Consumers’ attention, experience, and action to organic consumption: The moderating role of anticipated pride and moral obligation

Abstract

Scholars have devoted much attention to explaining consumers’ green consumption behavior as its importance continues to grow. In this study, we propose a new theoretical framework that integrates the norm activation theory (NAT), theory of reasoned action (TRA), and theory of consumption behavior (TCV) to explain consumers’ organic food consumption. First, we integrate the green consumption value (GCV) with five consumption values (functional, social, emotional, conditional, and epistemic) from the classic TCV model to explain the relationship between NAT and TRA. Second, we introduce two variables related to consumers’ source of interest: anticipated pride (individual) and moral obligation (social), which moderate the relationship between GCV and TRA. A total of 212 survey responses were collected from Chinese consumers and analyzed using the partial least squares structural equation method (PLS-SEM). Our results demonstrate that NAT as an internal exposure, interpreted as an individual's attentional factor, influences the five dimensions of Green Consumption Value (GCV) as an external exposure (i.e., an individual's experiential factor), which in turn affects TRA. We also show that anticipated pride strengthens the impact of GCV on subjective norms and attitudes in the TRA, while moral obligation affects the impact of GCV on behavioral intentions only. This study contributes to the literature by proposing a more holistic model that accounts for individuals’ internal and external exposure during organic food consumption by integrating NAT, TCV, and TRA, and suggests both individual and social interests as moderators.