Research Report
VTT Biotechnology, Consumer Science, P.O. Box 1000, 02044 VTT, Finland
INRAN (Istituto Nazionale di Ricerca per gli Alimenti e la Nutrizione), via Ardeatina 546, 00178 Roma, Italy
c
Food Consumer Behaviour and Health Research Centre, University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey GU2 7XH, UK
b
Received 6 March 2007; received in revised form 21 May 2007; accepted 24 September 2007
Abstract
This study examined the usefulness of integrating measures of affective and moral attitudes into the Theory of Planned Behaviour
(TPB)-model in predicting purchase intentions of organic foods. Moral attitude was operationalised as positive self-rewarding feelings of
doing the right thing. Questionnaire data were gathered in three countries: Italy (N 202), Finland (N 270) and UK (N 200) in
March 2004. Questions focussed on intentions to purchase organic apples and organic ready-to-cook pizza instead of their conventional
alternatives. Data were analysed using Structural Equation Modelling by simultaneous multi-group analysis of the three countries.
Along with attitudes, moral attitude and subjective norms explained considerable shares of variances in intentions. The relative
inuences of these variables varied between the countries, such that in the UK and Italy moral attitude rather than subjective norms had
stronger explanatory power. In Finland it was other way around. Inclusion of moral attitude improved the model t and predictive
ability of the model, although only marginally in Finland. Thus the results partially support the usefulness of incorporating moral
measures as well as affective items for attitude into the framework of TPB.
r 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Organic food; Consumer attitudes; Theory of Planned Behaviour; Moral norms
Introduction
Numerous consumer studies in Europe and USA have
shown that choices to purchase organic food are motivated
by beliefs about healthiness and good taste of these
products as well as by beliefs about benets for the
environment and the welfare of production animals (Bahr
et al., 2004; Baker, Thompson, & Engelken, 2004; Grunert
& Juhl, 1995; Magnusson, Arvola, Koivisto-Hursti, Aberg,
& Sjoden, 2003; Sparling, Wilken, & McKenzie, 1992;
Zanoli & Naspetti, 2002). Purchases of organic foods are
thus motivated both by expected positive consequences for
the self and for others. In addition, qualitative studies
suggest that consumers sometimes relate feelings of good
Corresponding author.
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products. Sparks and Shepherd (2002) focussed on intentions to use genetically modied foods. As an exception,
two studies failed to support the additional predictive
ability of a moral measure. In a study by Sparks et al.
(1995) a measure of moral obligation increased the
prediction of intentions only marginally. Saba, Rosati,
and Vassallo (2000) and Saba and Rosati (2002) failed to
nd any signicant increase at all.
Thgersen (2002) has examined the role of moral issues
in the context of organic foods in Denmark. He found a
measure of personal norms to inuence consumers choice
between organic and conventional wine after controlling
for attitudes and subjective norms. In another study,
personal norm was the most important predictor of
respondents ratings of their purchase frequency of various
organic foods (Thgersen & Olander, 2006). Studies by
Thgersen and colleagues suggest the ability of a moral
measure to increase prediction over and above attitudes
and subjective norms also in the context of organic food
choice. However, they did not explicitly test personal norm
in the context of TPB. Further, these studies only dealt
with Danish consumers. No previous studies have applied
cross-cultural data to examine the role of moral norms in
organic food purchase intentions. Moral issues may have a
different role in a country like Denmark, where organic
consumption is more familiar to the consumers than in
countries with less mature organic markets, like Italy, UK
and Finland (cf. shares of organic consumption in EUcountries Hamm, Gronefeld, & Halpin, 2002).
Most importantly, our study differs from the previous
ones in that moral norm is operationalised as positive selfenhancing feelings of doing the right thing, rather than
as negative feelings of obligation or guilt. According to
Schwartz, violating ones own personal moral norms
evokes negative emotions, such as guilt, whereas following
the norms evokes positive emotions, such as pride or
contentment with oneself (Schwartz & Howard, 1984).
Personal norms are thus based on both negative and
positive anticipated consequences to the self. Despite this,
they and other earlier studies (see reviews by Conner &
Armitage, 1998; Manstead, 2000) have ignored expected
positive feelings or consequences to self. Typically applied
items measure feelings of moral, personal or ethical
obligation and/or feelings of guilt (Schwartz, 1977;
Schwartz & Howard, 1984). In their study concerning
choice of organic wine Thgersen (2002) applied two items:
I feel I ought to choose organicy and I feel obligation
to choosey. In another study, predicting the self-rated
purchase frequency of three organic foods, personal norm
was operationalised with questions: I feel I should choose
organicy and I get bad conscience if I choose
conventional instead of organic (Thgersen & Olander,
2006).
The possibly motivating role of anticipated positive
moral feelings is interesting especially in the case of organic
food purchases. Studies on organic food suggest that
consumers do not usually see purchase of organic food as a
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Table 1
Means (and standard deviations) of the TPB variables related to apple and pizza in Italy, Finland and UK
Cronbach Alphas for entire
samples, apple/pizza
Attitude (4 items)
A 0.93/0.93
Affective
Cognitive
Pbc
A 0.60/0.56
Subjective norm
A 0.71/0.77
Moral attitude
A 0.90/0.93
Purchase intention
A 0.90/0.86
Apple
Pizza
IT
FI
UK
All
IT
FI
UK
All
5.1a
(1.5)
4.8a
(1.7)
5.3
(1.4)
4.3a
(1.7)
4.4a
(1.4)
4.6a
(1.7)
4.1a
(1.9)
5.4b
(1.3)
5.2b
(1.3)
5.5
(1.3)
4.4a
(1.4)
4.0b
(1.2)
4.6a
(1.7)
3.6b
(1.8)
5.2a,b
(1.4)
4.8a
(1.6)
5.5
(1.3)
5.1b
(1.4)
3.8b
(1.2)
3.9b
(1.7)
3.7a,b
(2.1)
5.2
(1.4)
5
(1.5)
5.5
(1.4)
4.6
(1.5)
4
(1.3)
4.4
(1.7)
3.8
(1.9)
4.4a
(1.7)
4.0a
(1.9)
4.7
(1.6)
3.5
(1.6)
3.8a
(1.6)
4.0a
(1.8)
3.0a
(2.0)
4.7b
(1.3)
4.7b
(1.3)
4.8
(1.3)
3.8
(1.5)
3.4b
(1.3)
4.1a
(1.6)
2.9a
(1.7)
4.7a,b
(1.3)
4.3a,b
(1.6)
5
(1.3)
3.8
(1.5)
3.2b
(1.2)
3.4b
(1.6)
2.5b
(1.8)
4.6
(1.4)
4.4
(1.6)
4.8
(1.4)
3.7
(1.5)
3.5
(1.4)
3.9
(1.7)
2.8
(1.8)
Mean scores with different letters are signicantly different between the countries (Bonferronis test, po0.05). ACronbach Alphas for entire samples in
apple/pizza data.
po0.05.
po0.01.
Results
Responses to organic apples and pizza
The means of all model variables (attitudes, sn, pbc,
intention and moral norm), were signicantly higher for
organic apples than pizza, indicating less positive reactions
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SN
0.69
0.57
MORAL
0.37
0.45
BELIEFS
ATTITUDE
0.40
R2 = 0.60
0.10 (ns)
0.62
INTENT
R2 = 0.58
0.37
SN
0.68
0.46
INTENT
MORAL
0.64
BELIEFS
R2 = 0.55
0.21
0.30
0.47
0.29
ATTITUDE
R2 = 0.48
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Table 2
Correlations in pooled data (bold text), in Italy, Finland and UK,
respectively
sn
Organic apples
Attitude
0.57
0.69/0.52/
0.57
Sn
pbc
moral_pos
Intent
0.34
0.44/0.22/
0.40
0.32
0.46/0.28/
0.34
0.65
0.72/0.64/
0.62
0.54
0.64/0.47/
0.52
0.19
0.40/0.12/
0.23
0.65
0.73/0.60/
0.67
0.58
0.62/0.56/
0.55
0.34
0.41/0.31/
0.36
0.57
0.69/0.44/
0.64
0.22
0.35/0.03/
0.26
0.23
0.36/0.15/
0.21
0.66
0.78/0.69/
0.58
0.56
0.73/0.44/
0.52
0.18
0.31/0.09/
0.16
0.58
0.71/0.55/
0.51
0.56
0.64/0.58/
0.38
0.16
0.24/0.10/
0.16
0.59
0.69/0.49/51
Pbc
moral_pos
Pbc
moral_pos
These correlations are based on the variables averaged from the individual
items.
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Table 3
Model comparisons for apple data
w2/df (p0.30)
CFI (X0.95)
RMSEA
(p0.08)
R2 for attitude
in Italy/
Finland/UK
R2 for
intention in
Italy/Finland/
UK
Model 1
(the starting
model)
Model 2 (pbc
omitted)
Model 3 (correlations
added: moral * belief,
sn * belief)
Model 5 (
moral attitude
omitted)
1348.6/
435 3.10;
po0.001
0.91
0.06
1095.9/
339 3.23;
po0.001
0.92
0.06
771.3/333 2.32;
po0.001
761.4/330 2.31;
po0.001
0.95
0.04
0.96
0.04
0.95
0.05
647.8/
216 3.00;
po0.001
0.94
0.06
0.60/0.42/
0.46
0.60/0.42/0.46
0.71/0.51/0.56
0.70/0.51/0.56
0.60/0.60/0.54
0.58/0.38/0.49
0.65/0.48/
0.64
0.66/0.47/0.64
0.73/0.51/0.69
0.74/0.51/0.65
0.71/0.52/0.58
0.71/0.50/0.60
1335.9
1023.3
Model 2 vs. model 3
323.7(6); po0.001
4Model 3 is better
than model 2
1019.4
Models 3 vs. model 4
9.87 (3); p 0.020
4Model 4 is better
than model 3
1049.9
Model 4 vs. model 4b
62.49 (16); po0.001
4Model 4 is better than model
4b
845.8
Model comparison
AIC
1618.6
Dw2 (Ddf)
Sig.
Conclusion
4Model 2 is
better than
model 1
4Model 4 is
better than
model 5
Note: pcperceived behavioural control, snsubjective norm, CFIComparative Fit Index, RMSEAroot mean square error of approximation,
AICakaike information criterion, Dw2difference in w2 values, Ddfdifference in degrees of freedom. Multi-country models with no constraints
between the countries (rules of thump-cut-offs for t indices suggesting acceptable t).
Table 4
Results from the nal model 4
Apple
Pizza
Italy
Est.
Fin
p
R2 for intention
R2 for attitude
0.74
0.70
Regression weights
Attitude4intent
Moral4intent
SN4intent
Moral4attitude
Beliefs4attitude
0.51
0.30
0.12
0.53
0.37
ns
Correlations
Moral sn
Belief sn
Belief moral
0.77
0.67
0.72
Est.
UK
p
0.51
0.51
0.41
0.02
0.46
0.48
0.32
0.57
0.45
0.62
Est.
Italy
p
0.65
0.56
ns
Est.
Fin
p
0.64
0.62
Est.
UK
p
0.56
0.46
0.31
0.25
0.37
0.36
0.47
0.38
0.32
0.18
0.60
0.24
ns
0.29
0.10
0.52
0.52
0.20
0.74
0.63
0.60
0.80
0.60
0.70
0.52
0.40
0.75
Est.
0.45
0.38
ns
0.33
0.38
0.09
0.36
0.34
ns
0.67
0.34
0.54
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Acknowledgements
This study was carried out with nancial support from
the Commission of the European Communities, specic
RTD programme Quality of Life and Management of
Living Resources, QLK1-2002-02446, Consumer decision making on organic products (CONDOR). It does not
necessarily reect its views and in no way anticipates the
Commissions future policy in this area.
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