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Factors affecting consumers’ purchase intention of eco-friendly food in China: the evidence from respondents in Beijing

Research Output: Contribution to journal Article Peer-review

Open access

Abstract

The purpose aims to examine the key factors influencing Chinese consumer’s purchasing behaviour of eco-friendly food in China giving its context as an emerging economy and its rapidly rising importance in the world eco-friendly food market. This paper adopts and extends the Responsible Environmental Behaviour (REB) theory by empirically testing key psycho-social factors influencing the purchase intention of eco-friendly food and the moderating effects of consumers’ demographic characteristics on the relationship between the key psycho-social factors and the purchase intention. A number of hypotheses are proposed. A questionnaire was designed and distributed via online survey in Beijing, China. A total of 239 valid responses were received. The empirical data was used to test the research hypotheses using the hierarchical multiple regression analysis. The research finds that the personality factors in the REB model (i.e., pro-environmental attitudes, the internal locus of control and personal responsibly) have significant positive effects on the consumers’ eco-friendly food purchase intention. Such effect is stable across consumers with different income levels. On the other hand, the knowledge-skill factors in the REB model do not have significant effect on the purchase intention of consumers. This study contributes to a better understanding of factors affecting eco-friendly food consumption intention in China and the behavioural characteristics of consumers in developing countries. Moreover, the findings also shed light on the applicability of the REB theory in emerging economies and a specific industrial context.

Publication Information

Output type

Research Output: Contribution to journal Article Peer-review

Original language

English

Pages from-to (Number of pages)

Pages 457-470

Journal (Volume, Issue Number)

International Journal of Consumer Studies (Volume 43, Issue 5)

Publication milestones

  • Accepted/In press - 29/04/2019
  • Published - 30/04/2019

Publication status

Published - 30/04/2019

ISSN

1470-6423

External Publication IDs

  • handle.net: 10547/623280
  • Scopus: 85070388548

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