Buying Organic Food Products: The Role of Trust in the Theory of Planned Behavior

“Many studies within the food consumption literature have assumed the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) (Ajzen, 1991) as their theoretical reference for investigating the psychosocial factors that explain consumers’ intentions and behaviors.”

“50 (Fornell and Larcker, 1981); furthermore, the AVE of each construct was higher than the squared correlations among the constructs, indicating good convergent and discriminant validity.”

“Additionally, marketers should design marketing campaigns focused on the personal advantages of organic food consumption, such as health benefits (Kushwah et al., 2019), and on facilitating the perception of control, thus supporting individuals in overcoming obstacles and barriers (e.g., the cost…”

“…of fields, such as those concerning health behaviors (McEachan et al., 2016), healthy eating (Riebl et al., 2015), pro-environmental behaviors (Klöckner, 2013), and organic food consumption (Scalco et al., 2017), and its predictive power has been demonstrated in a number of meta-analyses like…”

“…of the concept of trust: (a) the expectation that the counterpart will act in a reliable and not harmful manner and (b) the intention to rely on the counterpart, at the same time as accepting some degree of vulnerability (e.g., uncertainty, risk of being frustrated) (Singh and Sirdeshmukh, 2000).”

“The lack of consumer trust in green products can act as a barrier to green consumption (Joshi and Rahman, 2015); vice versa, uncritical trust in the “organic food” category or label may leave consumers”

“This confidence in significant others and their beliefs can be expected to play a role in determining the subjective norms; in fact individuals will be more willing to comply with the important referents (Wu and Chen, 2005).”

“In fact, trust is a behavioral determinant whose nature may be relevant for all the TPB constructs: attitude, subjective norm and PBC (Mazzocchi et al., 2008).”

“Some studies considered trust as an additional predictor of the intention to buy eco-friendly food (e.g., Menozzi et al., 2015; Giampietri et al., 2018; Carfora et al., 2019) and found that trust was a significant antecedent of intention, explaining additional quotas of intention variance with…”

“Indeed, most recent claims in the literature have advocated the need to focus on actual choice behavior along with behavioral intentions because behavioral intentions alone may not represent actual purchase behavior accurately (Yadav and Pathak, 2016a).”

“On the other hand, in the second study, fruit and vegetables were chosen because they represent, since 2000, the largest portion of the Italian organic food market, and the demand for them is growing rapidly (Saba and Messina, 2003; Ricci et al., 2018).”

“…a growing interest has also emerged in recent years among scholars from other geographical areas, such as the Far East, Iran, China, and India (e.g., Teng and Wang, 2015; Yazdanpanah and Forouzani, 2015; Yadav and Pathak, 2016a,b, 2017; Nuttavuthisit and Thøgersen, 2017; Qi and Ploeger, 2019).”

“Some studies considered trust as an additional predictor of the intention to buy eco-friendly food (e.g., Menozzi et al., 2015; Giampietri et al., 2018; Carfora et al., 2019) and found that trust was a significant antecedent of intention, explaining additional quotas of intention variance with respect to the classical…”

“Trust in Organic Food Three items derived from the literature were adopted (Giampietri et al., 2018): “I perceive organic food to be reliable,” “I trust in organic food products,” and “I trust in purchasing organic food products.”

“…has analyzed the relationships between trust, subjective norm, and PBC, but some studies in the transport literature (e.g., Hsiao and Yang, 2010; Madha et al., 2016; Borhan et al., 2017; Ibrahim et al., 2020) and on on-line transactions (e.g., Wu and Chen, 2005) highlighted that trust via…”

“These quotas are similar to those reported by Carfora et al. (2019) and slightly lower than that published by Qi and Ploeger (2019).”

“In some cases, PBC had a significant impact on the intention to buy organic food (e.g., Zagata, 2012; Maichum et al., 2016; Yadav and Pathak, 2016a,b; Carfora et al., 2019; Wang et al., 2019; Fleşeriu et al., 2020); in others, the effect was not significant (e.g., Al-Swidi et al., 2014;…”

“The most effective ways to reduce the environmental impact of food consumption from the consumer perspective are the refusal of air-transported food, the preference for organic food, and the reduction in meat consumption (Jungbluth et al., 2000).”

“…a significant impact on the intention to buy organic food (e.g., Zagata, 2012; Maichum et al., 2016; Yadav and Pathak, 2016a,b; Carfora et al., 2019; Wang et al., 2019; Fleşeriu et al., 2020); in others, the effect was not significant (e.g., Al-Swidi et al., 2014; Yazdanpanah and Forouzani, 2015).”

“On the other hand, in the second study, fruit and vegetables were chosen because they represent, since 2000, the largest portion of the Italian organic food market, and the demand for them is growing rapidly (Saba and Messina, 2003; Ricci et al., 2018).”

“The TPB has been applied successfully in a wide range of fields, such as those concerning health behaviors (McEachan et al., 2016), healthy eating (Riebl et al., 2015), pro-environmental behaviors (Klöckner, 2013), and organic food consumption (Scalco et al., 2017), and its predictive power has…”

“In some cases, PBC had a significant impact on the intention to buy organic food (e.g., Zagata, 2012; Maichum et al., 2016; Yadav and Pathak, 2016a,b; Carfora et al., 2019; Wang et al., 2019; Fleşeriu et al., 2020); in others, the effect was not significant (e.”

“, age, sex, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, education, personality, past experiences) to act as sources of potential influence on the beliefs people hold (de Leeuw et al., 2015; Hagger and Hamilton, 2020).”

“As we stated in the Introduction, it is important to remember that trust may serve as a “shortcut” when, as in the case of organic food, consumers have limited information about and exposure to the production or preparation of these products, and when direct relationships with food producers are rare (Hartmann et al.,…”

“To the best of our knowledge, no study in the field of organic food choice has analyzed the relationships between trust, subjective norm, and PBC, but some studies in the transport literature (e.g., Hsiao and Yang, 2010; Madha et al., 2016; Borhan et al., 2017; Ibrahim et al., 2020) and on on-line transactions (e.”

“Measures The questionnaires presented measures of TPB constructs adapted from those already used in previous studies in the Italian context (Canova and Manganelli, 2016; Canova et al., 2020).”

“To the best of our knowledge, no study in the field of organic food choice has analyzed the relationships between trust, subjective norm, and PBC, but some studies in the transport literature (e.g., Hsiao and Yang, 2010; Madha et al., 2016; Borhan et al., 2017; Ibrahim et al., 2020) and on on-line transactions (e.”

“Since any kind of organic food can be seen as reliable, consumers’ trust in organic food may be largely based only on the intrinsic value of the “organic” label (Ayyub et al., 2018).”

“In some cases, PBC had a significant impact on the intention to buy organic food (e.g., Zagata, 2012; Maichum et al., 2016; Yadav and Pathak, 2016a,b; Carfora et al., 2019; Wang et al., 2019; Fleşeriu et al., 2020); in others, the effect was not significant (e.g., Al-Swidi et al., 2014;…”

“In fact, trust is a behavioral determinant whose nature may be relevant for all the TPB constructs: attitude, subjective norm and PBC (Mazzocchi et al., 2008).”

“[27] Buying organic food products Trust in organic food, attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavior control Behavior, intention”

“Intention considers both stimuli and cognitive planning and is the predecessor of behaviour (Canova et al., 2020).”

“The potential for an enhanced inclination toward acquiring environmentally friendly items has been suggested as a factor that might contribute to an increase in the adoption of such products (Canova et al., 2020; Chen et al., 2022; Wang and Li, 2022).”