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When Consumers are in Doubt, You Better Watch Out! The Moderating Role of consumer Skepticism and Subjective Knowledge in the Context of Organic Food Consumption

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  • Merima Èinjareviæ Emir Agiæ Almir Peštek

    (School of Economics and Business, University of Sarajevo, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. School of Economics and Business, University of Sarajevo, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. School of Economics and Business, University of Sarajevo, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.)

Abstract

Despite numerous scholarly attempts, there is a lack of consensus regarding the relevance of various factors influencing consumer’s intention to purchase organic food. The purpose of this study is to assess the impact of subjective and personal norms on consumer attitude toward buying organic food. Moreover, this study aims to explore the moderating role of contextual factors - product knowledge and consumer scepticism on the norms- attitude link. Data were collected through an online survey on a sample of 212 organic food buyers in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Moderated regression analysis was used to test the hypothesized relations between the constructs of interest. Findings indicate the subjective and personal norms are positively and significantly related to consumer attitude toward organic food purchases. Also, our findings revealed that product knowledge strengthens the subjective norms-attitude relationship, while consumer scepticism toward organic food claims weakens the subjective norms-attitude link. This study informs producers, marketers, and policy-makers about the relative importance of norms, scepticism, and knowledge in the context of organic food consumption. JEL Classification: M31

Suggested Citation

  • Merima Èinjareviæ Emir Agiæ Almir Peštek, 2018. "When Consumers are in Doubt, You Better Watch Out! The Moderating Role of consumer Skepticism and Subjective Knowledge in the Context of Organic Food Consumption," Zagreb International Review of Economics and Business, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Zagreb, vol. 21(SCI), pages 1-14, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:zag:zirebs:v:21:y:2018:i:sci:p:1-14
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Skarmeas, Dionysis & Leonidou, Constantinos N., 2013. "When consumers doubt, Watch out! The role of CSR skepticism," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 66(10), pages 1831-1838.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Subjective norms; Personal norms; Consumer skepticism; Subjective knowledge; Organic food;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • M31 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Marketing and Advertising - - - Marketing

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