What drives Malaysian consumers’ organic food purchase intention? The role of moral norm, self-identity, environmental concern and price consciousness

TLDR

The study investigates how attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, moral norm, self‑identity, and environmental concern influence Malaysian consumers’ intention to purchase organic food, extending the theory of planned behaviour to a non‑Western context. Data from 246 organic‑food consumers were collected via judgmental sampling and analyzed with partial least squares structural equation modeling to assess the relationships among the constructs. Results show that all six constructs positively affect purchase intention, which mediates their impact on purchase behavior, and that price consciousness moderates the intention‑to‑behavior link, thereby enhancing the predictive power of the expanded theory.

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors that may affect consumer intention and behaviour to purchase organic food in a non-western context. Design/methodology/approach Responses were obtained from 246 organic food consumers using judgemental sampling. Data were analysed using partial least squares–structural equation modelling to examine the strength of the relationships among the constructs. Findings The findings reveal that attitude, subjective norm (SN), perceived behavioural control, moral norm (MN), self-identity (SI) and environmental concern (EC) exert significant positive effect on purchase intention (PI). Furthermore, PI is found to mediate the relationship among attitude, SN, perceived behavioural control, MN, SI and EC with purchase behaviour (PB). Moreover, the findings indicate that price consciousness moderates the relationship between PI and PB. Research limitations/implications The results of this study emphasised that marketers need to implement various marketing strategies including discount, advertisements and new product development to bring positive change in consumers’ intention and to attract them towards purchasing organic food. Moreover, marketers may take some initiatives to reduce the price of organic food through various strategies which eventually can reduce the cost of organic foods for local consumers. Originality/value This study extends the theory of planned behaviour (TBP) by incorporating MN, SI and EC. The expanded theoretical framework improved the predictive ability of the TBP.