How does perceived severity of COVID-19 influence purchase intention of organic food?

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hong Wang ◽  
Baolong Ma ◽  
Dan Cudjoe ◽  
Rubing Bai ◽  
Muhammad Farrukh

PurposeThe COVID-19 outbreak has been rapidly spreading around the world for more than a year. However, few studies have explored the connection between the perceived severity of COVID-19 and purchase intention of the health-related products, for example, organic food. Based on the stimulus–organism–response (S-O-R) framework, this study examines the influencing mechanism of perceived severity of COVID-19 on purchase intention of organic food.Design/methodology/approachTo evaluate the proposed model, an online survey was utilized to collect 1,104 valid questionnaires from China.FindingsThe findings suggest that (1) the perceived severity of COVID-19 has a significant positive impact on purchasing intention; (2) health consciousness acts as a mediating role between perceived severity of COVID-19 and purchasing intention and (3) perceived inconvenience negatively moderates the connection between perceived severity and purchase intention.Originality/valueThe findings of this paper provide new insights into the positive effects of COVID-19 and pave the way for governments and enterprises to promote the purchase behaviour of organic food.

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mo Li ◽  
Hong-Jing Cui

PurposeThis paper aims to examine the effect of face consciousness on purchase intention of organic food, to test whether this relationship would be moderated by purchase situation (group vs individual) and advertising appeal (altruistic vs egoistic), and to explain the mediating role of perceived social value in these moderating effects.Design/methodology/approachFour between-subjects experiments were carried out (N = 123, N = 126, N = 130, N = 123) by using online questionnaires. Measured variables were introduced to assess participants' face consciousness, perceived social value and purchase intention. Two manipulated between-subjects variable were introduced to test how purchase situation (group vs individual) and advertising appeal (altruistic vs egoistic) moderates the relationship between face consciousness and purchase intention of organic food. SPSS Statistics 24 was used for the analysis of all experimental data.FindingsConsumers with high face consciousness were more willing to buy organic food. Compared with the individual situation, face consciousness had a stronger impact on the purchase intention when the individual was in a group situation. Compared with egoistic appeals, face consciousness had a stronger impact on the purchase intention when the advertising appeal was altruistic. Perceived social value partly mediated the moderating effect of purchase situation and advertising appeal.Originality/valueThis study validates previous contributions on the effect of face consciousness on purchase intention of organic food and extends them by introducing two moderating variables. Additionally, it introduces perceived social value as a mediating variable to explain the mechanism of this effect.


2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 321-337 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shivendra Kumar Pandey ◽  
Arpita Khare

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to understand the effect of antecedents like environmental consciousness and cosmopolitanism (COS) on organic food purchase intention (OFPI) with the possible mediation of opinion seeking (OS) and opinion leadership (OL). Design/methodology/approach – A model drawn largely from environmental value–attitude–system model (Dembkowski and Hanmer-Lloyd, 1994) has been proposed and tested. Primary data from four cities across India were collected using a survey. Findings – COS was the primary factor determining purchase intention. A full mediation of OS behaviour was observed between environmental consciousness and OFPI. No effect of OL on OFPI could be established. Research limitations/implications – Because COS is positively affecting the organic food patronage and cosmopolitans are more likely to be socially responsible consumers, the organic food (OF) manufacturers should target brick and mortar stores in more cosmopolitan cities like Bangalore, Delhi, etc. The mediating role of OS has wider implications for marketers and advertisers both. In line with both theoretical underpinning (theory of planned behaviour), empirical studies (Chakrabarti and Baisya, 2009) and ours, it seems that the customer seeks credible information before purchasing organic food. The word-of-mouth and social media are recommended channels for similar reasons. The websites are a must for OF manufacturers because retailers may not provide adequate promotion/information of the products to the consumers. Practical implications – This study enables marketers in the field of OF domain to target the customers better. It also guides them to have a good integrated marketing communication to cater to the opinion-seeking phenomenon of consumers. Originality/value – The paper investigates the OFPI model better suited to urban cities in India. COS construct usage is a novelty of the paper as well as the mediation of opinion-seeking behaviour. Findings have value both for researchers and practitioners in the OF domain.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (22) ◽  
pp. 12795
Author(s):  
Mausam Budhathoki ◽  
Sujita Pandey

This study aims to segment Nepalese consumers based on the frequency of animal-based food intake and thereby the determinants of organic food purchasing behaviour to suggest possible marketing strategies for organic food suppliers. A face-to-face survey was conducted among Nepalese consumers (n = 527), underpinned by the theoretical framework, ‘theory of planned behaviour (TPB)’, and extended to include: knowledge, environmental concerns, health-consciousness, and background factors (socio-demographic and lifestyle characteristics). Three segments of consumer types were identified by employing k-means segmentation: All Low (n = 113), High Dairy (n = 246), and High Dairy and Meat (n = 168). A covariance-based structural equation modelling (CB-SEM) analysis indicated that perceived behavioural control (β = 0.438, p < 0.001) was the main predictor of organic food purchasing intention, followed by attitude (β = 0.302, p < 0.001), subjective norms (β = 0.300, p < 0.001), knowledge (β = 0.211, p < 0.001), and environmental concerns (β = 0.208, p < 0.001). Health-consciousness (β = −0.034, p = 0.374) showed no significant impact on organic food purchasing intention. Organic food purchasing intention had a strong positive impact on organic food purchasing behaviour. Socio-demographic and lifestyle characteristics were found to impact behavioural intention indirectly by their effects on attitude, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control, knowledge, and environmental concern. Income also had a direct impact on organic food purchasing behaviour. Further, consumers with a low intake of animal-based foods held positive attitudes towards organic food and had higher environmental concerns. The findings can be used to inform organic food producers and targeted marketing campaigns towards promoting organic food purchasing behaviour in Nepal and similar countries.


2018 ◽  
Vol 120 (7) ◽  
pp. 1561-1573 ◽  
Author(s):  
Faruk Anıl Konuk

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of health consciousness, environmental concern and customer innovativeness on pregnant women’s purchase intentions and willingness to pay (WTP) a premium for organic food.Design/methodology/approachIn order to collect data, a field study was conducted using administrated questionnaires from a convenience sample of pregnant women in Istanbul, Turkey. A structural equations model was used to test the proposed hypotheses.FindingsResults indicated positive effects of health consciousness, environmental concern and customer innovativeness on both purchase intentions and WTP a premium toward organic food. Specifically, it was found that health consciousness had the greatest influence on purchase intentions and WTP a premium.Originality/valueUnlike previous studies, this research focused on pregnant women and aimed to understand the role of health consciousness, environmental concerned and customer innovativeness on purchase intentions and WTP a premium for organic food.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wen-Kuei Wu ◽  
Hsiao-Chung Wu ◽  
Chih-Sung Lai

PurposeThis study aims to explore how a buyer's perceived buyer-seller (B-S) guanxi facets (i.e. ganqing, renqing and mianzi) and guanxi positions (i.e. zi-ji-ren, shou-ren and sheng-ren) affect the seller's influence effectiveness (SIE) and purchase intention (PI) in social commerce.Design/methodology/approachThis study conducted an online survey in three cities of Taiwan and collected a total of 364 data. The structural equation modeling and cluster analysis were used to test research hypotheses.FindingsThe results indicate that (1) each guanxi facet exerts a different and positive impact on SIE, but only one guanxi facet – renqing – helps improve PI, (2) guanxi facets can be used to predict the buyer's perceived guanxi position toward the seller, (3) the effect of guanxi facets on SIE and PI varies across B-S guanxi positions and (4) the SIE positively mediates effects of guanxi facets on the PI.Originality/valueThis study demonstrates the individual effect of each guanxi facet on SIE and PI and affirms the implicit guanxi position features guanxi facets and determines the buyer's perceived SIE and PI as well. To the best of our knowledge, these findings are rarely proposed in previous research and are beneficial for understanding the guanxi mechanism in social commerce.


2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 843-865
Author(s):  
Jin-Myong Lee ◽  
Hyo-Jung Kim

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to investigate the determinants of consumers' intention to adopt or continue to use Internet-only banks based on the benefit–risk framework and network externality theory. It also examines the difference in the determinants between pre- and postadoption stages of innovation.Design/methodology/approachThe proposed research model was tested by using online survey data collected from a South Korean sample, which was divided into two subgroups of 321 nonadopters and 351 existing users.FindingsIn both pre- and postadoption stages, the number of services provided and trust had a significant positive impact on consumers' behavioral intentions, while security risks had a negative impact. Critical mass in the preadoption stage and convenience and economic efficiency in the postadoption stage had positive effects on consumer's adoption intention and continuance intention, respectively.Practical implicationsInternet-only banks must reduce the security risks for consumers and increase their trust. In addition, to facilitate the adoption of nonadopters, focus should be on securing a critical mass; on the other hand, to promote the continued use of existing users, the focus should be on enhancing benefits such as convenience and economic efficiency.Originality/valueThe results of this study confirm the influence of network externalities on consumers' adoption and use of financial technology services and show differences in consumer decision-making according to the innovation diffusion process.


2020 ◽  
Vol 72 (4) ◽  
pp. 463-488
Author(s):  
Linlin Zhu ◽  
He Li ◽  
Feng-Kwei Wang ◽  
Wu He ◽  
Zejin Tian

PurposeThe relationship between online reviews and purchase intention has been studied in previous research. However, there was little knowledge about the effect of information quality and the social presence of online reviews on purchase intention based on the stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) framework. The purpose of this study is to explore the intrinsic relationship between the stimulus (perceived information quality and social presence) generated from online reviews and the response (purchase intention).Design/methodology/approachThis study developed a research model by applying the S-O-R framework to test the proposed hypotheses. A combination of a web-based experiment and an online survey was employed to collect data. Hypotheses were empirically tested using Smart PLS.FindingsThe PLS analysis shows that both perceived information quality and the social presence of online reviews positively affect trust. Moreover, satisfaction with online reviews affects purchase intention, whereas trust has a positive impact on satisfaction, playing a mediating role between two stimuli and satisfaction. Besides, perceived information quality of positive online reviews is found to have a more significant impact on trust, satisfaction and purchase intention.Originality/valueThe results of this study are of great value for expanding both theoretical research and practical applications of online reviews in relation to purchase intention. This study with a new research model reveals the understanding of how the purchase intention will be motivated by online reviews. Meanwhile, the moderating effects and the mediating effects are also discussed.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Elika Kordrostami ◽  
Melika Kordrostami

PurposeIn light of the recent shift in the US culture, this paper investigates the effectiveness of female sexual empowerment as ad appeal in the apparel industry.Design/methodology/approachStudy 1 aimed to understand consumers' reactions to female sexual empowerment in ads in terms of their attitudes toward the ad, attitudes toward the brand and purchase intention. Study 2 investigated the role of gender in perceptions of female sexual empowerment in ads.FindingsThis research establishes that consumers display positive attitudes toward female sexual empowerment in the apparel advertisement. These attitudes positively influence attitudes toward the brand, which in turn improve purchase intention. These effects are stronger for women than men.Research limitations/implicationsThis research borrows from social power theory to reveal the impact of female sexual empowerment in ads in the apparel industry. Based on the theory of planned behavior, the findings also show that female sexual empowerment can have a positive impact on purchase intention through a serial mediation of attitude toward the ad and brand.Practical implicationsMarketers need to be aware of the impact of female sexual empowerment as ad appeal. Specifically, firms in the apparel industry could benefit from the positive effects of incorporating female sexual empowerment in their campaigns.Originality/valueThis research is the first to investigate the role of female sexual empowerment as ad appeal in improving consumers' responses to ads.


2020 ◽  
Vol 48 (10) ◽  
pp. 1139-1154
Author(s):  
Yunjeong Kim ◽  
Yuri Lee

PurposeThe purpose of this study was to investigate whether consumers differ in their online or offline purchase intention, depending on which channel with price promotion information they are first exposed to, and to analyse the moderating role of brand trust.Design/methodology/approachOverall, 174 responses were obtained via an online survey using two contact channels (online/offline) by two levels of brand trust (high/low) between-subject designs.FindingsSpillover effects were found across channels when a consistent price promotion is executed in both online and offline channels, purchase intentions for cross-channel and contact channel increase simultaneously. Although there was a similar effect in the discrepancy of purchase intentions towards the cross-channel according to contact channels, it varied depending on brand trust. When brand trust is high, having contact with offline price-discount information has a large online spillover effect. When brand trust is low, the spillover effect from online to offline is large.Research limitations/implicationsThis study expands the multi-channel research by proving the spillover effects between channels and confirming the difference according to brand trust.Practical implicationsIncreasing promotion information for online contact is effective in driving offline visits for new brands, and the effective use of promotion information at offline stores can have a positive impact on online channels for well-known brands.Originality/valueThis study explores the cross-channel spillover effect of price promotion and proves that these effects depend on brand trust.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zapan Barua ◽  
Adita Barua

Purpose The COVID-19 pandemic has created a devastating effect on public health. As “social distance” is a highly effective preventive measure of this pandemic, close contact between a patient and physician is strongly discouraged where possible. Consequently, mobile health (mHealth) technology is taking its momentum to fulfil this gap. The purpose of this study is, therefore, to empirically investigate the moderating as well as the direct role of situational constraint and health consciousness in the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) constructs to understand the adoption and use behavior of mHealth care services amid pandemic. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from existing mHealth users using an online survey questionnaire in Bangladesh. SmartPLS 3.0 and SPSS 23.0 were used for partial least squares-structural equation modeling. Findings Situational constraint and health consciousness both have strong direct positive effects on both behavioral intention (in all models) and use behavior (in Models 2 and 3). Further, this study revealed that effort expectancy remains insignificant in both direct and interaction effects whereas social influence becomes insignificant in interaction effects from direct significant effect (Models 1 and 2). Besides, the study reported that the relationship between behavioral intention and use behavior is moderated by situational constraint. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first in terms of mHealth empirical investigation considering the current pandemic situation. The incorporation of the situational constraint and health consciousness into the UTAUT model provides a holistic framework to understand the influence of the adoption and use behavior of mHealth amid pandemic.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document