Psychological Factors Predicting Organic Food Consumption in Social Commerce

Abstract

This paper examines consumer perceptions of the purchase of organic food in social commerce. We extend the Theory of Planned Behavior to perceived information usefulness and the perceived consequences of s-commerce use. We empirically test our hypothesized conceptual model among 261 consumers in market conditions with limited access to organic food products via conventional grocery stores. The results show that the perceived usefulness of organic food information in s-commerce has a highly significant effect both on the consumer attitude to using s-commerce and on the subjective norm. Perceived consequences influence the subjective norm and perceived behavioral control, but not on attitude. Attitude and the subjective norm significantly predict the consumer’s intention to use s-commerce for organic food purchases; perceived behavioral control does not. Our results highlight the importance of information in social commerce as a driver of purchasing, especially in markets offering little product information and availability in conventional channels.