: This study explores the relationship between different implicit and explicit attitudes and green purchase intention. A distinction is made between the cognitive and affective components of implicit attitudes. Negative-oriented attitudes such as cynicism and skepticism are also examined. The data collection process provided 724 responses to two online Implicit Association Tests, followed by a questionnaire on explicit attitudes. Two products (insecticide and toothpaste) in green and conventional formats were used. Each individual responded to a random choice of one of these two products. Structural equation modeling was used to test the research hypotheses. The cognitive and affective components of implicit attitudes were confirmed to be different constructs. Only the cognitive construct was observed to influence attitudes toward green products. Skepticism was observed to negatively influence attitudes toward green products, although it was not found to influence either attitudes toward purchasing green products versus conventional products or purchase intentions. This study offers an innovative approach by examining different types of attitudes that have never been analyzed together in the literature on green products.

Purpose This study aims to examine the formal and metric properties of Gil et al.’s (2000) scale of attitudes toward organic products, which is the most popular scale to measure these attitudes. Design/methodology/approach The sample consisted of 4,992 household shoppers living in Hong Kong, Germany, Norway, Spain and the UK. The questionnaire was distributed using a third-party consumer panel, and the fieldwork was conducted using computer-assisted Web interviewing. The approach was based on confirmatory factor analysis and measurement of invariance, as well as format analysis using a wording-syntactic and semantic descriptive method. Findings The scale reflects an attitude-toward-object model approach. Its use has been heavily varied (in terms of wording, item semantics and the attributes to be measured). A two-factor structure that meets the metric conditions (reliability and validity) is found. However, the analysis of invariance shows that the scale behaves differently in different countries. Research limitations/implications This scale offers a good starting point for measuring attitudes toward organic products. However, it requires refinement to adapt to consumer evolution and improve its metric validity. Verification of its applicability in cross-national studies is recommended. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that assesses the format and quantitative characteristics of this scale on a cross-national level. For scholars and companies with international interests, preventing the use of scales with poor properties at the transnational level can improve the design of future studies and save money through a more informed choice of attitudinal scale.

This study explores whether implicit and explicit attitudes toward organic products explain consumers’ predisposition to buy organic food, considering the hedonic and utilitarian dimensions of attitudes. The data are from an online survey, which included a section on implicit attitudes (measured using an Implicit Association Test) and a section on explicit attitudes. Two products were analyzed using 557 responses from a panel of consumers: chocolate (hedonic-oriented food) and milk (a utilitarian-oriented food). Confirmatory factor analysis and multigroup structural equations were applied to assess the proposed model. Three findings may be highlighted. First, in the model with the lowest entropy, the hedonic and utilitarian dimensions are considered to be independent. Second, different types of attitudes play different roles depending on the product. Finally, implicit attitudes influence the predisposition to buy organic food in the case of pleasure-seeking food but not utilitarian-oriented food. Thus, there is convergence between implicit and explicit attitudes for hedonic-oriented foods and divergence between such attitudes for utilitarian-oriented foods. This study’s value lies in the novel use of implicit attitudes, which have generally been neglected in attitudinal models in the organic food domain.