Il consumo etico dei prodotti alimentari biologici: il ruolo delle norme morali

The aim of the present study is to investigate the intention to buy organic food products and, specifically, to understand moral considerations which underlie the purchase of these products in comparison with non-organic food products. The Theory of Planned Behavior (tpb, Ajzen 1991), which considers Attitudes (att) - the individual level of favorable or unfavorable propensity towards the behavior observed - Subjective Norm (sn) - the level of social pressure which people who are considered important exert on individuals - and Perceived Behavioral Control (pbc) - the individual perception of the degree of ease or difficulty required to adopt a specific behavior - has been extended to Moral Norms (mn) - personal beliefs regarding what is right or wrong (Parker, Manstead and Stradling 1995) - and to Self-Identity (si) - relatively stable characteristics that individuals attribute to themselves (Sparks and Guhtrie 1998). Results show that att, sn, mn and si have a direct influence on the intention to buy organic food products, and, furthermore, mn have an effect on moderator variables, specifically, att, sn and si.