Ethical food choices: Examining people’s Fair Trade purchasing decisions

Abstract

A B S T R A C TFair Trade is a product certification system and social movement that aims to address global supply-chain issues such as forced labour, unsafe working conditions, and unfair pay for workers. The potential for Fair Trade to benefit producers relies directly on consumers' decisions to support these products in their food purchasing choices. An extended Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) was used to investigate Fair Trade purchasing among a university student and community sample (N = 178). First, the reliability of the extended TPB measures was confirmed via confirmatory factor analysis. Second, a proposed model predicting people's Fair Trade purchasing behaviour showed a good fit via structural equation modelling. The model indicated that attitude, perceived behavioural control, self-identity, and moral norm predicted intentions which, in turn, predicted fair trade purchasing behaviour. The model explained 62.6% and 40.5% of the variance in intention and behaviour, respectively. Finally, a series of MANOVAs established that the underlying TPB beliefs of 'making me feel good'; 'reflecting my values', and 'being unable to afford Fair Trade products' distinguished between people who did and did not purchase Fair Trade products. These salient beliefs, in conjunction with the identified predictors of people's intentions and behaviour, can be used in persuasive campaigns by those advocating socially-motivated behaviour changes in our food choices.

How Millennials' Knowledge, Trust, and Product Involvement Affect the Willingness to Pay a Premium Price for Fairtrade Products?

“…In this research, if Turkish Millennials have a belief that the product is more ethical or healthier, they are more willing to pay a premium price. In the same light, the relationship between WTP a premium and product involvement has been noted by previous studies (Campell et al, 2015;O'Connor et al, 2017;Zhang et al, 2018).…”

Cosmopolitanism and ethical consumption: An extended theory of planned behavior and modeling for fair trade coffee consumers in South Korea

“…Previous studies have shown the effect of subjective norms on fair trade consumers (e.g., Ozcaglar‐Toulouse et al, ), but more recent empirical studies have made clear that this is not always the case (e.g., de Leeuw et al, ; O'Connor, Sims, & White, ). For instance, O'Connor et al () found that subjective norms did not significantly contribute to purchase intention among a sample population from Australia, while other factors did have significant effects. In line with this, de Leeuw et al () found that among university students in Luxembourg, subjective norms made a relatively small or even insignificant contribution when traditional TPB factors, moral norms, or past experiences were included in their model.…”

One Health for Food Safety, Food Security, and Sustainable Food Production

“…As incomes in developing countries continue to rise and living conditions improve, demand for meat, dairy, and specialty crops such as fruits, nuts, and vegetables has increased (FAO, 2017). Likewise, consumers in developed countries have developed preferences for specialized products that are marketed as organic, fair-trade, or locally grown (Bellows et al, 2010;Feldmann and Hamm, 2015;O'Connor et al, 2017). Increased demand for food has already strained natural resources resulting in soil erosion, loss of biodiverse landscapes, and pollution of the environment all around the world presenting new challenges in food safety and sustainable food production (Tilman et al, 2011).…”