Integrating the Theory of Planned Behavior and the Norm Activation Model to Investigate Organic Food Purchase Intention: Evidence from Vietnam

Ample research has been conducted in the organic food market and researchers have investigated factors affecting the purchase behavior of consumers in many countries. However, the studies on organic food that integrate the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and Norm Activation Model (NAM) in a transition country like Vietnam are limited. Thus, the purpose of this study is to investigate factors affecting the organic food purchase intention in the Vietnamese context. We combined the TPB and the NAM to propose an integrated research framework with attitude and personal norms as two mediators. Through a self-administered questionnaire survey, we collected 611 valid responses from the three biggest cities in Vietnam. Data were put into SPSS 22.0 and SmartPLS 3.0 for analysis. The structural equation modeling (SEM) technique was employed to test both direct and indirect relationships among factors of TPB and NAM in the research model. Our findings indicated that attitude plays the most critical role in explaining the organic food purchase intention of Vietnamese consumers, followed by social norms and personal norms. Notably, attitude also remarkably mediated the impact of environmental awareness and knowledge of organic food on purchase intention. Meanwhile, personal norms played the mediating role in the NAM that intervene the connection between social norms and purchase intention. Based on our analysis, we suggested policymakers, manufacturers, marketers, and sellers of organic food change their actions for the growth of the organic food market in Vietnam.

Investigating Predictors of Public- and Private-Sphere Sustainable Behaviors in the Context of Agritourism

Encouraging sustainable behaviors regarding food choices among the public is crucial to ensure food systems’ sustainability. We expand the understanding of sustainable behavioral change by assessing engagement in local food systems (LFSs) in the context of agritourism experiences. Using theory of planned behavior (TPB) and personal norms, we conducted pre–post-surveys at agritourism farms to measure the impact of changes in the TPB behavioral antecedents as predictors of the following behavioral intentions regarding LFS engagement: (1) purchasing local food (private-sphere behavior), (2) increasing monthly budget to purchase local food (private-sphere behavior) and (3) advocating for local food (public-sphere behavior). Our findings indicate that strategies to encourage LFS engagement should seek to activate moral considerations that can motivate action across private and public behaviors, which applies to various demographic groups. To stimulate collective action, strategies should target subjective norms specifically (e.g., encouraging social interaction around local food), while strategies encouraging private behaviors should focus on easing perceived barriers to buying local food (e.g., promoting local food outlets). As agritourism experiences effectively modify the three above-mentioned behavioral antecedents, we advocate for holistic experiences that provide opportunities for deeper engagement with local food, stimulate the senses, and facilitate social interaction around LFSs.

Exploring the Role of Norms and Habit in Explaining Pro-Environmental Behavior Intentions in Situations of Use Robots and AI Agents as Providers in Tourism Sector

In a pandemic situation, with climate change around the world, studies analyzing changes in travel patterns are welcome. This study combines three theories to propose a model on pro-environmental behavior intentions, namely, the theory of planned behavior, value–belief–norm theory and habit theory. This study aims to examine the role of social norms, personal norms and habit strength to explain pro-environmental behavior intentions. The authors collected 316 usable questionnaires from tourists in the well-known touristic Belem location in Lisbon. Personal norms were revealed to have the strongest association with pro-environmental behavior intentions, followed by habit strength. The study also identified different broad challenges to encouraging sustainable behaviors and use these to develop novel theoretical propositions and directions for future research. Finally, the authors outlined how practitioners aiming to encourage sustainable consumer behaviors can use this framework to achieve better results.

Speficic Moral and Psychological Characteristics of Criminals Convicted for Crimes of Terrorism and Extremism

The authors continued their research of the personalities of terrorists and extremists and studied characteristics of 700 persons convicted for crimes of terrorism and extremism who served their sentences in penitentiary institutions of all territorial divisions of the Russian Federation. They studied indicators of additional scales of MMPI test, questionnaires, interviews, materials of personal files, court decisions (verdicts), disciplinary practice, penitentiary and criminal law characteristics, and made a number of conclusions. First, the results allowed the authors to verify a number of hypotheses on personal characteristics of terrorists and extremists analyzed by psychologists and criminologists. Second, generalized characteristics of persons convicted for terrorism and extremism crimes acquired through the use of additional MMPI scales proved and supplemented similar results from the basic scales of this methodology. Specifically, the authors found proof of a prominent conversion type of the personality profile of examined individuals manifested in a number of ambivalent conditions and aspirations. Third, the results also allowed to define key characteristics of the substructure of personality orientation of convicts of this category: amorality in their value system; following their own convictions, personal norms and principles; immunity against any moral authority; conviction that only their actions, deeds and life in general are the right ones, disregard for social values. Fourth, field data showed that it is necessary to single out one more (a third) subcategory of convicts who committed combined extremism-terrorism crimes. Based on the definition of this subcategory, such convicts committed several (two or more) crimes of both extremism and terrorism nature as part of one criminal case and, correspondingly, one court decision (verdict). A targeted approach to the correction and prevention work with this category of criminals convicted for terrorism and extremism crimes makes it necessary to examine the characteristics of each subcategory of convicts included in this category.

The Nexus Between Attitude, Social Norms, Intention to Comply, Financial Performance, Mental Accounting and Tax Compliance Behavior

This study empirically investigates the effects of attitudes toward tax compliance, descriptive norms, injunctive norms, subjective norms, personal norms, tax compliance intention, financial performance, and mental accounting on tax compliance. The determinant are largely developed based on the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and social norms. Data collection is carried out through field surveys to obtain a final sample of 209 respondents who are SME owners in 11 regencies/cities in Central Java Province, Indonesia. The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM). The results show that attitudes toward tax compliance, injunctive norms, subjective norms, personal norms, and financial performance positively affect SME owners’ tax compliance intentions. Furthermore, financial performance and tax compliance intentions have a positive effect on tax compliance behavior. However, we do not find empirical evidence that mental accounting has a role in strengthening the effect of tax compliance intentions on tax compliance behavior. This study contributes to the tax compliance literature through a more comprehensive measure of subjective norms and the use of financial performance as an alternative measure of perceived behavioral control.

Antecedents of Personal Norms and Social Media Information towards Biofuel Purchase Intention in Special Region of Yogyakarta

This examination means to re-analyze the effect of the ascription of responsibility, awareness of the consequences, personal norms, and social media information on biofuel purchase intentions in the Special Region of Yogyakarta. This study tries to re-examine the merger of two theories: Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and The Norm Activation Model (NAM). The results showed that the ascription of responsibility and awareness of consequences affected personal norms. This study also indicates that personal norms and social media information positively and significantly impact biofuel purchase intentions. The awareness variable is the most dominant variable from the data processing results from the consumer’s point of view. Meanwhile, the personal norm variable is the most dominant from the industrial point of view of data processing. This investigation’s practical implication is to give industry, the government, and the wider community to jointly promote one of the government programs, switching from non-renewable fuels to renewable fuels.

What Drives the Eco-Friendly Tourist Destination Choice? The Indian Perspective

Although eco-friendly (pro-environmental) behaviour in tourism has attracted interest among practitioners and scholars, little is known about the influence of these attitudes on the choice of eco-friendly destinations, especially in the context of emerging tourist markets such as India. Thus, this article aims to verify a model of the relationships between attitudes towards the environment and eco-friendly tourism, social and personal norms regarding environmentally responsible behaviour, perceived behavioural control, behavioural intentions regarding eco-friendly destinations and the willingness to pay for such trips using the theory of planned behaviour. The study used an online survey conducted with 598 Indians. The relationships between the variables were analysed using PLS-PM. The most important results indicated that (1) there are significant relationships between the attitude towards the environment, the attitude towards an eco-friendly destination, social and personal norms and behavioural control and intentions regarding travelling to eco-destinations and (2) well-educated young Indian consumers expressed a positive attitude towards eco-friendly destinations; however, there was only a very weak relationship between this attitude and willingness to pay more for trips to them. These findings are valuable for pro-environmental planning and the growing green market/economy, as well as for the discussion on the future of pro-environmental tourism development.

Organisational Climate and Pro-environmental Behaviours at Work: The Mediating Role of Personal Norms

Organisations are currently strongly encouraged to adopt more responsible production patterns aligned with sustainable development goals (SDGs). Pro-environmental behaviours (PEBs) in the workplace can strengthen the expected positive impacts of organisations’ environmental performance and engender more sustainable transitions to low-carbon production. Research on PEBs at work is relatively recent, so this field still lacks studies of the role of organisational policies and practices in workers’ adoption of these behaviours and of psychosocial processes that contribute to more sustainable workplaces. The present research examined how perceptions of organisations’ environmental policies and practices (i.e., organisational climate or injunctive norms) and of coworkers’ PEBs (i.e., descriptive norms) affect employees’ self-reported voluntary PEBs. Thogersen’s norm taxonomy model was also applied to address the role of personal norms. Self-commitment to sustainable goals at work can play a fundamental role in workers’ behavioural choices, so this research further investigated whether personal norms mediate the relationship between perceived pro-environmental organisational climate and reported workplace PEBs. To test the proposed model, data were collected on 210 workers from different business sectors, who completed an online questionnaire. The analyses showed that, after controlling for the effects of tenure, education level, and a management position, a pro-environmental organisational climate predicts stronger personal norms and a greater tendency to adopt PEBs at work (adjusted R squared=0.36), providing evidence of complete mediation. Coworkers’ perceived descriptive norms also contribute directly to self-reported PEBs. The discussion of the results focuses on the importance of organisational level initiatives as a way to promote change in individuals’ behaviours, which can have positive consequences for workplaces’ transition to sustainability.