The role of health consciousness, food safety concern and ethical identity on attitudes and intentions towards organic food

Abstract

The paper examines the roles of health consciousness, food safety concern and ethical self identity in predicting attitudes and purchase intention within the context of organic produce. A conceptual model is derived and tested via structural equation modelling. Findings indicate food safety as the most important predictor of attitude while health consciousness appears to be the least important motive in contrast to findings from some previous research. In addition, ethical self identity is found to predict both attitudes and intention to purchase organic produce emphasizing that respondents’ identification with ethical issues affects their attitudes and subsequent consumption choices.