Title: The organic food purchasing behaviour: the verification of explanatory power of the theory of reasoned action

Authors: Mateja Žibret; Mihael Kline

Addresses: Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana, Kardeljeva ploščad 5, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia ' Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana, Kardeljeva ploščad 5, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia

Abstract: Applying the structural equation modelling, the explanatory power of the theory of reasoned action is used to study the Slovenian organic food consumers' purchasing behaviour. Despite many modifications of the original theory, which are presented in the existing literature, this paper focuses on the relationships between its four original variables: attitudes, subjective norms, intention and behaviour. Organic food studies commonly examine the relationship between intention and its relationships with different social cognitive determinants while assuming that intention is a good predictor of consumer behaviour. Additionally, this paper further investigates its relationship with consumers' self-reported purchasing behaviour, namely the volume of different organic food product categories. The results indicate that both attitudes and subjective norms have a good impact on consumers' intention to purchase organic food and act responsibly which has a further significant effect on organic food purchasing behaviour.

Keywords: theory of reasoned action; organic food; attitudes; subjective norms; intention to purchase; purchasing behaviour; structural equation modelling; SEM; Slovenia; consumer behaviour.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSE.2016.079440

International Journal of Sustainable Economy, 2016 Vol.8 No.4, pp.324 - 341

Received: 17 Dec 2015
Accepted: 04 Mar 2016
Published online: 28 Sep 2016 *

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