Mediating influences of attitude on internal and external factors influencing consumers' intention to purchase organic foods in China

Abstract

As with environment and sustainable development, there has been a rapid rise in the worldwide consumption of organic foods over the last years, as well as the quickly growing potential of organic markets in China, and their direct influence on consumer health awareness and social opinion. This study provides insights into Chinese consumers' attitudes toward organic foods and evaluates purchase intention's impact as a mediator in the relationship between external and internal factors on purchase intention. This empirical study is based on an online questionnaire using a sample of 1421 Chinese consumers. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used as the main practical approach for data analysis, and six hypotheses were examined. The results show that a more positive attitude on the part of consumers toward organic foods will further reinforce their purchasing intentions, whereas, there was no significant impact of marketing price and communication on consumers' attitudes toward organic foods. Furthermore, the results show that intention was a full or a whole mediator among the three exogenous constructs of environment awareness, health consciousness, and subjective norms. Based on the findings, marketing communication strategies should concentrate on offering more value to consumers regarding the features of nutritional value. Long-term environment friendliness, health benefits, and social status symbols should be assumed to enhance consumers' purchase intention in the organic foods industry.