Explaining Chinese Consumers’ Green Food Purchase Intentions during the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Extended Theory of Planned Behaviour

“Note: * Source from Bagozzi and Yi [57]; GFI, goodness-of-fit index; NFI, normative fit index; TLI, Tucker–Lewis index; CFI, comparative fit index; IFI, incremental fit index; RMSEA, root mean square error approximation.”

“A possible explanation of this incongruence is due to the unstable, poor predictive power of subjective norms, and variation in different contexts [60,61], especially regarding organic and green food purchases [32,39].”

“Moral attitude refers to a person’s self-evaluation resulting from their expected compliance with their moral principles [37].”

“Moreover, some nonnegligible limitations of applying TPB exist, and therefore, various refinements and extensions of TPB theory have been suggested to improve its effectiveness and applicability [20,21].”

“[54] PBC2 I have all resources for buying green food.”

“In March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced the outbreak of the highly transmittable Coronavirus (COVID-19) as a pandemic [1], which is considered to be the third pandemic in the 21st century [2].”

“In addition, the values of factors loading for all variables ranged from 0.719 to 0.944 and exceeded the acceptable value of 0.6 [58].”

“[55] MA2 If I purchase green food rather than non-green food, it feels like I’m doing the morally right thing.”

“This result is consistent with former studies [19,27–29] involving environmentally friendly food products.”

“In the extended model, the analysed results supported findings from studies involving the purchase of environmentally friendly food products [27,39] and demonstrated that consumers’ moral attitude towards green food is a significant positive driver of intentional purchases.”

“Subjective norm also reveals the individuals’ beliefs about how their reference groups would view them if they perform a certain behaviour [28].”

“According to Paul and Rana [42], people who are more concerned about their health have frequent positive attitudes towards buying organic products since they are commonly considered as a healthier choice, compared to conventionally grown food varieties [24,43].”

“Health consciousness is defined as ‘the degree to which health concerns are integrated into a person’s daily activities’ [40], which reveals a person’s willingness to conduct health behaviours [41].”

“According to Paul and Rana [42], people who are more concerned about their health have frequent positive attitudes towards buying organic products since they are commonly considered as a healthier choice, compared to conventionally grown food varieties [24,43].”

“Previous research indicated that subjective norm is a positive driver of consumers’ behavioural intentions to indulge in their food choices [31,32].”

“According to Scalco et al. [30], the most important social influences related to consumers’ environmentally friendly food purchases are from their families, friends, colleagues, and other reference groups.”

“Although the situation is expected to improve in the next several years, the COVID-19 pandemic undoubtedly has widespread effects on society and consumers, hinting towards the dynamic changes in the market [3,4].”

“Studies from Yadav and Pathak [27] and Carfora et al. [36] have confirmed that the most significant impact of PBC on consumers’ buying intentions towards organic food products is mainly due to unavailability issues.”

“Moreover, the latest studies [8,50] reported that the COVID-19 pandemic could lead people’s behaviours and lifestyles towards a sustainable and healthier direction.”

“This result is consistent with former studies [19,27–29] involving environmentally friendly food products.”

“As expected, health consciousness emerges as one significant driver of green food purchase intention as well, which correlates with previous findings that the consumers’ health concern is one of the primary determinants influencing their environmentally friendly food behavioural intentions [62–64].”

“Meanwhile, many Chinese families pay increasing attention to their health, quality lifestyles, environmental protection, and food security, and prefer to consume safe and green food products [15,16].”

“Previous studies highlight PBC as a salient factor of intention during sustainable food consumption [34,35].”

“Moral attitude is considered another salient behavioural factor in purchasing environmentally friendly food products since these behaviours are commonly perceived as pro-environmental actions [23].”

“Many studies have found health consciousness as a significant motivator for consumer decisions towards environmentally friendly food products [44–47] and a crucial factor that strongly influences consumers’ willingness to pay for premium products [48].”

“[53] AT2 I believe buying green food is pleasant.”

“The ongoing coronavirus pandemic crisis has caused a severe global health emergency and, consequently, has led to a shift in food systems as well as the way people purchase and consume their food [49].”

“Lastly, the emergence of the pandemic has strongly affected the global food systems, such as a collapse in a growing demand for global agri-food products, the severe disruptions of domestic and international food supply chains, the shortage of labour for food production enterprises, and the shifting consumption patter…”

“Many studies have found health consciousness as a significant motivator for consumer decisions towards environmentally friendly food products [44–47] and a crucial factor that strongly influences consumers’ willingness to pay for premium products [48].”

“Moreover, recent studies that investigated the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on food consumption show that many consumers have been increasingly concerned about the health aspects [7–9].”

“…has strongly affected the global food systems, such as a collapse in a growing demand for global agri-food products, the severe disruptions of domestic and international food supply chains, the shortage of labour for food production enterprises, and the shifting consumption pattern [8,25,26].”

“However, other scholars [19,33] argue the efficacy of subjective norm in explaining consumer food choices and agree that more examinations into the role of the subjective norm are needed.”

“Thus, they perceive a sense of responsibility for their purchases and look for opportunities to fulfil them [29,38].”

“Lastly, the emergence of the pandemic has strongly affected the global food systems, such as a collapse in a growing demand for global agri-food products, the severe disruptions of domestic and international food supply chains, the shortage of labour for food production enterprises, and the shifting consumption patter…”

“PBC is also an important aspect that is directly associated with consumers’ green food purchase intentions, which conforms with conclusions of previous studies [19,34,59].”

“Some studies have found that there has been increased consumption of unhealthy food during the initial ‘lockdown’ period [5,6].”

“Thirdly, recent studies [66–68] have reported that there is an increasing need from consumers to receive food information services.”

“Many studies have found health consciousness as a significant motivator for consumer decisions towards environmentally friendly food products [44–47] and a crucial factor that strongly influences consumers’ willingness to pay for premium products [48].”

“A possible explanation of this incongruence is due to the unstable, poor predictive power of subjective norms, and variation in different contexts [60,61], especially regarding organic and green food purchases [32,39].”

“As expected, health consciousness emerges as one significant driver of green food purchase intention as well, which correlates with previous findings that the consumers’ health concern is one of the primary determinants influencing their environmentally friendly food behavioural intentions [62–64].”

“Previous research indicated that subjective norm is a positive driver of consumers’ behavioural intentions to indulge in their food choices [31,32].”

“Moreover, recent studies that investigated the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on food consumption show that many consumers have been increasingly concerned about the health aspects [7–9].”

“Some studies have found that there has been increased consumption of unhealthy food during the initial ‘lockdown’ period [5,6].”

“The pandemic has greatly increased an individual’s safety and health concerns, and people are increasingly focused on health benefits, which also supports findings from Meixner and Katt [3].”

“Moreover, some nonnegligible limitations of applying TPB exist, and therefore, various refinements and extensions of TPB theory have been suggested to improve its effectiveness and applicability [20,21].”

“According to Paul and Rana [42], people who are more concerned about their health have frequent positive attitudes towards buying organic products since they are commonly considered as a healthier choice, compared to conventionally grown food varieties [24,43].”

“The theory of planned behaviour (TPB), proposed by Ajzen [17], is one of the most widely used theories predicting consumers’ purchase intentions of environmentally friendly food products [18,19].”

“Meanwhile, many Chinese families pay increasing attention to their health, quality lifestyles, environmental protection, and food security, and prefer to consume safe and green food products [15,16].”

“PBC is also an important aspect that is directly associated with consumers’ green food purchase intentions, which conforms with conclusions of previous studies [19,34,59].”

“It is necessary to use multidisciplinary approaches for better understanding consumers’ food preferences and acceptances in different contexts and eating scenarios [22].”

“Thirdly, recent studies [66–68] have reported that there is an increasing need from consumers to receive food information services.”

“As noted in the previous section, other studies have questioned the predictive power of both subjective norms [12,22,27] and perceived behavioral control [12,25,27].”