Understanding the Attitude-Behaviour Gap of Organic Local Food Purchase in Hong Kong - Case Study Example

Understanding and Narrowing the Attitude-behaviour gap of organic local food purchase in Hong Kong households Literature Review Introduction Increased consumer consumption is today significantly blamed for environmental damage. On a positive note, current scholarly researches on consumer behaviour have reported an increased willingness among consumers toward prevention of environmental damage (Terlau & Hirsch 2012; Vermeir & Verbeke 2006; Sharma & Rani 2014). A recent study by Erve (2013) showed that consumers are today showing positive attitude toward buying green food products. While it is apparent among current studies that consumers appear to attach great significance to sustainability and green products, a landmark study by Bray et al. (2011) provided a basis for later studies by pointing to a concern that green products comprised merely up to 3 percent of the market share, although some researchers like Terlau and Hirsch (2012) have estimated it to be 5 percent. However, there still seems to be a concern regarding a gap between what consumers do when it gets to buying green food and what they think about consuming green food particularly among the young consumers (Vermeir & Verbeke, 2006; Colucci & Scarpi 2013). In an earlier study of Hong Kong households, Yi (2009) observed that while the concept of organic foods is well appreciated, the number of consumers who buy the products is clearly low. Hume (2010) also observed an apparent contradictory pattern between what Generation Y feel about purchasing green food and how they act. Consistent with the research objective, this review of literature explores the attitude-behaviour gap of purchasing organic local foods among Generation Y consumers, by reviewing the origin and development of green consumption, origin of the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB), its critique and relevance to Attitude-behaviour gap, Generation Y consumers and green purchasing behaviour, and lastly Factors affecting actual purchase and consumption of green products. Green consumption – origin and development of the domain The origin of the concept of green consumption was stimulated by the reality of impending crisis as a result of the deteriorating resources and damage to the environment, specifically in the 1970s after the oil crisis of 1973. As a result, people started using renewable energy (Hsu e al. 2016). Products that undergo green consumption are called green products. Chen and Chai (2010) define green products as products contributing to a greater sustainable environment, including by ensuring the protection and preservation of the natural habitat. The researchers categorised green food under green products. Accordingly, green foods are non-pollutants and incapable of deploring natural resources. Chen and Chai (2010) further observed that they are recyclable and utilise minimal packaging to decrease their adverse environmental impacts. Terlau & Hirsch (2012) seemed to agree with Chen and Chai (2010), as he observed that green foods are environmentally friendly products that contribute to greater environmental protection. Organic foods fit within the description of green products. In her review of literature, Eide (2013) acknowledged the existence of various terms that have attempted to define organic food. She concluded that organic food refers to consumable products containing nutritional value that lack chemicals and have been produced with ethical considerations as regards environmental protection, attaining ecological balance, promoting diversity and upholding animal and worker rights. In a related study Zepeda and Li (2006) observed that there is no standard term for defining local food yet pointed out that consumers generally consider local food as food produced within their defined boundaries, whether within their county or country. According to Pearson et al. (2010), organic foods contribute to a new paradigm for food production that depends on ecology, biology, and sociology instead of a one-dimensional physical and chemical compositional approach. A review of literature reveals a concern regarding a gap between what consumers think about buying green food, show intent to buy, their attitudes regarding green products, and their actual buying of the green products (Vermeir & Verbeke, 2006; Colucci & Scarpi 2013). This assumption can be explained by the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB), which hypothesises that human behaviour is subject to behavioural intentions that are subject to attitudes toward the behaviour (Ajzen 1991). Origin of the TPB, its critique and relevance to Attitude-behaviour gap According to Truong (2009), the difference in influence of attitude and subjective norm was initially employed in predicting behavioural intention although depending on the context. For instance, while attitude was used to predict behavioural intention whenever self-influence was greater than the perceived subjective norm. Conversely, subjective norm was considered as a predictor of a behavioural intention for behaviours in cases where a normative implication would dominate (Truong 2009). Early attempts to explain the influence of attitudes on behaviours were made by Fishbein and Azjen (1975) when they proposed the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA). Their theory posited that a person’s behavioural intention within a context would be contingent on the attitude he or she showed toward exhibiting target behaviour as well as on subjective norm. However, the theory was later considered unreliable due to the problem of contradictory results as regards the confusing relationship between attitude and subjective norm (Truong 2009). In consequence, Ajzen (1991) proposed the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) to address the weakness. Indeed, from a review of literature, it is clear that the TPB is among the most recurrently cited theory on attitude-behaviour relation (Kraft et al. 2005; Sommer 2011). The theory postulates that human behaviour is subject to behavioural intentions that are subject to attitudes toward the behaviour (Ajzen 1991). Ajzen (1991) defined attitude as a consequence of what consumers assess of certain behaviour. Several studies have showed a consistent pattern regarding consumers’ positive attitude toward prevention of environmental damage (Sharma & Rani 2014; Vermeir & Verbeke, 2006). Erve (2013) also showed that consumers have also implied to manufacturers to produce environmental friendly foods by going for organic foods. Related studies showed a growing positive attitude toward green products (Sharma & Rani 2014; Vermeir & Verbeke, 2006). In a later study, Sommer (2011) attempted to explore the applicability of the theory and established that it is indeed a powerful approach that attempts to explain human behaviours by examining the predictive validity of intentions. In which case, an intention can determine behaviour. McDermott et al (2015) agree that intention is a significant determinant of behaviour. By basing on the assumptions of the TPB theory, they remarked that intentions indicate the level of effort an individual will commit to exhibiting behaviour, and which also depends on attitude. In exploring the strengths of the TPB, McDermott et al (2015) argue that it was an effective theory as it took several significant factors into perspective, including culture, environment, and biological factors. Still, as attitude is considered as lasting sets of beliefs regarding an item or issue that influences people to act in a certain way toward the item or issue, and the TPB theory hypothesises that attitudes do predict behaviours, then why is it that the green product market makes up nearly 3 percent of the market share? Studies have tried to explore this question and come to concluded that there exists a wide gap between what consumers feel or believe and what they actually do concerning purchasing green product (Terlau & Hirsch 2012; Vermeir & Verbeke 2006; Sharma & Rani 2014). Erve (2013) identified this kind of gap as an attitude-behaviour gap, which comes about whenever a consumer expresses concern regarding a sustainable issue and considers it as being vital to be socially responsible yet fails to translate the positive attitude by buying green products. Terlau and Hirsch (2012) observed that attitudes tend to strictly correlate with behaviours whenever the behaviours are closely linked to the attitude in question. Put differently, the specificity of a considered attitude would lead to stronger relationship between an attitude and a particular behaviour. Regarding green food purchase, Chen and Chai (2010) were adamant that while a study of many types of green consumer attitudes does show an indication of consumer purchasing behaviours, a wide gap still exists between consumer behaviour and attitudes. Generation Y consumers and green purchasing behaviour In agreement with the TPB theory, Some studies have attempted show what Generation Y consumers feel about purchasing green product and whether the positive attitude translates to intention and actual buying of the green products (Erve 2013; Hume 2010). According to Hume (2010), consumer behaviour can be examined by researching from a generational approach as each generation of consumers has its specific lifestyle. Accordingly, the values associated with such lifestyles are capable of influencing how consumers behave when purchasing green products. Erve (2013) supported this assumption, and even added that each generational cohort within a demography approaches social and economic issues differently within a community. The research concluded that Generation Y was clearly the driving force behind green purchases. A study by Hume (2010) established that Generation Y generally maintain a positive attitude toward promoting greater environmental sustainability. His study of Generation Y consumers found that this generation of consumers tended to be responsive to a call to ensuring reduction of the ecological footprint, including by making green purchases. In a relatively different study of Generation Y, Ellis (2010) found consistent results to the effect that while this generational group tended to be selfish, they had advanced views on social awareness regarding environment protection and ethical practices. Schweitzer and Lyons (2010) also established that Generation Y consumers do tend to believe that it is corporate responsibility or obligation to invest in environmental protection. As Erve (2013) also later observed, Generation Y consumers tend to have positive attitude towards green products, yet despite this, their positive green attitudes are not automatically predictors of green purchasing behaviours. In other words, Generation Y’s green consumer attitudes does show an indication of consumer purchasing behaviours, a wide gap still exists between their tendency to purchase green foods and attitudes. Factors affecting actual purchase and consumption of green products Consistent with the TPB theory, recent studies have attempted to show that green purchasing attitude-behaviour gap is an outcome of the intricate nature of situational and personal factors (Terlau & Hirsch 2012; Kaufmann et al. 2012). While attitude is a significant personal factor that determines green purchasing behaviour, it still fails to explain why young consumers are not purchasing green products. Additional personal factors include trust, awareness, emotion, priorities, and locus of control (Kaufmann et al. 2012). On the other hand, situational factors consist of external factors that an individual may not control, yet affects the attitude behaviour relation (Ajzen, 1991). These include money, opportunity, time and the capacity to perform an intended behaviour. Young et al. (2010) observed that for relationship between purchase of green products and green attitudes to be strengthened, these factors have to be supportive. Erve (2013) argued that consumers with negative attitudes toward green products still buy the green products while attempting to influence factors, which are greatly supportive. On the other hand, consumers who have showed positive attitudes toward green products also stand to be discouraged to buy green products in spite of the influencing factors being limited (Larsson & Khan 2011). Other influencing factors include habits. According to Erve (2013), habits consist of behavioural routines, which are regularly repeated and are likely to expand subconsciously. In which case, when certain behaviour is recurrently carried out, it potentially influences behaviour to purchase a product. An additional influencing factor is economic availability. As Mun (2014) observed, availability of financial resources to buy green products strongly influences green-purchasing behaviour negatively. In his view, the price and quality of such products need to be equivalent to the regular products likely to be bought by a consumer. The researchers claimed that the reason green products had limited market share is because they are more expensive than the traditional ones. Nezakati and Hosseinpour (2015) also comments that physical availability of sustainable product also determines whether it would be readily purchased. An extra effort a consumer would need to make, in terms of distance, predicts green purchasing behaviour as consumers would rather go for readily available traditional products than inaccessible green products. Consumer awareness is also widely identified as potentially contributing to positive attitude towards green products (Erve 2013). However, this also depends on the type of marketing strategy used to create consumer awareness. For instance, when promoting green products to the young consumers, the use of marketing strategies like the social media where they are likely to obtain the information on the product potentially narrows the attitude-behaviour gap. Summary From a review of literature, there is clearly a gap existing between what consumers think about buying green food, show intent to buy, their attitudes regarding green products, and their actual buying of the green products (Vermeir & Verbeke, 2006; Colucci & Scarpi 2013). Such a revelation can be built on the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB), which views human behaviour as being conditional on behavioural intentions that are also dependent on attitudes toward the behaviour (Ajzen 1991). There is, therefore, a need to explore how this gap can be reduced. This forms the basis of the proposed study. It is also observed that Generation Y consumers tend to have positive attitude towards green products, yet despite this, their positive green attitudes are not automatically predictors of green purchasing behaviours (Hume 2010; Erve 2013).. Therefore, there is a need to explore more factors causing the attitude-behaviour gap among Gen Y consumers, and the marketing strategy that can be employed to narrow the attitude-behaviour gap. 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