Applying the Theory of Planned Behavior to Understand Workers’ Production of Safe Food

Abstract

Recent outbreaks of food related illness have brought greater attention to protecting food from contamination. Psychological approaches to behaviors during food processing can contribute to workers’ efforts to keep food safe and avoiding contamination. This study examines the effectiveness of the theory of planned behavior (TPB) in predicting self-reported food safety behaviors of turkey-processing workers. Consistent with the TPB, this study suggests that attitude toward the behavior, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, and behavior intention play important roles in understanding how to prevent foodborne contamination. Results also show that background factors, specifically gender, may be important in applying the TPB in specific work settings. Accordingly, salient beliefs that workers hold about food safety play a crucial role in understanding how workers’ behaviors can be aligned with the need to keep food safe and provide guidance for ways in which behaviors in organization can be modified to achieve desired outcomes.