Antecedents of purchase intention toward organic food: A study of young consumers in Vietnam
ANTECEDENTS OF PURCHASE INTENTION TOWARD ORGANIC
FOOD: A STUDY OF YOUNG CONSUMERS IN VIETNAM
Nguyen Thi Tuyet Mai
Nguyen Minh Chau
Le Minh Duc
Pham Ngoc Mai
Vu Khanh Huyen Tran
Nguyen Ha Ngoc
National Economic University, Vietnam
Phan Thanh Hung
University of Labor and Social Affairs, Hanoi - Vietnam
Abstract
This study aims to investigate some factors influencing purchase intention toward organic
food among young consumers in Vietnam, an emerging economy. The extended Theory of
Planned Behavior was used as theoretical framework for this study. In order to test the
proposed model and hypotheses, a survey was conducted on a sample including 370 young
consumers in Hanoi, the capital city of Vietnam. The findings of structural equation modeling
indicate that attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control toward organic food
purchase are positively related to purchase intention. In addition, health consciousness, trust
in labeling and certification, and modern self are found to be significant predictors of attitude
toward buying organic food. The research findings were discussed and future research
directions were provided.
Keywords: Organic food, purchase intention, health consciousness, modern self, trust,
Theory of Planned Behavior, young consumers, Vietnam
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Antecedents of purchase intention toward organic food: A study of young
consumers in Vietnam
Introduction
The environment issues such as climate change and pollution have drawn much attention
from consumers and have significant impact on their purchase behaviors in both developed
and developing countries. With regard to food-purchasing behavior, consumers have been
concerned about the environmental effects of pesticides, chemical fertilizers, and food safety
that lead to their remarkably increasing interest in organic food (Hughner et al., 2007). The
market of organic food products has become more popular worldwide and is considered as an
emerging market (cf. Wang and Tsai, 2014).
Similar to many other emerging economies, where rapid economic growth is often at
the expense of the environment, Vietnam has been facing challenges of environmental
depletion. With regard to food sector, food safety scandals related to such issues as
agrochemical contaminations, pesticide residues and unsafe-processed food regularly appear
on popular media news in Vietnam. This has resulted in growing concerns and anxiety among
consumers regarding food safety (Wertheim-Heck and Spaargaren, 2016). Many consumers
feel confused and doubtful when shopping daily for food. As a result, consumers are now
becoming more active in seeking for healthier and safer food, and organic food has shown
advantages over the conventional ones in this aspect. Organic food now is increasingly
available in modern channels such as supermarkets and organic food stores in the cities like
Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh city. Urban consumers become more familiar with some store brands
where they can find organic food such as Vinmart (a supermarket chain of Vingroup), TH,
Clever Food, Orfarm, Sói Biển (Sea Wolf food store), and Bác Tôm. As the consumption of
organic food is becoming an emerging trend, this is meaningful to examine this phenomenon
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in the context of Vietnam where the knowledge about organic food and consumer buying
behavior toward this product is still very modest.
The growing levels of concerns and anxiety regarding food safety issues among
consumers in emerging economies like Vietnam has captured significant attention from both
practitioners and academic scholars (Ortega and Tschirley, 2017; Thøgersen et al., 2015;
Truong and Yap, 2012; Wertheim-Heck and Spaargaren, 2016). However, in academic
marketing literature, it is noted that the research interest in organic topics, including organic
food purchase behavior is still limited (Doorn and Verhoef, 2015), especially in the context of
developing and emerging economies (Liang, 2014).
In this study, we propose an extended Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) as a
theoretical framework to investigate the antecedents of intention to purchase organic food
among young urban Vietnamese consumers. Specifically, in addition to three antecedents
purchase intention (PI) from the TPB model (i.e., attitude, subjective norm, and perceived
behavioral control toward buying organic food), we integrate three factors regarding
consumer characteristics as antecedents of attitude toward organic food purchase into the
model. These antecedents include health consciousness (HC), trust in labeling and
certifications (TR), and modern self (MS), of which the first two factors have become
prominent, and the third one is specifically associated with the economic transformation
process in the context of an emerging and transitional economy of Vietnam.
This research is expected to contribute to enhancing our knowledge of an important
buying behavior, organic food purchase, in an Asian emerging country where, to our best
understanding, the topic has received only modest research attention. In this paper, following
the introduction section, we first present a theoretical background and hypotheses. We then
discuss the research methodology, followed by the research results. Finally, we discuss the
findings and provide implications. Future research directions are also suggested.
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Theoretical background and hypotheses
The research context
Vietnam is an emerging country in Southeast Asia with large population of more than 96
million people. The country has implemented economic transition since 1986, moving toward
market-oriented economy, and it has achieved impressive economic growth rates over the
past years. However, together with the economic development Vietnam has been facing
hazards regarding environmental degradation. Food safety is one of the serious issues related
to depleted environment that Vietnamese consumers have increasingly been concerned about.
This has led to increasing demand for organic food among many Vietnamese consumers,
especially affluent families. However, domestic consumption of organic food in Vietnam is
still considered at a low level, partly due to modest income levels (Truong and Yap, 2012).
Hanoi is a capital city of Vietnam, where food safety anxiety among consumers is
paramount (Wertheim-Heck and Spaargaren, 2016). The retailing system in Hanoi has been
developed considerably toward modernization with rapid growth of modern distribution
outlets such as supermarkets, retail store chains and online channel where variety of foods
including organic food can be found. Hanoi is also an interesting and meaningful location
that has attracted many previous studies examining various consumer behaviors in the context
of an emerging and transitioning economy of Vietnam (e.g., Nguyen et al., 2003; Nguyen and
Smith, 2012; Nguyen and Nguyen, 2017).
Vietnam is a country with young population. Increasing number of Vietnamese young
consumers in cities play an active role in the new consumption culture (Pham and Richards,
2015). Past research has suggested that young consumers are important because they are
more concerned and responsible pertaining to the environment and environmental protection
issues. They are more receptive to new ideas and new products such as organic food. In
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Vietnam, the knowledge of organic food is still limited and the purchase toward these
products is just an emerging trend. Young urban Vietnamese consumers are expected to be an
important group who are more likely to be the driving force and pioneers in environmentally
friendly behaviors such as organic food purchase. In this study, the young urban consumers
are selected to serve our research purpose regarding understanding factors influencing
consumer intention to buy organic food.
In this study, we focus on organic food, an important type of green products. In the
literature, organic food has been considered as those products that are grown using methods
and materials without the use of toxic pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers (cf., Lee at al.,
2015). In line with that, according to Liang (2014), organic food refers to the products
produced without artificial pesticides or chemicals. It has been suggested that organic food
and conventional food are basically different regarding the production methods, and organic
food refers to those are produced through a natural system that enhances biological cycles,
reduces pollution, and simultaneously providing livestock and farmers a safe and healthy
environment (cf., Truong and Yap, 2012). On the basis of previous studies, in this study,
organic food is defines as the environmentally friendly products that are produced and
processed using methods and materials without using toxic pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers
and chemicals. This study attempts to investigate the antecedents driving the intention to buy
organic food among young urban consumers in an emerging country of Vietnam, with the
emphasis on the role of several consumer characteristics in predicting attitude toward organic
food purchase.
Antecedents of purchase intention toward organic food
Attitude, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control toward organic food purchase
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In literature, the Theory of Planned Behavior (Ajzen, 1991) is a well-applied model that has
been proven successful in predicting and explaining various behaviors across a variety of
domains, especially those under volitional control. In consumer research, previous studies
have extensively employed TPB to explain consumer behaviors, including environmentally
friendly purchase behavior (e.g., Chan 2001; Lee et al., 2015; see Godin, G. and Kok, 1996 as
well). In the field of food purchase behavior, Ajzen (1991)’s TPB model has been proved to
be appropriate model to explain consumers’ food selecting behavior (e.g., Chen, 2007; Lee et
al., 2015; Liang, 2014). This study also employs the TPB model as a theoretical foundation to
investigate the antecedents of purchase intention toward organic food among young urban
Vietnamese consumers.
The central factor in the TPB model, behavioral intention construct plays the role as a
powerful predictor of the behavior (Ajzen, 2011). In our study, we focus on explaining the
consumers’ purchase intention (PI), rather than the behavior. The TPB model indicates three
important antecedents of behavioral intention, including attitude toward the behavior,
subjective norms, and the perceived behavioral control (Ajzen, 1991). In this study, based on
the TPB model, attitude (ATT) refers to the consumer’s positive or negative evaluation of
organic food purchase. The second variable from the TPPB model, subjective norms (SN)
can be defined as the perceived social pressure that encourages one to engage in buying
organic food. The third variable, perceived behavioral control (PBC) refers to the difficulty or
ease perceived by an individual to perform the purchase of organic food.
Previous studies have provided empirical evidence for supporting the positive impact of
the antecedents from the TPB model on purchase intention with regard to green products in
general, and organic food in particular (e.g., Chen, 2007; Lee et al., 2015; Liang, 2014;
Liang, 2016). Although the findings regarding the impact of the three antecedents from the
TPB have been inconsistent and dependent on the specific research context, generally these
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variables have been found to have direct and positive impact on PI. For example, the findings
from a recent study by Lee at al. (2015) examining consumer motives for purchasing organic
coffee in the context of urban South Korea show that all three antecedents of the TPB model
were significant predictors of PI, of which PBC was found to have weakest impact on PI.
When studying Finnish consumers in buying organic food, the findings from a study by
Tarkianen and Sundqvist (2005), while confirming the role of attitude toward organic food
purchase as a significant predictor of PI, subjective norms were found to have indirect impact
on PI through ATT. In the context of buying organic food online of Taiwaness consumers,
Liang (2014) found that all three TPB’s variables were significantly related to PI with the
highest prediction magnitude of ATT and the lowest one of SN. However, the findings from
another study of organic food purchase among urban Taiwanese by Teng and Wang (2015)
show that SN was more powerful than ATT in predicting PI.
On the basis of the above arguments, in this study, we re-test the relationships between
three important variables of the TPB model and purchase intention toward organic food in the
context of urban Vietnam. We expect to see the similar findings pertaining to the
significantly positive impact of these antecedents on PI. Therefore, we propose the following
hypotheses.
H1: The consumer attitude toward organic food purchase is positively related to organic
food purchase intention.
H2: The consumer subjective norm toward organic food purchase is positively related to
organic food purchase intention.
H3: The consumer perceived behavioral control toward organic food purchase is
positively related to organic food purchase intention.
Variables regarding consumer characteristics
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Although the TPB model has been well researched in the literature, its sufficiency in
explaining consumer intentions and behaviors is still being questioned (Lee at al., 2015).
Previous studies have sought to extend the TPB model by incorporating new variables with
the purpose of understanding better the intention and behavior in the specific research context
(Joshi and Rahman 2016; Nguyen and Nguyen, 2017; Teng and Wang, 2015). In the context
of organic food purchase, consumers’ concerns for health and consumer trust have been
considered as important factors and among the most predominant motives (Lee et al., 2015;
Tarkiainen and Sundqvist, 2005; Teng and Wang, 2015). Thus, we find it important to
incorporate health consciousness and consumer trust into our research model as antecedents
of organic food purchase behavior. In addition, the important role of self-concept in shaping
consumer behaviors has long been investigated in literature. In this study, we also examine
the role of modern self (Nguyen et al., 2009), an important and interesting individual
difference variable that is associated with the specific context of a transitional economy of
Vietnam.
Health consciousness. It has been suggested that healthiness has become an important
determinant for food purchases, and the concern for health improvement is one of main
reasons for consumers to buy organic food (cf., Chen, 2009). Organic foods are generally
marketed and perceived as being more nutritious, healthier, and safer compared with the
conventional alternatives (Chen, 2009; Teng and Wang, 2015). Therefore, many consumers
have more favorable attitude toward organic food regarding its better health benefits.
Previous studies have examined the relationship between health consciousness and attitude
toward organic food (e.g., Chen, 2009; Tarkiainen and Sundqvist, 2005). The construct of
health consciousness (HC) refers to an individual’s readiness to do something to his/her own
health (Chen, 2009). In line with this, according to Jayanti and Burns (1998), HC can be
defined as the degree to which health concerns are integrated into an individual’s daily
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activities. Past research have provided mixed empirical findings pertaining to the positive
impact of HC on attitude toward organic food purchase. For example, the findings from Chen
(2009) confirmed the important role of HC in predicting Taiwanese consumers’ ATT toward
organic food purchase, while the study of Tarkiainen and Sundqvist (2005) could not find
empirical support for the relationship between HC and ATT for Finnish consumers.
In Vietnam nowadays, consumers can see and hear the news in various media regarding
the issues such as dirty and un-safe food, toxic chemicals used in producing and processing
food that cause serious health problems. This has led to growing level of concerns for health
when consumers buy food daily. Organic food have been introduced to Vietnamese market
with the image of clean, safe, healthy and also expensive. Many young urban Vietnamese
have become emerging consumers with higher income levels and better knowledge including
knowledge of organic food. It is expected that when they are more concerned about their
health, they are more likely to hold positive attitude toward organic food purchase. Based on
the above discussion, the following hypothesis is presented.
H4: Health consciousness is positively related to the consumer attitude toward organic
food purchase.
Trust in labeling and certification. Trust can be defined as the degree of readiness to rely
on one subject matter according to the confidence of its credibility, benevolence and
capability (Hart et al, 1997). In this study, we employ the construct of trust in labeling and
certification (TR) that refers to the degree of an individual’s readiness to rely on organic
labels and certification. With regards to the organic food market, the certification seal as well
as place of origin play a role as indicators, asserting products to be naturally-grown and
pesticide-free (Atkinson and Rosenthal, 2014; Krystallis and Chryssohoidis, 2005). It is noted
that organic food labeling is indeed an important factor that helps create a positive image for
organic food (Liang, 2016). Al-Swide et al. (2014) also stated that positive attitude toward
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label of product enhances consumer reliability and trust in the product. In the literature, trust
has been found to be positive predictor of attitude toward organic coffee (Lee at al., 2015).
With regard to organic food, the positive relationship between TR – ATT was also found in a
study by Teng and wang (2015). In the context of Vietnam, where many consumers seem still
to be confused about whether the organic labels and certifications are genuine or not, we
expect that the more young consumers trust in organic labeling and certification the more
likely they have positive attitude toward organic food purchase. Thus, we present the
following hypothesis.
H5: Trust in labeling and certification is positively related to organic food purchase
intention.
Modern self. In the context of Asian transitional economies, Nguyen et al. (2009) have
developed the scale ‘perceptions of self’ including two self aspects, perception of traditional
self and perception of modern self that are considered to coexist in each individual. In past
research, these aspects of self have been treated as separate variables. In the context of
buying organic food, the construct ‘modern self’ (MS) shows potential contribution to
organic food purchase. According to Nguyen et al. (2009), MS refers to “the degree to which
an individual’s self-concept is consistent with the norms, values, and beliefs imported from
more developed countries after economic transition began” (p. 207). Specifically, MS places
importance on modern values and beliefs imported from more developed countries.
Consumers holding a high level of MS often belong to the group of younger and higher
educated people with higher income. These consumers tend to be more open to new things
and are more likely to be active in buying and consuming new products, using new and
modern distribution channels (Nguyen et al., 2009). Therefore, the modern consumers are
expected to have positive attitude toward buying organic food, new, on-trend, better quality
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products that are often sold in modern channels. Based on the above discussion, the following
hypothesis is presented.
H6: Modern self is positively related to organic food purchase intention.
In sum, this study focuses on examining the relationships between the antecedents (i.e.,
three variables from the TPB model and several additional variables regarding consumer
characteristics) and PI toward organic food in the context of Vietnam, an Asian emerging
economy. The proposed conceptual framework is presented in Figure 1.
Figure 1. Conceptual framework: Antecedents of organic food purchase intention among
young Vietnamese consumers
Consumer characteristics:
-
-
-
Health consciousness
Trust in label & certification
Modern self
Attitude
+
+
Subjective
norm
Organic food
Purchase Intention
+
+
Perceived
behavioral control
Research Methodology
Sample and data collection
To achieve our research objectives, we conducted a survey in Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam.
Hanoi has been selected as a research site in previous consumer studies in the context of
Vietnam (e.g., Nguyen and Smith 2012; Pham and Richards, 2015; Wertheim-Heck and
Spaargaren, 2016). In this study, selection of Hanoi for data collection helps ensure the
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necessary conditions for the occurrence of organic food purchase among young consumers
(e.g., significant number of emerging consumers and the availability of organic food in the
market).
To collect data for our study, we mainly used online method with Google form designed
to serve our purpose of studying organic food purchase behaviors among young consumers
from 18 to 35 years old in Hanoi. Data was collected within 10 days by a young and well-
trained research team, and total of 370 valid questionnaires were used for final analysis. In
our sample, there were more females (65.41%) than males (34.59%). More than 80% of
respondents were single. The sample covered the range of ages from 18 to 35 with the age
average of 23.2. More than 38% of the respondents held a high level of education (holding
bachelor degree or above), and nearly 73% earned an average monthly income of less than
VND 7.5mil; many of them received financial support from their families. The sample
included a variety of occupations with the majority being students and office staff (around
90%). Table 1 presents demographic profile of our respondents.
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Table 1. Demographic profile of respondents (n = 370).
Characteristics
Frequency
% of Total
Gender
Male
Female
128
242
34.59
65.41
Single
301
69
81.35
18.65
Marital status
Married
Age group (years) ≤ 22 (18-22)
251
119
67.84
32.16
> 22 (23-35)
Level of education ≥ bachelor degree
142
228
38.38
61.62
< bachelor degree
Occupations
Owners/managers
Marketing, sales and service
Office staff
10
20
58
2.70
5.40
15.68
Others (students, etc.)
282
76.22
Monthly household < VND 15mil (≈ US$680)
157
213
42.43
57.57
income
≥ VND 15mil
Monthly personal
income
< VND 7.5mil (≈ US$340)
≥ VND 7.5mil
270
100
72.97
27.03
Scales and questionnaire development
In this study, we adapted the established scales in the literature. Specifically, the scales
measuring the three antecedents from the TPB (i.e. ATT, SN, and PBC) and PI were adapted
from Ajzen (1991) and Armitage and Conner (1999): PI, ATT and PBC each was measured
by three items; SN was measured by 4 items. We adapted the scale measuring HC from
Jayanti and Burns (1998), including 6 items. The scale measuring trust in labeling and
certification was adapted from Atkinson and Rosenthal (2014) and Moussa and Touzani
(2008). The five-item scale measuring MS was adopted from Nguyen et al. (2009). This scale
was developed for the specific context of Asian transitional economies and the Vietnamese
version of the scale was available for use. All the scale items are scored on a 7-point Likert-
type format ranging from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (7).
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In our study, the questionnaire was developed based on the scales measuring seven
constructs in the research model. In addition, some demographic questions such as gender,
marital status, age, education level, occupation, income and main financial sources were
included at the end of the questionnaire. The items originally in English were first translated
into Vietnamese and then were translated back into English through the back-and-forth
translation process (cf. Nguyen and Tambyah 2011). A small convenience sample of young
consumers in the age range of 18 to 35 years old was employed to test the questionnaire for
the purpose of making necessary changes regarding the content understanding and the format
of the questionnaire.
Research findings
Since the scales used in our study are established in the literature, we assessed the reliability
and validity of the scales through performing Cronbach’s alpha and confirmatory factor
analysis (CFA). After that, structural equation modeling (SEM) was employed to test the
proposed research model and hypotheses.
Scale assessment
Confirmatory factor analysis
We conducted CFA for each scale measuring the constructs in our model. The results showed
satisfactory fit indices. After that we conducted the full measurement model including all
items measuring the constructs in our model, and five latent variables. Two item measuring
HC, one item measuring ATT, one item measuring PBC, and one item measuring SN were
dropped due to several values of standardized residual covariances associated with it were
larger than 2.58 (Hair et al., 1998). The results of CFA indicated that our model fit the data
189
well: χ2 (207) = 389.153; CMIN/df = 1.88, p < .01; GFI = .918; CFI = .962; TLI = .954; and
RMSEA = .049. All t-tests of the observed variables were significant at the .001 level.
To check the potential concern of common method bias in using a survey we conducted
exploratory factor analysis on 20 remaining items measuring the antecedents of PI. The
results proved six factors, which explain 73.986 per cent of the variance with the first factor
accounted for 15.498 per cent and the last one accounted for 7.459 per cent. Since none
single factor explained most of the variance, common method bias was not a threat in this
study (Podsakoff et al., 2003; see Lee et al., 2015 as well).
Cronbach’s alpha
To test the scale reliability, the Cronbach’s alpha was calculated for each scale used in our
study. The alphas ranged from .816 (for PBC) to .897 (for ATT), that demonstrated a good
level of reliability with the coefficient alphas exceeding the cut-off value of .70 (Hair et al.
1998).
The structural equation model and hypothesis testing
Correlations among the constructs
Before testing the research model and the proposed hypotheses, we checked correlations
among the constructs used in this study. Table 2 shows no serious multicollinearity problem
and in general the correlation coefficients are significant and in the direction as expected. The
highest correlation value is .639 (p <.01) for the correlation between ATT and PI toward
buying organic food.
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Table 2: Correlation matrix and descriptive statistics.
Mean
5.186
4.917
4.715
4.741
5.632
4.265
5.585
S.D.
1
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
1.144
1.239
1.228
1.253
1.026
1.148
.934
1. ATT
2. SN
3. PBC
4. PI
.622**
1
.365**
.639**
.324**
.644**
1
.465**
1
. 291**
. 291**
. 344**
.303**
.239**
.267**
.235**
.140**
.248**
.343**
.257**
.316**
1
5. HC
6. TR
5. MS
.166**
.256**
1
.167**
1
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).
*. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).
Structural path analysis
The results of the structural equation analysis indicated that the model achieved a good level
of fit: χ2 (211) = 498.185; CMIN/df = 2.361, p < .01; GFI = .903; CFI = .940; TLI = .928; and
RMSEA = .061. The R2 for ATT was .281 and for PI was .600. These showed evidence that
the model provided considerable insights with regard to antecedents of PI toward buying
organic food. Six hypotheses were tested and all six hypothesized paths were statistically
significant and in the predicted direction.
With regard to the direct paths between the antecedents and intention to purchase organic
food, attitude was found to be a significant predictor of PI (β1 = .414; t-value = 8.201) and its
impact magnitude was the greatest among the three antecedents. Thus, H1 received support
from the data. The results also provided support for H2 (γ1 = .396; t-value = 6.915), pertaining
to the positive impact of SN on PI. With regard to the impact of PBC, the findings also
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confirmed that PBC was significantly related to PI (γ2 =.263; t-value = 4.949). Thus, H3 was
supported.
H4 proposes the positive relationship between HC and ATT toward purchasing organic
food. As predicted, this hypothesis received support from the data (γ3 = .212, t-value =
3.852). With regard to the relationship between TR and ATT, the results showed that TR was
a significant predictor of ATT (γ4 =.230, t-value = 4.372), lending support for H5. The
findings also confirmed MS as a significantly positive predictor of ATT (γ5 =.313, t-value =
5.265). Thus, H6 was supported. Among three antecedents of ATT pertaining to consumers’
characteristics, MS showed the strongest impact on ATT toward buying organic food,
followed by TR, and finally HC. The results of hypothesis testing are summarized in Table 3.
Table 3: Estimates of structural equation coefficients.
Hypotheses
Structural path
Standardized estimate
P value
H1
H2
H3
H4
H5
H6
ATT – PI
SN – PI
.414
.396
.263
.212
.230
.313
< .01*
< .01*
< .01*
< .01*
< .01*
< .01*
PBC – PI
HC – ATT
TR – ATT
MS – ATT
*: the hypothesis is supported
Discussion and future research directions
Discussion on the findings
This study aims to investigate the impact of several antecedents on purchase intention toward
organic food among young urban Vietnamese consumers. We proposed and tested an
extended TPB model with the emphasis on the antecedents of attitude toward organic food
purchase. We tested six hypotheses and all of them received support from the data.
Specifically, our research findings confirm previous findings regarding the relationship
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among all three antecedents from the TPB model and PI. The results are in line with the
theory and the previous studies that ATT, SN and PBC toward organic food purchase were
found to be positive predictors to organic food purchase intention. Among the direct paths to
PI toward organic food, ATT influenced the most and PBC showed the least impact.
The present study also examined three antecedents of ATT toward organic food purchase
among young urban Vietnamese consumers. As our expectation, modern self showed the
strongest prediction power, suggesting that those consumers holding higher degree of modern
self tend to have a favorable attitude toward organic food purchase. Although HC has been
most frequently mentioned as key determinant of organic food purchase, this study indicated
a significant but modest impact of HC on ATT. This results is consistent with previous
studies such as Chen (2009) with regard to positive relationship between HC and ATT, while
inconsistent with the findings from Tarkiainen and Sundqvist (2005). Perhaps, similar to the
context in Taiwan, for buying organic food in the current context of Vietnam, concerns for
health are still an important motive for young Vietnamese consumers. The situation may be
different for consumers in the context of developed countries like Finland. This issue should
be further investigated in the future studies. With regard to the role of trust in labeling and
certification, in line with previous findings, this study confirms the significant effect of TR on
ATT toward organic food purchase among young urban Vietnamese.
From a theoretical perspective, the present study examines an important issue pertaining
to the factors driving an important consumption behavior, organic food purchase. This study
attempted to apply an extended model of TPB by adding three important antecedents of ATT
toward organic food purchase (i.e. HC, TR and MS) into the organic buying context in
Vietnam, an emerging and transitional economy in Southeast Asia. This contributes to the
literature by enhancing our knowledge about organic food purchase and its antecedents, and
perhaps the most important finding is pertaining to the significant effect of modern self on
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ATT for the context of an emerging economy. From a practical perspective, the findings from
this study can provide managerial implications regarding developing effective and relevant
marketing strategies with the purpose of encouraging organic food consumption among
young consumers. Implications for policy makers can also be drawn to support production
and distribution of organic food, and educate consumers to enhance their knowledge about
organic food and guide them to become smarter consumers.
Future research directions
There are several limitations associated with this study that can be avenues for future
research. First, future studies may want to employed a combination of qualitative and
quantitative research approaches to deeper investigate the purchase behavior toward organic
food in Vietnam since it is still a new emerging phenomenon and the knowledge of
consumers regarding organic food is still limited. Second, the limitation regarding sampling
issue should be improved in future research. A larger and more representative sample drawn
from several big cities throughout Vietnam would be desirable. Next, future studies may want
to develop a research framework incorporating also the construct of actual purchase behavior
and some mediators and/or moderators. Conducting cross-cultural studies between Vietnam
and some country that are different in terms of culture and level of economic development
would be interesting and meaningful for finding comparisons. By doing so, it can
significantly enhance our understanding of organic food consumption behaviors.
194
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