Consumers value healthy eating and environmental responsibility: how negative food contexts aid decision-making

Abstract

The research aims to explore consumers’ intention toward traceable food in the dual context of the animal disease outbreak (i.e. African Swine Fever - ASF) and the current food safety issues. An extended Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) model was used to predict purchase intention/attitude toward traceable pork. The study employed the structural equation modeling (SEM) to extract insights from the dataset of 230 students in Vietnam. The current detrimental context of food safety deemed promoting the consumption of traceable food, a risk-mitigating alternative. Healthy and environmentally responsible consumers held positive standpoints toward traceable pork as a solution to fulfill their responsibility with the environment and healthy eating lifestyle. The extended model was promising in explaining 52% of the variance of the purchase intention. The study confirmed both the positive impacts of the long-lasting unsafe food issues and the short-term animal disease outbreak on intention toward traceable food. To promote traceable food, industry food marketers should tailor their marketing and communication strategies to target healthy and responsible eaters.