relationship. Originality/value – This study provides understanding about the influence of mothers upon tween girls’ clothing consumption behaviors, helping to clarify inconsistencies in prior work as well as lending new insights into the role of mothers in socializing their daughters with respect to socially responsible clothing consumption.

Religious influences on consumers' high-involvement purchasing decisions

Purpose – This aim of this paper is to investigate the impact that religious factors have on a consumer's perception of brand loyalty in the context of the services industry. Specifically, the study focuses on the attitudinal/affective form of brand loyalty. An empirical investigation was conducted to test whether the religiosity and religious centrism of Muslim consumers can instill attitudinal brand loyalty towards an insurer selling a religiously-conforming high-involvement indemnity service. Design/methodology/approach – An online survey was conducted with 208 Muslim consumers, and structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis was used to test the relationships between the exogenous and endogenous variables. Findings – The results shows that there is a positive relationship between the exogenous religiosity and religious centrism constructs, and the endogenous attitudinal brand loyalty, price tolerance and word-of-mouth constructs. Practical implications – The findings of this research study suggest that religion can have a significant impact on consumers' choice when purchasing an indemnity service such as a car insurance service. Given the fact that religious values are persistent over time, there are some potential long-term benefits for companies that can identify the lucrative religious consumer segments that are present in the local and global markets. Originality/value – This study provides valuable insight into the UK Muslim consumer behavior by exploring the religious factors that can influence consumers' brand loyalty toward buying high-involvement religiously-compliant products and services. The findings of this study also indicate that the existing TRA and TRB models in the social sciences literature may need to incorporate a new ritualistic/religious dimension to the existing attitude-intention relationship saga.