IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v15y2018i7p1431-d156707.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

To Buy or Not to Buy? Consumer Attitudes and Purchase Intentions for Suboptimal Food

Author

Listed:
  • Song-Lin Wong

    (Department of Nutrition, Chung Shan Medical University, No. 110, Sec. 1, Jianguo N. Rd., Taichung City 40201, Taiwan)

  • Cheng-Chin Hsu

    (Department of Nutrition, Chung Shan Medical University, No. 110, Sec. 1, Jianguo N. Rd., Taichung City 40201, Taiwan)

  • Han-Shen Chen

    (Department of Health Diet and Industry Management, Chung Shan Medical University, No. 110, Sec. 1, Jianguo N. Rd., Taichung City 40201, Taiwan
    Department of Medical Management, Chung Shan Medical University Hospital, No. 110, Sec. 1, Jianguo N. Rd., Taichung City 40201, Taiwan)

Abstract

Food system and food safety have drawn spontaneous global attention due to the effect of substantial environmental concerns. Three billion tons of food are wasted every year, estimated as being a third of all produced food. The production of much of this waste is directly linked to the unwillingness to sell, purchase, and consume suboptimal food that have deviated from regular products in terms of appearance standards, date labeling, or damaged packaging. Yet empirical research on this issue is scarce. This study aims to develop an extended Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) research model, which includes environmental concern and sensory appeal to predict consumers’ purchase intention to suboptimal foods. A total of 539 respondents collected in Taiwan as data input. The empirical results of structural equation modeling (SEM) indicate that consumers’ attitude was the main predictor of their intention to purchase suboptimal foods. Interestingly, this research showed that both perceived behavioral control and subjective norms were not significant predictors of intention. Furthermore, adding environmental concern and sensory appeal as the additional constructs to the TPB significantly increased the explanatory power of the standard model. These findings provide important insights for suboptimal food and useful recommendations for marketing channels, suggesting that promotion of suboptimal food may be the key to potential business.

Suggested Citation

  • Song-Lin Wong & Cheng-Chin Hsu & Han-Shen Chen, 2018. "To Buy or Not to Buy? Consumer Attitudes and Purchase Intentions for Suboptimal Food," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-13, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:15:y:2018:i:7:p:1431-:d:156707
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/15/7/1431/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/15/7/1431/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ajzen, Icek, 1991. "The theory of planned behavior," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 50(2), pages 179-211, December.
    2. Guibo Sun & Ransford A. Acheampong & Hui Lin & Vivian C. Pun, 2015. "Understanding Walking Behavior among University Students Using Theory of Planned Behavior," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-13, October.
    3. Dongliang Zhang & Guangqing Huang & Xiaoling Yin & Qinghua Gong, 2015. "Residents’ Waste Separation Behaviors at the Source: Using SEM with the Theory of Planned Behavior in Guangzhou, China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-17, August.
    4. Yazdanpanah, Masoud & Komendantova, Nadejda & Ardestani, Roshanak Shafiei, 2015. "Governance of energy transition in Iran: Investigating public acceptance and willingness to use renewable energy sources through socio-psychological model," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 565-573.
    5. Han, Heesup & Hsu, Li-Tzang (Jane) & Sheu, Chwen, 2010. "Application of the Theory of Planned Behavior to green hotel choice: Testing the effect of environmental friendly activities," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 31(3), pages 325-334.
    6. Lars E. Olsson & Jana Huck & Margareta Friman, 2018. "Intention for Car Use Reduction: Applying a Stage-Based Model," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-14, January.
    7. Roberts, James A. & Bacon, Donald R., 1997. "Exploring the Subtle Relationships between Environmental Concern and Ecologically Conscious Consumer Behavior," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 79-89, September.
    8. Smith, Samantha & Paladino, Angela, 2010. "Eating clean and green? Investigating consumer motivations towards the purchase of organic food," Australasian marketing journal, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 93-104.
    9. Wynne W. Chin & Abhijit Gopal & W. David Salisbury, 1997. "Advancing the Theory of Adaptive Structuration: The Development of a Scale to Measure Faithfulness of Appropriation," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 8(4), pages 342-367, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Pedro Cuesta-Valiño & Pablo Gutiérrez Rodríguez & Estela Núñez-Barriopedro, 2020. "Perception of Advertisements for Healthy Food on Social Media: Effect of Attitude on Consumers’ Response," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(18), pages 1-20, September.
    2. Hafiza Sobia Tufail & Rana Muhammad Shahid Yaqub & Amnah Mohammed Alsuhaibani & Sidra Ramzan & Ahmad Usman Shahid & Moamen S. Refat, 2022. "Consumers’ Purchase Intention of Suboptimal Food Using Behavioral Reasoning Theory: A Food Waste Reduction Strategy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-14, July.
    3. Luigi Cembalo & Daniela Caso & Valentina Carfora & Francesco Caracciolo & Alessia Lombardi & Gianni Cicia, 2019. "The “Land of Fires” Toxic Waste Scandal and Its Effect on Consumer Food Choices," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(1), pages 1-14, January.
    4. Viktorija Grigaliūnaitė & Aušra Pažėraitė & Mantautas Račkauskas, 2023. "Save Myself or Others? The Influence of Attitude toward FMCG Products from Recycled Material on the Intention to Buy Them: Hidden Motives and the Role of Income," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(15), pages 1-17, July.
    5. Xiuting Wang & Idrees Waris & Muhammad Yaseen Bhutto & Haowei Sun & Irfan Hameed, 2022. "Green Initiatives and Environmental Concern Foster Environmental Sustainability: A Study Based on the Use of Reusable Drink Cups," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(15), pages 1-16, July.
    6. Hsiao-Ping Chang & Chun-Chieh Ma & Han-Shen Chen, 2020. "The Impacts of Young Consumers’ Health Values on Functional Beverages Purchase Intentions," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(10), pages 1-12, May.
    7. Yen-Lun Su & Pongsakorn Ngamsom & Jen-Hung Wang, 2023. "Factors Affecting Taiwanese Consumers’ Intention to Purchase Abnormally Shaped Produce," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-13, May.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Edwin Chukwuemeka Idoko & Chukwunonso Oraedu & Christian Chidera Ugwuanyi & Stephen Ikechukwu Ukenna, 2021. "Determinants of Smart Meter on Sustainable Energy Consumption Behavior: A Developing Country Perspective," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(3), pages 21582440211, July.
    2. Nketiah, Emmanuel & Song, Huaming & Cai, Xiang & Adjei, Mavis & Adu-Gyamfi, Gibbson & Obuobi, Bright, 2022. "Citizens’ intention to invest in municipal solid waste to energy projects in Ghana: The impact of direct and indirect effects," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 254(PC).
    3. Nketiah, Emmanuel & Song, Huaming & Obuobi, Bright & Adu-Gyamfi, Gibbson & Adjei, Mavis & Cudjoe, Dan, 2022. "Citizens' willingness to pay for local anaerobic digestion energy: The influence of altruistic value and knowledge," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 260(C).
    4. Chuanhui Liao & Hui Li, 2019. "Environmental Education, Knowledge, and High School Students’ Intention toward Separation of Solid Waste on Campus," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(9), pages 1-15, May.
    5. Chung-Te Ting & Chi-Ming Hsieh & Hsiao-Ping Chang & Han-Shen Chen, 2019. "Environmental Consciousness and Green Customer Behavior: The Moderating Roles of Incentive Mechanisms," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-16, February.
    6. Mohd Sadiq & Mohd Adil & Justin Paul, 2021. "Does social influence turn pessimistic consumers green?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(7), pages 2937-2950, November.
    7. Emel Yarimoglu & Tugrul Gunay, 2020. "The extended theory of planned behavior in Turkish customers' intentions to visit green hotels," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(3), pages 1097-1108, March.
    8. Yadav, Rambalak, 2016. "Altruistic or egoistic: Which value promotes organic food consumption among young consumers? A study in the context of a developing nation," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 92-97.
    9. Shimiao Li & Nor Siah Jaharuddin, 2020. "Identifying the key purchase factors for organic food among Chinese consumers," Frontiers of Business Research in China, Springer, vol. 14(1), pages 1-23, December.
    10. Arun Kumar & Mrinalini Pandey, 2023. "Social Media and Impact of Altruistic Motivation, Egoistic Motivation, Subjective Norms, and EWOM toward Green Consumption Behavior: An Empirical Investigation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-16, February.
    11. Abdullah Al Mamun & Kanniga Malar Mohan & Noorshella Che Nawi & Muhammad Mehedi Masud & Rajennd Muniady & Noor Raihani Zainol, 2020. "Environmentally Friendly Business Practices among Low-Income Households in Rural Peninsular Malaysia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(18), pages 1-18, September.
    12. Boobalan, Kirubaharan & Nachimuthu, Geetha Sulur, 2020. "Organic consumerism: A comparison between India and the USA," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).
    13. Alsalem, Amani & Fry, Marie-Louise & Thaichon, Park, 2020. "To donate or to waste it: Understanding posthumous organ donation attitude," Australasian marketing journal, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 87-97.
    14. Heesup Han & Myong Jae Lee & Wansoo Kim, 2018. "Antecedents of Green Loyalty in the Cruise Industry: Sustainable Development and Environmental Management," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(3), pages 323-335, March.
    15. Bo-Kyeong Kim & Kyoung-Ok Kim, 2020. "Relationship between Viewing Motivation, Presence, Viewing Satisfaction, and Attitude toward Tourism Destinations Based on TV Travel Reality Variety Programs," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-13, June.
    16. Chen, Shih-Chih & Hung, Chung-Wen, 2016. "Elucidating the factors influencing the acceptance of green products: An extension of theory of planned behavior," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 155-163.
    17. Hsu, Chia-Lin & Chang, Chi-Ya & Yansritakul, Chutinart, 2017. "Exploring purchase intention of green skincare products using the theory of planned behavior: Testing the moderating effects of country of origin and price sensitivity," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 145-152.
    18. Dang Vu, Hoai Nam & Nielsen, Martin Reinhardt, 2022. "Understanding determinants of the intention to buy rhino horn in Vietnam through the Theory of Planned Behaviour and the Theory of Interpersonal Behaviour," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 195(C).
    19. Han, Heesup & Hyun, Sunghyup Sean, 2018. "What influences water conservation and towel reuse practices of hotel guests?," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 87-97.
    20. Charalampia N. Anastasiou & Kiriaki M. Keramitsoglou & Nikos Kalogeras & Maria I. Tsagkaraki & Ioanna Kalatzi & Konstantinos P. Tsagarakis, 2017. "Can the “Euro-Leaf” Logo Affect Consumers’ Willingness-To-Buy and Willingness-To-Pay for Organic Food and Attract Consumers’ Preferences? An Empirical Study in Greece," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(8), pages 1-17, August.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:15:y:2018:i:7:p:1431-:d:156707. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.