Purchase Inten
Purchase Inten
Purchase Inten
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Abstract: Purpose - Using the theory of planned behavior (TPB) to examine the effects of consumer values and
past experiences on consumer purchase intention of organic personal care products, this study aims to consider
further the moderating effect of perceived behavioral control on the attitude-intention relationship.
Design/methodology/approach - An online survey was conducted with 207 online panel members, and multiple
regression analysis was used to test the relationships among the variables. Findings - The results indicate that
environmental consciousness and appearance consciousness positively influence attitude toward buying
organic personal care products. The addition of past experiences as a predictor of purchase intention and
perceived behavioral control as a moderator of the attitude-purchase intention relationship yielded an
improvement on the TPB model. Practical implications - This study suggests that retailers can develop effective
marketing strategies emphasizing ecological beauty, product safety, and affordable prices to increase
consumers' intentions to buy organic personal care products. Originality/value - This study provides valuable
insight into US consumer behavior regarding organic personal care products by examining the factors that
influence consumers' attitudes toward buying organic personal care products and consumers' purchase
intentions for the products. Furthermore, this study extends an application of the TPB by examining the
moderating influence of perceived behavioral control on the attitude-intention relationship. [PUBLICATION
ABSTRACT]
Full text: An executive summary for managers and executive readers can be found at the end of this article.
1. Introduction
Awareness of the destruction of natural resources has raised the issue of environmental protection, which in
turn has created eco-friendly consumption called "green consumerism" ([36] Moisander, 2007). As the issue of
environmental protection has gained attention, environmental ethics has had an impact on US consumers'
activities ([26] Kangun et al. , 1991; [34] Martin and Simintiras, 1995; [51] Todd, 2004). Specifically, US
consumer demand has led to the increase in diversity of green product categories, such as laundry detergents,
personal care products, and energy saving electronics ([34] Martin and Simintiras, 1995; [48] Schlegelmilch et
al. , 1996). As green products have gained popularity in the market, more consumers have looked for greener
products ([38] Nimse et al. , 2007). Following the food sector, the personal care sector accounted for the second
largest portion of sales in the US organic industry ([39] Organic Trade Association, 2006). [16] D'Souza et al.
(2006) claim that consumers' ecological concerns may be key factors in the marketing of cosmetic products.
Although the fast growth in sales of organic and natural care products has intrigued researchers' interests, most
existing research on the organic personal care industry has dealt with marketing strategies rather consumer
behavior. Without in-depth understanding of consumer behavior for this product category, it is difficult to devise
effective marketing strategies. Furthermore, although there are numerous studies regarding consumers'
attitudes and purchase behaviors of green products ([11] Chen, 2007; [30] Magnusson et al. , 2001; [40] Padel
and Foster, 2005; [54] Zanoli and Naspetti, 2002), these studies have focused mainly on organic food products
and were conducted outside of the USA.
Thus, the primary objective of this study is to examine US consumers' purchasing behavior of organic personal
care products base on the theory of planned behavior (TPB) by [1] Ajzen (1985). Specifically, this study
considers consumer values as an antecedent of attitude and consumers' past experiences as a predictor of
purchase intention. Additionally, the moderating influence of perceived behavioral control on the attitude-
purchase intention relationship is examined.
Based on the findings of this study and the study's limitations, several suggestions for future research are
made. First, although an online survey provided the sample from various geographic locations in the USA, only
people who had access to a computer and the internet were able to participate in this study. Thus, future
research could use both methods, an online and offline survey such as a mall-intercept method, to compensate
for the weakness of each method. Second, the findings of this study may not be applicable to other product
categories of organic personal care products or to other organic products even though the results revealed
there were no product differences in attitude and intention between the two products. Therefore, further study
needs to obtain greater generalizability with a variety of product categories. Finally, it would also be valuable to
explore the factors that influence consumers' attitudes and purchase intentions toward stores offering organic
products. Future research might help organic product retailers understand how consumer values influence
attitude toward the stores. It could suggest that establishing a positive attitude toward stores might play an
important role in increasing consumers' store purchases as well as enhancing store preferences.
6. Managerial implications
This research provides valuable insights for organic personal care product retailers and manufacturers by
indicating attitude is the most important determinant of purchase intention among the four predictors.
The findings of this study suggest that creating a positive attitude toward buying organic personal care products
may be a significant consideration for retailers to increase consumers' purchase intentions for the products. As
a result, this study suggests that retailers develop effective marketing strategies emphasizing ecological beauty
or product safety to satisfy the values of potential consumers. In addition, this research shows the significant
moderating role of perceived behavioral control on the relationship between attitude and purchase intention and
hence, it suggests that retailers might try to change consumers' perceptions of higher prices to affordable prices
using marketing strategies (e.g. discount, advertisement, new product development), which would make
consumers believe that they are capable to buy organic personal care products. Furthermore, over 70 percent
of respondents who had experiences with organic products have purchased organic foods. The findings of this
study suggest that organic personal care product retailers might attract potential consumers by displaying their
products near the organic food sections at a grocery store. Or organic personal care product retailers might
develop combined management activities called co-marketing with organic food product retailers.
References
1. Ajzen, I. (1985), "From intentions to actions: a theory of planned behavior", in Kuhl, J. and Beckmann, J.
(Eds), From Cognition to Behavior, Springer, New York, NY, pp. 11-39.
2. Ajzen, I. (1991), "The theory of planned behavior", Organization Behavior and Human Decision Processes,
Vol. 50 No. 2, pp. 179-211.
3. Ajzen, I. (2002), "Constructing a TpB questionnaires - conceptual and methodological considerations",
available at: http://people.umass.edu/aizen/pdf/tpb. measurement.pdf (accessed May 2, 2009).
4. Bamberg, S. (2003), "How does environmental concern influence specific environmentally related behaviors?
A new answer to an old question", Journal of Environmental Psychology, Vol. 23 No. 1, pp. 21-32.
Subject: Consumer behavior; Value analysis; Buying; Hygiene; Health & beauty aids; Analysis; Studies;
Classification: 7100: Market research; 2600: Management science/operations research; 8642: Cosmetics
industry; 9130: Experimental/theoretical
Volume: 28
Issue: 1
Pages: 40-47
Year: 2011
ISSN: 07363761
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/07363761111101930
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