Organic food consumption in Taiwan: Motives, involvement, and purchase intention under the moderating role of uncertainty

Abstract

Despite the progressive development of the organic food sector in Taiwan, little is known about how consumers' consumption motives will influence organic food decision through various degrees of involvement and whether or not consumers with various degrees of uncertainty will vary in their intention to buy organic foods. The current study aims to examine the effect of consumption motives on behavioral intention related to organic food consumption under the mediating role of involvement as well as the moderating role of uncertainty. Research data were collected from organic food consumers in Taiwan via a questionnaire survey, eventually obtaining 457 valid questionnaires for analysis. This study tested the overall model fit and hypotheses through structural equation modeling method (SEM). The results show that consumer involvement significantly mediates the effects of health consciousness and ecological motives on organic food purchase intention, but not applied to food safety concern. Moreover, the moderating effect of uncertainty is statistical significance, indicating that the relationship between involvement and purchase intention becomes weaker in the condition of consumers with higher degree of uncertainty. Several implications and suggestions are also discussed for organic food providers and marketers.

Keywords: Consumption motives; Involvement; Organic foods; Purchase intention; Uncertainty.