The role of ethics and product personalityin the intention to purchase organic food products:a structural equation modeling approach

Gianluigi Guido • M. Irene Prete • Alessandro M. Peluso •

R. Christian Maloumby-Baka • Carolina Buffa

Published online: 17 November 2009

� Springer-Verlag 2009

Abstract The aim of the present study is to examine the role of ethical dimensions

and product personality in the purchasing intention of organic food products. The

Prospect method (Caprara et al. in Test Psicomet Metodol 7(3–4):113–128, 2000),

which integrates the Five factors model of personality (cf. Digman in Annu Rev

Psychol 41(1):417–440, 1990) and the Theory of planned behavior (Ajzen in Organ

Behav Hum Decis Process, 50(2):179–211, 1991) extended to an ethical dimension,

was employed, by using a Structural Equation Modeling approach. Results showed

that moral norms—i.e., personal beliefs regarding what is right or wrong (Parker

et al. in Br J Soc Psychol, 34(2):127–137, 1995)—can be considered the main

motivator of purchasing intention, and they are, in turn, affected by subjectivenorms and product personality traits of Naturalness and Authenticity. Marketing

implications for firms operating in the organic food industry are discussed, in their

intent to shift from a ‘‘niche’’ market to a broader diffusion of these products.

Keywords Ethical consumers � Organic food products � Moral disengagement �Moral norms � Personality traits

JEL Codes D12 � D83 � M31 � Q18

G. Guido (&) � M. I. Prete � A. M. Peluso � R. C. Maloumby-Baka

University of Salento, Faculty of Economics, Ecotekne Campus, Via per Monteroni,

73100 Lecce, Italy

e-mail: gianluigi.guido@unisalento.it; g.guido@economia.unile.it

G. Guido � M. I. Prete � A. M. Peluso � C. Buffa

LUISS ‘‘Guido Carli’’ University Faculty of Economics, Viale Romania 32, 00197 Rome, Italy

123

Int Rev Econ (2010) 57:79–102

DOI 10.1007/s12232-009-0086-5

1 Introduction

Over the past few decades, changes occurred in consumption models—and, more

specifically, in food-related lifestyles (Reid et al. 2001)—have stimulated an

increasing attention on the experiential and symbolic meanings of food consumption

(Colacchio et al. 2008; Guido 2009). Once the utilitarian needs are fulfilled,

consumers choose everyday food to build their own social and individual identities

(Marshall 2005). The consumption of organic food products—made through

biological methods devoid of synthetic fertilizers, toxic pesticides, and genetic

engineering—can satisfy consumers’ ethical needs to care for their relatives’ health

as well as for their own one, to protect the environment, and to preserve the well-

being of animals (McEachern and McClean 2002). Most consumers perceive

organic products as having also specific benefits—in terms of taste, nutrition, and

sensory characteristics—which distinguish them from conventional food (Arvola

et al. 2008; Magnusson et al. 2003; Zanoli and Naspetti 2002).

Although still a niche, the organic food market is considered a very promising

sector (Hughner et al. 2007). According to the International Federation of Organic

Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) organic agriculture is nowadays practiced in 141

world countries (IFOAM 2009), and the organic-product market has grown rapidly

during the last few years: in 2007, organic-product sales have reached $ 46.1 billion

worldwide, growing on an average of $ 5 billion per year over the last decade. Even

if 97% of the global sales are concentrated in North America and Europe, the

organic industry is experiencing a strong growth worldwide, and these products are

now available in most retailing food stores (International Federation of Organic

Agriculture Movements 2009). Because of this high potential, the organic food

market has attracted a growing interest from many sides. On the one hand, organic

food product companies look for new ways to increase their business, and, on the

other, marketing researchers aim at a better understanding of organic food

consumers’ behavior. A number of studies have considered acceptance, primary

motives, and major obstacles and rationales to their consumption (see, Hughner

et al. 2007 for a review) but, to date, there is not yet a deep knowledge of the

multifaceted mechanisms at the basis of the organic food consumers’ behavior.

To fill this gap, the present study, aimed at investigating the purchase intention of

organic food products, proposes an explanatory model of consumers’ intention to

buy organic food products, using a Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) approach

(Bollen 1989). The conceptual model was developed by following the so-called

Prospect method (Caprara and Barbaranelli 2000; Caprara et al. 2000), a conceptual

framework which integrates the Theory of planned behavior (TPB, Ajzen 1991) and

the Five-factor model of personality (FFM, cf. Digman 1990). By combining these

two theoretical models, the Prospect method provides a general approach for

connecting the product personality construct with the purchase intention determi-

nants. According to this framework, perceived product personality dimensions

contribute to the explanation of consumers’ purchase intention and its determinants.

The TPB was here extended by incorporating two additional factors as further

potential determinants of the purchase intention toward organic food products.

These factors, related to the ethical components of behaviors, were here represented

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by Moral norms, defined as a belief-based perception of what is right or wrong

(Parker et al. 1995), and Moral disengagement, described as the individual tendency

to suspend personal moral standards in order to reduce self-censure (Bandura 1999).

Furthermore, following the line of previous studies which stress the importance of

moral obligations in the consumers’ choice of certain categories of food, this study

moves beyond by investigating the factors influencing individuals’ moral norms in

organic food purchasing. Results show the usefulness of the Prospect method and, in

particular, of the extended version of the TPB to investigate the decision making

process of the organic food buying.

2 Organic agriculture and the organic food consumer

2.1 Organic agriculture

Organic food products result from the use of organic agriculture, ‘‘a production

system that sustains the health of soils, ecosystems and people. It relies on

ecological processes, biodiversity, and cycles adapted to local conditions, rather

than the use of inputs with adverse effects. Organic agriculture combines tradition,

innovation, and science to benefit the shared environment and promote fair

relationships and a good quality of life for all involved’’ (International Federation of

Organic Agriculture Movements 2009, p. 1). Organic agriculture differs from other

techniques of farming, such as conventional agriculture—an industrialized farming

system which uses chemical synthetic substances for fertilizing and insecticide

purposes and is aimed at maximizing the volumes of production and profit—and

biotechnological agriculture—a farming method which employs the science of gene

modification to modify plants, animals, and micro-organisms, thus obtaining

improvements in production and agronomy (United States Department of Agricul-

ture 2008).

Four principles characterize organic agriculture, specifically: health, as this type

of farming ‘‘should sustain and enhance the health of soil, plant, animal, human, and

the planet as one and indivisible’’; ecology, as it ‘‘should be based on living

ecological systems and cycles, work with them, emulate them and help sustain

them’’; fairness, as it ‘‘should build on relationships that ensure fairness with regard

to the common environment and life opportunities’’; and care, as it ‘‘should be

managed in a precautionary and responsible manner to protect the health and well-

being of current and future generations and the environment’’ (IFOAM 2005, p. 1).

2.2 The organic food consumer

Primary producers, companies, and other stakeholders operating in the organic food

sector are concerned with the investigation of consumers’ intention to buy organic

products and with the understanding of characteristics of regular and occasional

users.

Considering the choice that consumers make between organic and conventionally

produced alternatives consumers can express different needs and act in several

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ways. In this respect, they can be classified as follow: (i) organic conditionals, who

are regular buyers of organic food; (ii) half-hearters, who do not have a precise

view about organic food; (iii) do not carers, who are not concerned with the choice

between conventional and organic food; (iv) undemanding, who are not concerned

about the quality of food they eat; (v) cost conscious, who are not willing to pay a

premium price for organic products; (vi) organic purist, who perceive organic

products as better than others and usually buy them; (vii) unconcerned, who do not

care about organic food and agriculture; (viii) worriers, who are satisfied of

traditional food products and farming; and (ix) conventionals, who do not perceive

any advantage of eating organic food (Roddy et al. 1996).

The profile of the consumers of organic food products seems to be multifaceted

as it involves both socioeconomic and psychographic aspects (Bellows et al. 2008;

Cicia et al. 2009). Several studies have investigated socioeconomic characteris-tics—gender, family size, marital status, income, and level of education. Regular

buyers of organic food products seem to be, in general, women (Davies et al. 1995;

O’Donovan and McCharthy 2002) and, specifically, middle-aged women (Aguirre

2007), albeit men are more willing to pay a high premium price than women (Urena

et al. 2008). Also the young have a positive attitude toward organic food

(Magnusson et al. 2001; Stobbelaar et al. 2007), even their limited income does not

allow them to buy regularly these products. Some studies have also specified that

users of organic food products live mostly in their family home (Aguirre 2007)

together with their children (Wier and Smed 2000). Even in the presence of

contradictory results, research indicates that frequent buyers have an upper-middle

level of both income and education (Aguirre 2007).

As regards psychographic profile—in terms of personality and lifestyle aspects—

regular organic food product buyers are usually driven by societal and individu-

alistic values, such as: Universalism, i.e., the appreciation and safeguard of all

people and of nature; Altruism, i.e., the generosity in relationships with others;

Ecology, i.e., the harmony with the nature and with a sustainable future;

Benevolence, i.e., the enhancement of the welfare of the people with whom one

is in touch; and Spirituality, i.e., the unity with the natural world (Dreezens et al.

2005; Krystallis et al. 2008; Zanoli and Naspetti 2002). Moreover, taking into

consideration advantages and benefits they search for, organic food consumers can

be grouped into: (i) greens, who are interested in the safeguarding of the ecosystem

and the natural environment; (ii) food phobics, who are worried about the use of

pesticides, additives, and chemicals in food; (iii) humanists, who are concerned with

factory agriculture systems and processes; and (iv) hedonists, who enjoy the

pleasure of good eating and search for better taste and quality food (Davies et al.

1995).

2.3 The Prospect method

Consumer products, and especially organic food products, express both a functional

and a symbolic meaning, which can be exemplified through their product image.

The Prospect method (Caprara and Barbaranelli 2000; Caprara et al. 2000) has the

purpose of finding out the latent dimensions of product image—through the use of

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the product personality construct—and evaluating their impact on the predictive

variables of the buying intention. Product personality is employed here in the place

of product image, as it is deemed to be a more stable construct (cf. Dobni and

Zinkhan 1990) and, consequently, can improve the description of the factors

influencing individuals’ cognitive representations.

The Prospect method integrates two well-known models, the Five factor model(FFM) of personality (a.k.a. Big Five Factors Model, see Digman 1990 for a

review), which is aimed here at obtaining the fundamental characteristics of brands

and products personality, and the TPB (Ajzen 1991), which has the purpose of

detecting the most important determinants of purchase intention, deemed to be the

most reliable predictors of buying behavior. Therefore, the Prospect method has the

two-fold advantage of identifying the personality factors describing brands and

products and associating them with the predictive variables of the purchase

intention. Therefore, it allows researchers to find out the most appropriate attributes

to be employed in food products marketing communications (cf. Caprara et al.

1998).

2.3.1 The Five-factor model (FFM)

The FFM was developed in the field of social psychology to describe human

personality and has been used in marketing research to examine the latent traits of

perceived image of products. As brands and products are often perceived to possess

their own personality (Plummer 2000), it is possible to identify the latent

dimensions of products and brands perceived images (Caprara and Barbaranelli

1996; Caprara et al. 1998, 2001).

According to the FFM, the perceived image of a product can be metaphorically

operationalized as product perceived personality, which is summarized by five main

dimensions (so-called Big Five Factors), considering the product as a person: (i)

Agreeableness, regarding the orientation toward empathy and caring about others;

(ii) Conscientiousness, dealing with the subjective tendency to engage in goal-

oriented activity; (iii) Emotional stability, the tendency to perform behaviors while

keeping emotions and impulses under control; (iv) Extroversion, regarding the

subjective predisposition toward social interaction; and (v) Openness to experience,

regarding the degree of tolerance toward new ideas and experiences. These

personality dimensions are usually measured through a conventional list of bipolar

marker attributes on semantic differential scales. Besides these attributes—which

are able to assess the general dimensions of the perceived personality construct—

much research (including the present study) has used further adjectives to detect any

additional product-specific dimension, thus enriching the basic five-factor structure

of product personality.

2.3.2 The TPB and its application in the organic food context

The TPB (Ajzen 1991), a predictive model of deliberate behaviors, represents an

evolution of the Theory of reasoned action (Ajzen and Fishbein 1980), which was

able to account for merely voluntary and under-control behaviors. Both theories

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have the basic assumption that Intention—an individual’s motivation to engage in a

specific action (e.g., to purchase organic food products)—is the best predictor of the

actual behavior. In its original formulation, the TPB hypothesizes Intention as a

result of three main determinants (Ajzen 1991): (i) Attitude toward the behavior,

that is, the subjective positive (or negative) predisposition toward the target

behavior; (ii) Subjective norm, which refers to the perception of social pressure to

perform (or not) a specific behavior; and (iii) Perceived behavioral control, which

concerns the perception of external factors that could facilitate (or hinder) the

considered behavior.

Several studies have improved the predictability of the TPB by including further

determinants ‘‘if it can be shown that they capture a significant proportion of the

variance in intention or behavior’’ (Ajzen 1991, p. 199). One of these additional

predictors is Past behavior, which can be considered a significant determinant of

future behavior especially in stable environmental contexts (Jaccard and Blanton

2005). In order to overcome the criticism of neglecting moral considerations

(Manstead 1999), the TPB has been further developed by considering additional

variables such as moral norms, namely, a system of ‘‘internalized ethical rules’’

(Shaw et al. 2000, p. 882) which reveal one’s ‘‘responsibility to perform, or refuse to

perform a certain behavior’’ (Ajzen 1991, p. 199); anticipated regret, a feeling of

disappointment or remorse for a fault or an action (Kaiser 2006); and, in general,

perceived moral obligations (Raats et al. 1995). Moral norms especially play an

important role in those contexts in which social behavior derives from ethical

considerations, such as respect for others and individual accountability (Conner and

Armitage 1998; Manstead 1999). Moreover, as they represent personal value

judgments associated with a certain behavior and its consequences (Manstead

1999), they have also been employed for those behaviors entailing a low level of

involvement, such as food consumption (Goldsmith et al. 1997).

In the context of organic food products, the TPB, both in its original and its

extended version, has widely been adopted to investigate which determinant has a

stronger effect on purchase intention. As regards attitude, several studies (Lodorfos

and Dennis 2008; Michaelidou and Hassan 2008; Thøgersen 2002) have demon-

strated that a positive (or negative) orientation toward these products and their

existing alternatives—based on a multifaceted set of beliefs, motives, and

experiences—has a significant influence on consumers’ choice. Other studies (Chen

2007; Lodorfos and Dennis 2008) have reported that a positive attitude toward

organic food does not suffice for stimulating their purchase, as most consumers are

not willing to pay a high premium price for them and also evaluate the occurrence of

some other circumstances, such as a scarce availability in retail stores. However,

Arvola et al. (2008) and Tarkiainen and Sundqvist (2005) did not find a significant

influence of perceived behavioral control on the intention to purchase organic

products. Opposing conclusions have also been shown considering subjectivenorms. While some authors have demonstrated that subjective opinions of

‘‘important others’’ affect the intention to buy organic products both directly

(Arvola et al. 2008; Chen 2007; Lodorfos and Dennis 2008) and indirectly through

attitude (Tarkiainen and Sundqvist 2005), Thøgersen (2002) has instead proved its

influence to be non-significant. Conclusively, empirical evidence has highlighted

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the robustness of the TPB in explaining the consumption of organic food products,

though it did not clarify, among the three typical determinants, the existence of a

dominant predictor.

Also in the organic food sector, several studies have extended the TPB for

improving its predictive capacity. Thøgersen’s (2002) has considered the impact of

Past behavior, thus showing that consumers experiencing a regular and long-term

consumption of organic food products generally prolong this purchase behavior.

Moreover, food-related personality traits, like food neophobia—fear or aversion to

new typologies of food—and food involvement—the characteristics of specific food

products and the relevance that consumers assign to them—have both a direct and

an indirect effect on the intention to buy organic products (Chen 2007). Besides the

aforementioned variables, major extensions of the TPB in the organic food context

relate to the ethical dimension, due to the difficulty of this model to express this

specific aspect (Conner and Armitage 1998; Manstead 1999). Indeed, the choice to

buy and eat organic food is deemed to be an ‘‘ethical consumption,’’ which has been

referred to as ‘‘the degree to which consumers prioritize their own ethical concerns

when making product choices’’ (Shaw and Clarke 1998, p. 163). The consumption

of organic food products involves the satisfaction of an ethical need as it can be

associated with the individuals’ health safety (Padel and Foster 2005; Zanoli and

Naspetti 2002), the well-being of animals and respect for the environment

(Honkanen et al. 2006; Padel and Foster 2005), and moral responsibility toward the

consumers of this type of products (Finch 2005; Raats et al. 1995). In the field of

organic food products, a number of different variables has been added to the TPB to

introduce this ethical dimension. Some studies (Michaelidou and Hassan 2008) have

improved the predictability of the model by including self-identity—defined as the

‘‘enduring characteristics that people ascribe to themselves’’ (Sparks and Guthrie

1998, p. 1394), by demonstrating that self-identity influences intention to buy

organic products both directly (Michaelidou and Hassan 2008) and indirectly,

through its effect on attitude (Michaelidou and Hassan 2008). Some other studies

have used ethical values, based on environmental and animal protection, to explain

attitude toward organic food products (Honkanen et al. 2006), together with moralattitude—the positive self-rewarding feeling of doing the right thing—to demon-

strate their strong influence on the consumption of organic food, both in Italy and in

the United Kingdom (Arvola et al. 2008). Finally, the TPB has been also integrated

with moral norms to show that they significantly affect the intention to buy organic

food products both directly (Thøgersen 2002) and indirectly, as a predictor of

attitude toward the behavior (Dreezens et al. 2005; Honkanen et al. 2006).

2.3.3 A further antecedent of the purchase intention of organic food products:moral disengagement

The dimensions of ethical products’ image in the context of organic food

consumption can be identified not only by including the archetypal construct of

moral norms, but also by adding a further determinant, namely, Moral disengage-ment—‘‘the process by which an individual proactively suspends his/her moral

standards in an effort to reduce the self-censure that ordinarily accompanies conduct

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that violates one’s moral code’’ (Cava 2000, p. 492). Since human-beings’ conduct

is normally related to a moral code developed over time and built upon the

combination of internal (personal) and external (social) norms, individuals tend to

activate a process of self-regulation. Through it, indeed, they avoid or reduce their

self-punishment as a consequence of the process of moral disengagement, because

they desist from performing behaviors which would violate their moral rules

(Bandura 1999). In this way, individuals feel free to break their moral code.

Bandura (1986, 1999) classified eight mechanisms through which individuals can

selectively suspend their moral principles in order to perform acts that would

otherwise generate self-punishment: Moral justification, to change a reproachful

conduct into one that is personally and socially acceptable, by appealing to moral

goals; Euphemistic labeling, to use a metaphorical language in order to make

offences and atrocities appear genteel and tolerable; Advantageous comparison, to

make a reprehensible action look less blameworthy, by comparing it with even more

reprehensible actions; Displacement of responsibility to other individuals, so as to

attribute to superiors, usually those in authority, the blame for harmful actions;

Diffusion of responsibility, to attenuate the liability of reprehensible actions by

spreading it within a group of people; Negligence or distortion of consequences, to

minimize or ignore the effects of a harmful action; Dehumanization, to deprive

victims of their individual dignity, in order to avoid any empathic reaction; and

Attribution of blame to the victim, to attribute the responsibility of reprehensible

actions either to the victim or to circumstances, and not to the offender.

Moral disengagement was developed by Bandura (1986, 1999) within the context

of social-cognitive theory and initially applied to the context of aggressive and

violent forms of behavior. However, recent studies (e.g., Caprara et al. 2006) have

suggested and demonstrated that this construct can be applied to ‘‘normal’’—i.e., not

violent—forms of behavior. Indeed, Bandura (2007) examined the moral disen-gagement as an impediment to collective action designed to stabilize and reverse the

ecological and environmental degradation. Interestingly, moral disengagement has

been found to be positively associated with unethical decision making and also to

play a mediating role between some individual differences—such as empathy and

moral identity—and unethical behaviors (Detert et al. 2008). Following this

approach, and supported by the results of these studies, the present research employs

moral disengagement in a situation of ‘‘minor’’ transgression, such as not choosing

organic food products, thus exposing, for example, one’s own health and that of

one’s loved ones to risk.

3 The conceptual model

3.1 Research aim and objectives

On such theoretical ground, the present study aims at analyzing the role of ethics

and product personality traits on the consumption of organic food products by

proposing an explanatory model of consumers’ intention to buy them. The study sets

the following objectives: (i) investigating the purchasing intention of organic food

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products by using an extended version of the TPB (Ajzen 1991), which considers

the influence of attitude, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, as well as

moral norms and moral disengagement; (ii) evaluating the impact of organic food

product personality traits on the determinants of the purchase intention, by means of

the Prospect method (Caprara et al. 2000); and (iii) investigating the existence of a

relationship between social (e.g., subjective) norms and moral norms in the

purchasing of organic food products, by the use of this extended version of the TPB.

According to the first objective, the TPB was extended through ethical

dimensions, in line with past research which has demonstrated the usefulness of

this integration (Arvola et al. 2008; Honkanen et al. 2006; Thøgersen 2002). This

study evolves around the assumption that consumers’ choice between organic and

conventional food products is based not only on the typical self-interest-centered

determinants of purchase intention included in the Ajzen’s (1991) model (Lodorfos

and Dennis 2008), but also on ethical considerations (McEachern and McClean

2002). The addition of moral norms follows the line of similar studies in the

purchasing of organic food products (Thøgersen 2002), as this choice can be linked

to expected positive effects on the personal well-being of individuals. Though prior

literature has not included moral disengagement as a predictor within the TPB

(Ajzen 1991), the present study attempts to integrate it in the model, drawing from

recent research which has investigated the role of moral disengagement in the

context of unethical decisions (Detert et al. 2008). Moreover, it has been applied not

only to circumstances of defiance or disobedience, such as blameworthy or culpable

behaviors, but also to more ordinary situations, such as not purchasing products

which can produce a positive consequence for individuals (Caprara et al. 1996,

2006). Both moral norms and moral disengagement have been integrated in the

model on the basis of the rationale that they are not necessarily opposites. Indeed,

they include diverse components which can be stimulated by the presence of several

contextual factors, such as social factors—i.e., concerning the pressure exerted by

other individuals—and situational factors—i.e., considering the influence exerted by

the environment. For instance, specific circumstances or conditions can induce

morally concerned individuals to perform a morally disengaged conduct. In this

way, social and situational factors can be both simultaneously involved as important

predictors of behavioral intention. This objective is operationalized by demonstrat-

ing that moral norms positively influence the intention to buy organic food products;

on the contrary, it is hypothesized that moral disengagement has a negative effect on

the intention to buy organic food products.

The second objective—i.e., identifying which attribute of organic food product

image mainly affect the significant determinants of the purchase intention—is

carried out through the Prospect method (Caprara et al. 2000), which combines

together the TPB (Ajzen 1991) and the FFM (cf. Digman 1990). The present study

not only applies this theory to the context of organic food consumption, but also

extends it by incorporating moral norms and moral disengagement as further

potential determinants of the purchase intention (Fig. 1).

The third objective concerns the analysis of the role of subjective norms and

moral norms in the purchase of organic food products and the investigation of the

existence of a relationship between them. This study follows a social-psychology

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stream of research according to which social norms—i.e., the accepted rule of what

is right or wrong within a social context (Harre and Lamb 1986, p. 234), which can

include subjective norms—together with moral norms, represent crucial elements

for predicting and explaining social behavior (Fishbein and Ajzen 1975). Besides

their influence on the organic food purchase behavior, here it is expected that

subjective norms can have a considerable impact on moral norms. When evaluating

and choosing alternative products having an ethical connotation, individuals take

into consideration their internalized moral rules and values, which can derive from

an external social pressure (Minton and Rose 1997; Thøgersen 1999).

4 Methodology

4.1 Procedure

A survey was carried out on a sample of organic food consumers from both France

and Italy. These two European countries were selected because they exhibit a

different level of ethical consumerism, more developed in France than in Italy

(Datamonitor 2005). In view of the fact that ethical values and moral principles are

usually shared within a particular country, a comparison between different cultural

communities can display dissimilarities and resemblances in their purchase

behavior.

A structured questionnaire containing measures of the relevant constructs was

developed from a pilot study and administered to the participants in the main study.

In the pilot study, a previous open-ended questionnaire was administered to a

sample of 40 individuals—equally stratified in 20 males and 20 females and

grouped into five age-groups (15–29; 30–41; 42–53; 54–65; and 66?). Participants

were chosen by using the direct interception method (i.e., the random interview of

consumers at the end of their shopping activity) in specialized stores. At this stage,

Actual Behavior (Purchase)

Product Personality Dimensions

ATT

PI

SN

PBC

Assumed (untested) link

MN

MD

Fig. 1 The Conceptual Model. Note: ATT attitude toward the behavior, SN subjective norm, PBCperceived behavioral control, MN moral norm, MD moral disengagement, PI purchase intention. The graybackground indicates newly added explanatory variables

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the most salient beliefs at the basis of intention determinants and moral issues were

identified, according to the expectancy-value approach and following a consolidated

belief-based procedure (Ajzen and Fishbein 1980). More specifically, respondents

were asked to identify: as for attitude, advantages and disadvantages of the purchase

of organic and conventional food products; as for subjective norms, ‘‘important

others’’ that might approve or disapprove the purchase of such products; as for

perceived behavioral control, facts or events that could facilitate or hinder the

purchase intention. Participants further answered to additional questions aimed at

examining: (i) the frequency and the likelihood of purchasing organic food products

in the 2 weeks following the experiment; (ii) the attributes that best describe organic

food product image, which operate as non-Big Five adjectives; (iii) two measures of

moral norms. Results of the pilot study, obtained by putting together the answers

and considering only those with the highest frequency, allowed the construction of

the main questionnaire.

In the main study, a closed-ended questionnaire, based on the highest frequency

answers of the pilot study, was administered to a random sample of 207 consumers,

158 Italians and 49 French. The questionnaire included four sections. The first

section included the measurement of the elements of the extended TPB (Ajzen

1991), by using a seven-point Likert scale. In particular, attitude was measured by

the following behavioral beliefs: ‘‘Follow a healthy and balanced diet’’, ‘‘Eatabsolutely natural products’’, ‘‘Avoid possible food poisoning and/or allergies’’, ‘‘Ahigh price,’’ and ‘‘Difficulty in finding specialized shops’’; subjective norms were

determined by considering the subsequent normative beliefs: ‘‘Partner’s (wife/husband, fiance) approval’’, ‘‘Family’s approval’’, ‘‘Friends’ approval’’; perceivedbehavioral control was evaluated by means of the following control beliefs:

‘‘Health benefits’’, ‘‘Greater variety in shops’’, ‘‘Greater availability in shops’’,

‘‘Shops are far and difficult to reach’’, ‘‘Shop prices are particularly low’’; whereas

moral norms were measured through the following salient beliefs: ‘‘I feel obliged topurchase organic food to protect my health’’, ‘‘I feel obliged to purchase organicfood to protect the health of my family’’. Purchase intention was assessed by means

of two indicators: one assessing the likelihood of performing the purchase behavior

in a specific period of time, and another item evaluating the intention strength.

The second section was aimed at identifying the image of organic food products

by means of 20 adjectives—15 Big Five and 5 non-Big Five, namely healthy,genuine, natural, tasty, and good—evaluated through a seven-point semantic

differential scale. The third section gathered social-demographic questions

(i.e., gender, age, family components, frequency of purchase, and types of point-

of-purchase for organic food products). The fourth section collected data concerning

the moral disengagement scale, a five-point Likert scale consisting of 76 items

(Caprara et al. 1996).

4.1.1 Measures and preliminary reliability analyses

Measures of dependent and independent variables considered in the conceptual

model are illustrated below, along with some reliability analyses performed on

multi-item measures.

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4.1.1.1 Dependent variable Consumers’ intention to buy organic food products

was assumed to be the best predictor of actual purchase; therefore, it was treated as

the dependent variable in the model. Following a consolidated procedure suggested

by Fishbein and Ajzen (1975), this variable was assessed interactively, by using the

two indicators used to evaluate the purchase intention—i.e., the likelihood of

performing the purchase behavior, and the intention strength. Their scores were

multiplied to obtain a composite measure of behavioral intention, which served as

the dependent variable in the statistical model.

4.1.1.2 Independent variables Behavioral intention determinants—They included

the Ajzen’s (1991) determinants of intention—namely, attitude, subjective norm,

and perceived behavioral control—as well as moral norms and moral disengage-ment. According to the expectancy-value approach and following Ajzen’s (1991)

belief-based procedure, attitude was determined as a sum of five multiplicative

indicators; subjective norm as a sum of three multiplicative indicators; and

perceived behavioral control as a sum of five multiplicative indicators. Moral normswere assessed by averaging scores obtained from two different items; whereas

moral disengagement was measured by considering the mean value of the 76 items

of the Caprara et al.’s (1996) scale.

Product perceived personality dimensions—These dimensions were identified

through a factor analysis using the principal component algorithm, the Varimax

rotation, and the ‘‘eigenvalue [ 1’’ rule as the extraction method. This analysis was

carried out on data regarding a set of 15 bipolar marker attributes of the Big five

factors (Caprara et al. 2000), plus five additional bipolar attributes drawn from the

pilot study and describing product-specific dimensions of image. A series of

principal component analyses was conducted to obtain a stable dimensional

solution. At each round of analysis, items loading on more than one factor (cross

loading [ |0.40|), as well as those that did not load on any factor (factor

loading \ |0.40|) were discarded from the subsequent analysis. After three analyses,

10 attributes were retained, as they were found to load on three different factors in a

consistent way (factor loading coefficients [ 0.45). Results showed a stable three-

factor solution capable of explaining around 66% of the overall variance. The first

extracted component, F1, was loaded by three marker attributes capturing a product-

specific dimension, specifically: genuine, natural, and health. These items deal with

the healthy aspect of this product category; therefore, the corresponding component

was declined as Naturalness (Cronbach’s a = 0.87). The second component, F2,

was loaded by three marker attributes of Agreeableness (a Big-five factor), which

are warm, cheerful, and affectionate and patient. It was adapted to the study’s

context and labeled as Authenticity (Cronbach’s a = 0.73). Finally, the third

component, F3, was loaded by three marker attributes of Conscientiousness, in

particular reliable, careful, and safe. Also this component was adapted to the

study’s context and re-labeled as Safety (Cronbach’s a = 0.73). A composite index

was computed for each component, by averaging scores obtained on the

corresponding attributes.

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4.2 Model building and testing: analyses and results

4.2.1 Preliminary analysis

A descriptive analysis was preliminarily carried out on variables involved in the

conceptual model: namely, purchase intention, attitude, subjective norm, perceivedbehavioral control, moral norms, moral disengagement and the three product

personality dimensions of Naturalness, Authenticity, and Safety (Table 1). A

hierarchical regression analysis was conducted to verify the plausibility of the

hypothesized extension of Ajzen’s (1991) theory to both moral norms and moraldisengagement. According to the hierarchical approach followed, the first step of the

analysis considered attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control as

independent variables and purchase intention as the dependent one. Results revealed

an acceptable fit of the basic model to data (Step 1: R2 = 0.388; Adj. R2 = 0.378;

F(3, 203) = 42.814, p \ 0.001) and showed that all the theoretical determinants

positively affected purchase intention (attitude: b = 0.257, p \ 0.001; subjectivenorm: b = 0.407, p \ 0.001; perceived behavioral control: b = 0.306, p \ 0.001).

In the second step, moral norms were included in the regression equation and the

extended model was re-estimated. Results showed a significant improvement in the

model’s fit (Step 2: R2 = 0.493; Adj. R2 = 0.482; F(4, 202) = 49.011, p \ 0.001;

DR2 = 0.105; DF(1, 201) = 41.791, p \ 0.001), while moral norms were found to

exert a significant effect on the dependent variable (b = 0.381, p \ 0.001). These

findings supported the hypothesis of an extension of Ajzen’s theory to this variable.

In the third step, moral disengagement was added to the regression equation. Results

from the model’s re-estimation showed no significant improvement in the model’s

fit (Step 3: R2 = 0.496; Adj. R2 = 0.483; F(5, 201) = 39.488, p \ 0.001;

DR2 = 0.003; DF(1, 201) = 1.202, p [ 0.10), while moral disengagement was

found not to affect purchase intention significantly (b = -0.055, p [ 0.10). This

indicated that a further extension of Ajzen’s (1991) theory to moral disengagement

Table 1 Descriptive statistics and correlations

Variable M SD 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.

1. PI 17.49 13.30 1

2. ATT 25.69 7.14 0.27** 1

3. SN 21.14 11.24 0.46** -0.04 1

4. PBC 23.24 6.87 0.42** 0.11 0.22** 1

5. MN 4.42 1.90 0.56** 0.01 0.51** 0.25** 1

6. MD 2.05 0.45 -0.09 -0.11 0.02 -0.06 0.01 1

7. Naturalness 6.16 1.01 0.25** 0.11 0.13 0.25** 0.22* 0.01 1

8. Authenticity 4.50 0.94 0.34** 0.28** 0.13 0.21* 0.25** 0.07 0.24* 1

9. Safety 5.33 1.04 0.26** 0.12 0.10 0.22* 0.22* -0.08 0.42** 0.45** 1

Note: n = 207. * = p \ 0.01; ** = p \ 0.001. PI purchase intention, ATT attitude toward the behavior, SNsubjective norm, PBC perceived behavioral control; MN moral norm, MD moral disengagement

A structural equation modeling approach 91

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was not plausible, as this variable did not make any contribution to explaining

consumers’ purchase intention toward organic food products.

4.2.2 Structural equation modeling analysis

A basic structural equation model was built by following conventional procedures

and notation (cf. Bollen 1989). Preliminary results from hierarchical regression

analysis suggested that moral disengagement should not be included in the Ajzen’s

(1991) model, as it was found to have no explanatory potential on the consumers’

intention to buy organic food products. Therefore, the basic structural model

included purchase intention as the ultimate dependent, endogenous variable

(formally indicated as g5). It also considered attitude, subjective norm, perceivedbehavioral control, and moral norms as intermediate, endogenous variables

(indicated as g1, g2, g3, and g4, respectively); while moral disengagement was

discarded from the analysis. The three product personality dimensions of

Naturalness, Authenticity, and Safety served as independent, exogenous variables

(indicated as n1, n2, and n3, respectively). All variables included in the model were

treated as latent constructs. They were measured by using single indicators—

obtained from composite indices—as observed variables, and fixing measurement

error variance at an appropriate level to the variance of the corresponding observed

variable (Anderson and Gerbing 1988). The use of a composite indicator, instead of

basic items, as the sole observed variable of a latent construct was suggested by

other studies in marketing research (e.g., Singh and Rhoads 1991; Steenkamp et al.

2003) to be an appropriate procedure when the model is highly complex, as in this

case. Moreover, this item-parceling procedure typically leads to more precise

structural estimates in complex model testing (cf. Bandalos 2002). Figure 2 (below)

illustrates this basic model, by omitting indicators and error terms for clarity

reasons.

Results from a maximum likelihood estimation showed that some statistics did not

reach the minimum thresholds typically requested for an acceptable fit (cf. Hair et al.

2006): Goodness of Fit Index (GFI) = 0.928; Adjusted Goodness of Fit Index

(AGFI) = 0.569; Confirmatory Fit Index (CFI) = 0.821; Bentler–Bonnet Normed

Fit Index (NFI) = 0.818; Root Mean Squared Error of Approximation (RMSEA) =

0.220; while the v2/d.f. ratio was much higher than 5 (v2(6) = 65.663, p \ 0.001;

v2/d.f. = 10.944). These findings suggested that an improvement in the model was

still possible by modifying the basic model.

Based on information provided by structural estimates and modification indices

greater than five, a modified model was built as depicted in Fig. 3 (below). Only

significant structural paths were retained in this rival model. The Safety dimension

of product perceived personality was removed from the analysis, as it turned out not

to play any role in the model; while a structural path was found from subjectivenorms to moral norms.

Estimation of this modified model showed much better fit statistics, which

reached minimum thresholds for acceptable model’s fit (v2(11) = 26.308, p \ 0.01;

v2/d.f. = 2.392; GFI = 0.965; AGFI = 0.912; CFI = 0.942; NFI = 0.908;

RMSEA = 0.082). The v2 difference test also confirmed that the modified model

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performed better than the basic one (Dv2(5) = 39.355, p \ 0.001). Standardized

estimates reported in Table 2 (below) show that all structural paths were significant.

Although traditional antecedents of intention significantly affected this dependent

Naturalness ( 1)

ATT ( 1)

Authenticity ( 2)

Safety ( 3)

SN ( 2)

PBC ( 3)

MN ( 4)

PI ( 5)

Fig. 2 The Basic Structural Model. Note: ATT attitude toward the behavior, SN subjective norm, PBCperceived behavioral control, MN moral norm, MD moral disengagement, PI purchase intention

Naturalness ( 1)

ATT ( 1)

Authenticity ( 2)SN ( 2)

PBC ( 3)

MN ( 4)

PI ( 5)

Fig. 3 The Modified Structural Model. Note: ATT attitude toward the behavior, SN subjective norm,PBC perceived behavioral control, MN moral norm, MD moral disengagement, PI purchase intention

A structural equation modeling approach 93

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variable (attitude: b = 0.290, p \ 0.001; subjective norms: b = 0.232, p \ 0.001;

perceived behavioral control: b = 0.288, p \ 0.001), moral norms were found to be

the main determinant of purchase intention (moral norms: b = 0.436, p \ 0.001)

and, together with standard antecedents of Ajzen’s (1991) theory, to explain a

relevant portion of purchase intention variance (R2 = 0.554). Results also showed

that moral norms were influenced by the two product personality dimensions

regarding Naturalness (c = 0.141, p \ 0.05) and Authenticity (c = 0.176,

p \ 0.05), respectively, and mainly by subjective norms (b = 0.530, p \ 0.001),

thus explaining a substantial portion of its variance (R2 = 0.345).

The latter finding provided evidence of a partial mediation of moral norms in the

relationship from subjective norms to purchase intention, thus showing that social

pressures affect consumers’ intention to buy organic food products not only directly,

but even indirectly, by influencing individual perception of what is right or wrong.

Consistent with the general framework provided by the Prospect method (Caprara

et al. 2000), the obtained results revealed additional effects of product personality

on Ajzen’s (1991) theoretical determinants of intention. They showed that the

Authenticity dimension positively affects attitude (c = 0.319, p \ 0.001;

R2 = 0.102), and Naturalness influences perceived behavioral control (c = 0.287,

p \ 0.001; R2 = 0.082).

4.2.3 Multi-group analysis

A multi-group analysis was carried out to verify whether significant differences

exist between French and Italian consumers in the structural paths of the final

model. This analysis consisted in comparing a constrained model, in which

structural parameters were not allowed to vary across the two sub-groups of

subjects, against an unconstrained one, in which parameters were allowed to change

across the two sub-groups. Results showed that both models fit real data acceptably

(Constrained Model: v2(31) = 58.203, p \ 0.01; v2/d.f. = 1.878; GFI = 0.927;

Table 2 Standardized structural estimates of the modified model

Structural path R2 Standardized

estimate

p Value

ATT (g1) ? PI (g5) 0.554 0.290 0.000

SN (g2) ? PI (g5) 0.232 0.000

PBC (g3) ? PI (g5) 0.288 0.000

MN (g4) ? PI (g5) 0.436 0.000

Authenticity (n2) ? ATT (g1) 0.102 0.319 0.000

Naturalness (n1) ? PBC (g3) 0.082 0.287 0.000

SN (g2) ? MN (g5) 0.345 0.530 0.000

Naturalness (n1) ? MN (g5) 0.141 0.041

Authenticity (n2) ? MN (g5) 0.176 0.011

Naturalness (n1)$ Authenticity (n2) 0.266 0.000

Note: n = 207. v2 (11) = 26.308, p \ 0.001; v2/d.f. = 2.392; GFI = 0.965; AGFI = 0.912;

CFI = 0.942; NFI = 0.908; RMSEA = 0.082

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AGFI = 0.869; CFI = 0.903; NFI = 0.819; RMSEA = 0.065; Unconstrained

Model: v2(22) = 42.736, p \ 0.01; v2/d.f. = 1.943; GFI = 0.945; AGFI = 0.861;

CFI = 0.926; NFI = 0.867; RMSEA = 0.068). The v2 difference test was barely

significant (Dv2(9) = 15.467, p \ 0.10), thus showing that the unconstrained model

did not perform substantially better than the constrained one. It was also considered

worthwhile to compare structural parameters across the two sub-groups of subjects

as reported in Table 3.

Results showed that, compared to Italian consumers, French consumers’ intention

to buy organic food products is only affected by moral norms, which in turn are

influenced by subjective norms. On the other hand, the influence pattern emerged for

Italian consumers was very similar to that found out for the overall sample. Yet, it

must be noted that these parameters should be interpreted with caution, as potential

biases associated with small sample size and sub-groups’ heterogeneity might have

been undermined the validity of results. Although the influence patterns that emerged

for French versus Italian consumers seemed very different, a difference test provided

evidence of inconsistency in multi-group estimates. Results from such a test

confirmed the existence of only two differences emerged between the two sub-

groups’ parameters: the first one regarded the casual link from perceived behavioralcontrol to purchase intention (the difference between the two structural parameters

was significant at a 0.001 level), while the second difference regarded the casual link

from subjective norms to moral norms (the difference between the two structural

parameters was significant at a 0.10 level).

5 Discussion

The purpose of the present study was, firstly, to investigate the relevance of the

ethical dimension in organic food product purchasing, by considering moral norms

Table 3 Standardized structural estimates from the sub-group analysis

Structural path French group (49 ss.) Italian group (158 ss.)

R2 Standardized estimate R2 Standardized estimate

ATT (g1) ? PI (g5) 0.428 0.187 0.645 0.319***

SN (g2) ? PI (g5) 0.213 0.296***

PBC (g3) ? PI (g5) 0.027 0.433***

MN (g4) ? PI (g5) 0.519*** 0.338***

Authenticity (n2) ? ATT (g1) 0.047 0.218 0.076 0.276**

Naturalness (n1) ? PBC (g3) 0.008 0.088 0.121 0.348***

SN (g2) ? MN (g5) 0.206 0.290* 0.411 0.589***

Naturalness (n1) ? MN (g5) 0.226 0.130

Authenticity (n2) ? MN (g5) 0.174 0.192*

Naturalness (n1) $ Authenticity (n2) 0.513** 0.208*

Note: n = 207. v2(22) = 42.736, p \ 0.01; v2/d.f. = 1.943; GFI = 0.945; AGFI = 0.861; CFI = 0.926;

NFI = 0.867; RMSEA = 0.068. * = p \ 0.05; ** = p \ 0.01; *** = p \ 0.001

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and moral disengagement as additional factors of the Theory of planned behavior.

Secondly, the objective was to evaluate the effect of organic food product

personality traits on the predictors of the purchase intention, by using the Prospectmethod (Caprara and Barbaranelli 2000; Caprara et al. 2000) as the theoretical

framework. Thirdly, this study had the objective to understand the antecedents of

the ethical dimension influencing such a purchase. Furthermore, a cross-cultural

appraisal of different perceptions between Italian and French organic food products

consumers was presented. To accomplish such purposes, a structural equation model

which explain the role of the considered variables in the decision making process

was proposed.

Findings showed that, in line with what was hypothesized, the TPB extended to

the ethical dimension can be considered as a valuable tool to explain the purchase

behavior in the organic food sector. This result is in accordance with recent studies

which have highlighted the relevance of attitude, subjective norms, perceivedbehavioral control (Chen 2007; Lodorfos and Dennis 2008; Tarkiainen and

Sundqvist 2005) and ethical concern (Arvola et al. 2008; Honkanen et al. 2006;

Thøgersen 2002) as predictors of organic food products purchase behavior.

In the proposed model, the ethical dimension is represented only by moral normsand does not include moral disengagement—which was found not to be a predictive

variable. A number of reasons can explicate this result. Firstly, in this study the data

collection method has probably caused a distortion of the measurement of moraldisengagement, thus showing a ‘‘social desirability’’ bias (Fisher 1993). Such a bias

refers to the human tendency to present oneself in the best possible way and this can

significantly distort the information gained from self-reports. Furthermore, respon-

dents could be unwilling or unable to report accurately on sensitive topics. When

interviewed, individuals generally tend to give answers and opinions in line with the

common view and avoid replies which can be in contrast with their own moral

codes. Therefore, data collected following this method can be systematically

distorted in relation to what individuals recognize as adequate or socially approved.

Secondly, the moral disengagement scale (Caprara et al. 1996) used in this study

contains a series of items which can be considered extremely broad and general to

be employed for measuring the moral disengagement of organic food product

consumers.

As mentioned above, the ethical dimension included moral norms, which also

have the highest influence in predicting the purchase intention in the decision

making process. When choosing between conventional and organic food products,

consumers take into consideration not merely benefits, availability and price, as well

as opinions of ‘‘important others’’, but also a need of congruence toward specific

values and principles they refer to. In their decision they consider the effects that

food products may have on themselves and their family’s health, the environment,

and the well-being of animals. A strong concern for moral issues in the evaluation

and selection of alternatives therefore implies that the moral dimension contributes

in a decisive way in shaping the intention to buy organic food products, from both a

symbolic and material perspective (Arvola et al. 2008; Honkanen et al. 2006;

Thøgersen 2002).

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Results of this study not only showed the primary influence of this moral

dimension for purchasing organic food, but also contributed to the identification of

its main antecedents. An important result of the study is that moral norms to buy

organic products were found to be strongly shaped by perceived subjective norms.

Therefore, the feeling of moral obligation that consumers experience when deciding

to choose organically produced products can derive either from the adherence to

expectations of ‘‘important others’’ or from the observance of well-established

cultural conviction and principles. Hence, the role of social pressure in the purchase

of organic food is twofold, since it has both a direct effect on purchase intention,

and an indirect effect through moral norms, thus obtaining a higher total effect. This

result is congruent with similar findings obtained in the environmental field (Minton

and Rose 1997; Thøgersen 1999). Furthermore, recent research findings showed

personal influence to be a strong determinant for the diffusion of organic food

products (Chakrabarti and Baisya 2009).

Considering the analysis of the latent image dimensions, two out of three

personality traits of organic food products were found to play a determining role in

the path analysis, namely: Naturalness and Authenticity. Naturalness is saturated by

adjectives such as genuine, healthy and natural, and it turned out to influence both

perceived behavioral control and moral norms. This result is in line with previous

research which recognized the key benefit of food products in terms of healthiness(Cicia et al. 2009; McEachern and McClean 2002; Padel and Foster 2005; Zanoli

and Naspetti 2002). Consumers perceive that organic food products, when compared

to conventionally produced alternatives, have long-term beneficial effects on ones’

health, as they are free of chemical and pesticide residues, additives and

preservatives. Authenticity, saturated by Big-Five attributes such as warm, cheerful,affectionate and patient, is found to affect both attitude and moral norms. Therefore,

consumers perceive organic food as trust-based and environmental-friendly

products, which they can rely onto protect themselves and the world they live in.

These image dimensions—Authenticity and Naturalness—can be linked with

credence characteristics and quality dimensions which typify organic food. Indeed,

organically produced products present aspects which are difficult to evaluate, such

as the agricultural system used for them, their compositional integrity, safety and

nutrition attributes. Notwithstanding consumers cannot exactly appraise these

characteristics, they consider such attributes as having an important role in their

decision making process.

As regards the cross-cultural comparison between Italian and French individuals,

findings concerning Italy showed the same results obtained for the overall sample,

whereas in France the TPB (Ajzen 1991) was not able to explain consumers’

intention to buy organic products. Although this result was not confirmed in a

difference test on structural coefficients, probably due to the limited sample size, it

was found that for French consumers the main motivator for purchasing organic

food products is moral obligation. On the contrary, they do not consider crucial such

aspects as assortment, availability, and premium prices, which are generally

considered obstacles to this kind of purchase (Lea and Worsley 2005; Padel and

Foster 2005; Zanoli and Naspetti 2002).

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6 Implications

The present study could have remarkable implications for organic food product

companies and marketers when dealing with persuasive communications. The

findings suggest that promotional strategies of organic food products should

consider moral and normative beliefs, as well as specific product attributes of

organic food.

Propensity to choose organic products seems to be strongly motivated by moralnorms, both for the Italian and the French sample. So, in these countries the demand

of these goods may be enlarged by the activation of ethical beliefs, both directly and

indirectly. A direct strategy aimed at influencing moral norms should create a

feeling of moral responsibility toward one’s own safety, his/her family health, and

the preservation of the natural environment (Honkanen et al. 2006). Indeed,

consumers could have a strong ethical concern but they might not consider the link

between these moral obligations and the purchase of organic food products.

Consequently, encouraging individuals to do the right thing may enhance their

intention to buy these products (Verplanken and Holland 2002; Honkanen et al.

2006).

Being moral norms mostly affected by subjective norms, they can be activated

also indirectly through this determinant, using a social influence approach (e.g.,

Minton and Rose 1997). A valuable strategy should consider the communication of

specific messages which involves credible sources, such as public figures and

opinion leaders. Communication messages should express positive feelings of self-

esteem related to the consumption of organic food and/or negative feelings of blame

linked to the purchasing of conventionally produced alternatives.

Intention to choose organic food was found to be influenced by personal

predisposition toward them, especially for the Italian sample. This fact suggests that

these products should be marketed by enhancing individuals’ intrinsic inclination

and encouraging its conversion into purchase behavior. The organic industry could

enlarge the spread of organic food products by significantly advertising the

advantages linked to their consumption, such as the absence of chemicals and any

other environmental benefit. This communication activity should be directed not

only to the minority of frequent users but also to larger consumer segments, in order

to draw the attention of non-users and modify their attitude (Honkanen et al. 2006).

To this end, the implementation of informative and educational marketing

campaigns would be valuable, also considering that little knowledge still exists

on the production process of organic products (McEachern and McClean 2002).

The consideration of perceived behavioral control as another factor capable of

influencing intention to purchase organic food products emphasizes the relevance of

their availability, variety and price, especially in Italy (Lea and Worsley 2005; Padel

and Foster 2005; Zanoli and Naspetti 2002). Such aspects are linked to the point-of-

purchase of organic products, which are generally sold in specialized shops and,

recently, also in super- and hyper-markets. On the one hand, consumers have a

deeper confidence in specialized stores, but on the other, they favor large retailing

formats because of their convenience, assortment and accessibility (Padel and Foster

2005). The occurrence of a premium price characterizing organic products can be

98 G. Guido et al.

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considered an obstacle to their diffusion, especially among low-income consumers

(Lea and Worsley 2005; Zanoli and Naspetti 2002). On the other hand, again, a

reduction of price is not always an adequate decision, as price could be taken as a

signal of their specific features and value (Padel and Foster 2005).

Naturalness and Authenticity are the latent dimensions of the organic food

product image to be employed for an effective communication activity, particularly

in Italy. Marketing messages should be created around the concept of healthiness

and genuineness, by making use of marker attributes such as genuine, healthy, and

natural. Furthermore, advertising programs should be based on the concepts of

friendliness by using adjective such as warm, cheerful, affectionate, and patient.The relevance of these credence attributes underlines the considerable role played

both by certification and labeling aimed at reinforcing consumers confidence in

organic food products. Furthermore, diffusion of information on advantages and

characteristics of organic farming could contribute to the identification and

authentication of these products. The organic industry could benefit from the

positive beliefs and perceptions that individuals have about it—in comparison with

conventionally produced alternatives. Indeed, companies should implement com-

munication strategies aimed at spreading their advantages in terms of product

characteristics and benefits, thus achieving a more reliable guarantee of their

approval.

7 Conclusions

When making their food choice, consumers often show complex and at times

conflicting motivations (Naspetti and Zanoli 2009), ranging from the need for

gratification, wellness, expression of one’s own identity, social interaction, sense of

belonging (Colacchio et al. 2008). Results of this study reveal that both French and

Italian consumer’s intention to purchase organic food products is primarily based on

an ethical dimension, which stems not only from individuals’ own moral code, but

also from internalized norms shared by the cultural groups they live in. Consumers

choose to buy organic food as it is perceived to be ethical both from a moral and a

material perspective, in that it does not lead to detrimental consequences on human

health and on the environment.

Acknowledgments The authors would like to thank Dr Giorgia A. Pollara for her assistance in data

collection and codification.

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