Predicting adolescents’ behavioural intentions in adulterated food management

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to determine the function of adulterated food management (AFM) in the behavioural intentions of adolescents on food safety concerns. Design/methodology/approach The methodology is exploratory in nature and uses analysis of variance and regression in determining the predictive power of the independent variables (AFM’s mediator variables) on the dependent variables (food safety concern and AFM behaviour intention). For this, a survey was conducted on middle and high school students in South Korea using a five-point Likert scale. Findings Perceived beliefs on, and competency and behavioural intention in, AFM significantly differed depending on food safety concern level (p<0.01). When perceived beliefs and competencies of AFM were regressed against behavioural intention, the model was highly significant and showed huge variance (R2=0.65). The factors influencing AFM in behavioural intention differed among all three groups: high concern group (efficacy, attitude and situation management), medium concern group (benefits, efficacy, attitude, situation management and hygiene practices) and low concern group (benefits, barriers and situation management). Therefore, AFM education should be observed with emphasis on varying points depending on the level of food safety concern. Research limitations/implications As this study only focused on exploring probable predictors for the criterion (perceived food safety concern), the contributions of each mediator factor to the full model are not covered in this study. Future investigations can include the study of individual variables and residuals to remove biases that may be present in the model. Originality/value The study will contribute to the safety of society and the health of adolescents by solving the issue of food safety and the problem of adulterated food in the aspect of the beliefs and competence of adolescents according to their concern level.