Consumers’ Purchase Intentions towards Water Buffalo Milk Products (WBMPs) in the Greater Area of Thessaloniki, Greece

Abstract

Over the last decade, water buffalo population in Greece in spite of its small s ize, has been increasing significantly. Furthermore, the consumption of water buffalo milk products (WBMPs) has been ris ing, due to a large extent to the full taste and the health benefits of these products. This paper investigates the consumers’ purchasing intentions towards WBMPs in the greater area of Thessaloniki, Greece, based on the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). According to the TPB theory, a) attitude towards the behavior, b) subjective norms and c) perceived behavioral control, jointly influence the intention to a specific behavior. Furthermore, the stronger the intention, the more likely the expected behavior is. In this paper we propose a model of behavioral intention based on the TPB theory and we investigate the impact of behavioral and normative beliefs on the WBMPs purchasing intention of consumers in the greater area of Thessaloniki, Greece. More specifically, we have examined consumers’ knowledge, nutritional benefits, general attitudes and social contacts. The quantitative analytical approach is used to test the above model and hypotheses, based on empirical data gathered from 247 questionnaires. The find ings indicate that, product knowledge, nutritional benefits, attitudes and social contacts positively affect WBMPs purchasing intention of residents in the greater area of Thessaloniki, as argued in the TPB model. The study reveals that the factors which are found to positively influence the intention to purchase WBMPs are similar to the ones that affect dairy milk purchase intention.