Structural Equation Model for Exploring the Key Drivers of Consumer Behavior towards Environmentally Conscious Organic Food Purchasing in Japan

Masuda Begum Sampa, Hisako Nomura, Mitsuyasu Yabe, Nor Hidayati Abdul Aziz and Nor Azlina Ab. Aziz ()
Additional contact information
Masuda Begum Sampa: Graduate School of Bioresource and Bioenvironmental Science, Kyushu University, Hakozaki 6-10-1, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka 812-8581, Japan
Hisako Nomura: Graduate School of Bioresource and Bioenvironmental Science, Kyushu University, Hakozaki 6-10-1, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka 812-8581, Japan
Mitsuyasu Yabe: Graduate School of Bioresource and Bioenvironmental Science, Kyushu University, Hakozaki 6-10-1, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka 812-8581, Japan
Nor Hidayati Abdul Aziz: Centre for Engineering Computational Intelligence, Faculty of Engineering & Technology, Multimedia University, Melaka 75450, Malaysia
Nor Azlina Ab. Aziz: Centre for Engineering Computational Intelligence, Faculty of Engineering & Technology, Multimedia University, Melaka 75450, Malaysia

Sustainability, 2024, vol. 16, issue 7, 1-16

Abstract: This study investigates the influence of psychological factors and socio-demographic characteristics on the actual purchase of organic foods based on environmental consciousness. The theory of reasoned action and Hirose’s two-phase decision-making model act as the major informers to develop the research hypotheses. Through an online questionnaire survey, responses were collected from a sample of 275 Japanese consumers who bought organic foods based on environmental consciousness at least once. Structural equation modeling is used to analyze the data. This study shows that the key to promoting actual purchase lies in three factors: social norm, past experience, and willingness to pay (WTP). Attitude towards actual purchase negatively influenced actual purchase, and environmental awareness was the determinant for attitude towards actual purchase but not for actual purchase. Thus, only increasing environmental awareness is not enough to increase the actual purchase. Moreover, we could increase the actual purchase by making an effort to reduce the feelings of the unaffordability and inconvenience of organic foods, which also negatively influence WTP and negatively and indirectly influence actual purchase. This study finds that the behavior execution process is the main driving force influencing actual purchase rather than the attitude development process in terms of psychological factors behind organic food consumption based on environmental consciousness.

Keywords: structural equation modeling; environmental consciousness; organic food; actual purchase; psychological factors; Japan (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/7/2862/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/7/2862/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:7:p:2862-:d:1366562

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().