Organic food consumption as an example of pro-environmental behavior: application of the theory of planned behavior

Abstract

This work has two objectives. At the empirical level, it seeks to investigate the role of attitudinal, normative and other factors influencing the intention of Czech consumers to purchase organic food, specifically by exploiting the theoretical framework of the theory of planned behavior. On a more theoretical level, this thesis seeks to extend the theory of planned behavior by including descriptive norms in its framework and subjecting such extended theory to an empirical test. The dissertation proceeds in seven chapters. The first three chapters are introductory in the sense that they discuss the motivation for the present work, provide definitions of organic food, and attempt to establish the link between the choice of organic food, as an example of individual pro-environmental behavior, on the one hand, and processes that lead to environmental degradation on the other. Chapter 4 introduces the theory of planned behavior, its assumptions and empirical applications in various domains, including organic food consumption. The empirical data from a small (N=253) yet country-representative survey of the general adult population are described in Chapter 5, together with the method of structural equation modeling that is primarily used to analyze them. In Chapter 6 we test four empirical models of...

This work has two objectives. At the empirical level, it seeks to investigate the role of attitudinal, normative and other factors influencing the intention of Czech consumers to purchase organic food, specifically by exploiting the theoretical framework of the theory of planned behavior. On a more theoretical level, this thesis seeks to extend the theory of planned behavior by including descriptive norms in its framework and subjecting such extended theory to an empirical test. The dissertation proceeds in seven chapters. The first three chapters are introductory in the sense that they discuss the motivation for the present work, provide definitions of organic food, and attempt to establish the link between the choice of organic food, as an example of individual pro-environmental behavior, on the one hand, and processes that lead to environmental degradation on the other. Chapter 4 introduces the theory of planned behavior, its assumptions and empirical applications in various domains, including organic food consumption. The empirical data from a small (N=253) yet country-representative survey of the general adult population are described in Chapter 5, together with the method of structural equation modeling that is primarily used to analyze them. In Chapter 6 we test four empirical models of...