Resumo

The expansion of the global human population has put a heavy strain on the demand for food products. Farmers had to add chemicals to increase crop yield to match this demand. The use of chemicals in food products was a common practice amongst farmers in the early 1900s. Still, it was only with technological advancement that harmful toxins were replaced with safer alternatives (Tudi et al., 2021). As such, organic food products have recently gained prominence because they have been linked with a healthier lifestyle due to the nature of their production methods (Melovic et al., 2020).

Despite being in its infancy, South African farmers have adopted harmonious agricultural methods, which include producing crops and livestock water-consciously and using natural pesticides. In this way, we investigated the influence of attitude towards organic food, subjective norms, perceived behaviour control, environmental knowledge, health awareness, and organic food knowledge on organic food purchase intention and consequently on organic food purchase behaviour. We also investigated the influence of subjective norms on environmental knowledge and health consciousness.

The Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) considers, as a general rule, that the more the intention is to engage in a behaviour, the more likely its performance should be (Ajzen, 1991). Thus, TPB has provided researchers the flexibility to capture a range of factors that affect consumer behaviour concerning a given subject (Matharu et al., 2021). In the literature, TPB has been widely used to predict consumer intention and behaviour in a wide range of green and pro-environmental areas, including organic food purchase intention.

This study used a descriptive research design following a cross-sectional analysis. A multi-method approach was used, combining symmetric techniques with Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) and asymmetric techniques with Fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA). The primary data sample was collected in 2021 by a specialist company (IPSOS – Global Market Research and Public Opinion Specialist), that implemented their FastFacts data capturing system to collect the required data. The final sample included 500 Generation Y consumers from South Africa.

The PLS-SEM results confirmed the positive influence of all antecedents (Attitude, Subjective norms, Perceived behaviour control, organic food knowledge, environmental knowledge, and health consciousness), confirming the hypotheses. We also identified a multiple full mediation of environmental knowledge and health consciousness in the relationship between subjective norms and purchase intention. The fsQCA results indicated six different sufficient configurations for a high level of purchase intention, indicating that not all the constructs are essential to stimulate the intention.

Based on the results, we can make three main contributions. First, we prove the importance of TBP and additional variables in a robust model with the high explanatory power of consumer behaviour about sustainability in a developing country. Second, we demonstrate that having all the antecedent behaviours is unnecessary to have a high sustainable purchase intention. Third, we validated a multiple full mediation of environmental knowledge and health awareness in the relationship between subjective norms and purchase intention.

Ajzen, I. (1991). The theory of planned behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes. Matharu, G. K. et al. (2021). What Motivates Young Indian Consumers to Buy Organic Food? Journal of International Consumer Marketing. Melovic, B. et al. (2020). Food for thought Identifying the influential factors that affect consumption of organic produce in today’s youth. British food Journal. Tudi, M. et al. (2021). Agriculture development, pesticide application and its impact on the environment. International. Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.