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Appetite 50 (2008) 443454

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Research Report

Predicting intentions to purchase organic food: The role of affective and

moral attitudes in the Theory of Planned Behaviour
A. Arvolaa,, M. Vassallob, M. Deanc, P. Lampilaa, A. Sabab, L. Lahteenmakia, R. Shepherdc
a

VTT Biotechnology, Consumer Science, P.O. Box 1000, 02044 VTT, Finland
INRAN (Istituto Nazionale di Ricerca per gli Alimenti e la Nutrizione), via Ardeatina 546, 00178 Roma, Italy
c
Food Consumer Behaviour and Health Research Centre, University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey GU2 7XH, UK
b

Received 6 March 2007; received in revised form 21 May 2007; accepted 24 September 2007

Abstract
This study examined the usefulness of integrating measures of affective and moral attitudes into the Theory of Planned Behaviour
(TPB)-model in predicting purchase intentions of organic foods. Moral attitude was operationalised as positive self-rewarding feelings of
doing the right thing. Questionnaire data were gathered in three countries: Italy (N 202), Finland (N 270) and UK (N 200) in
March 2004. Questions focussed on intentions to purchase organic apples and organic ready-to-cook pizza instead of their conventional
alternatives. Data were analysed using Structural Equation Modelling by simultaneous multi-group analysis of the three countries.
Along with attitudes, moral attitude and subjective norms explained considerable shares of variances in intentions. The relative
inuences of these variables varied between the countries, such that in the UK and Italy moral attitude rather than subjective norms had
stronger explanatory power. In Finland it was other way around. Inclusion of moral attitude improved the model t and predictive
ability of the model, although only marginally in Finland. Thus the results partially support the usefulness of incorporating moral
measures as well as affective items for attitude into the framework of TPB.
r 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Organic food; Consumer attitudes; Theory of Planned Behaviour; Moral norms

Introduction
Numerous consumer studies in Europe and USA have
shown that choices to purchase organic food are motivated
by beliefs about healthiness and good taste of these
products as well as by beliefs about benets for the
environment and the welfare of production animals (Bahr
et al., 2004; Baker, Thompson, & Engelken, 2004; Grunert
& Juhl, 1995; Magnusson, Arvola, Koivisto-Hursti, Aberg,
& Sjoden, 2003; Sparling, Wilken, & McKenzie, 1992;
Zanoli & Naspetti, 2002). Purchases of organic foods are
thus motivated both by expected positive consequences for
the self and for others. In addition, qualitative studies
suggest that consumers sometimes relate feelings of good
Corresponding author.

E-mail addresses: anne.arvola@vtt. (A. Arvola),

vassallo@inran.it (M. Vassallo), moira.dean@surrey.ac.uk (M. Dean),
liisa.lahteenmaki@vtt. (L. Lahteenmaki).
0195-6663/$ - see front matter r 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.appet.2007.09.010

conscience and feelings of responsibility for the well-being

of ones family with organic food purchase decisions (Bahr
et al., 2004; Baker et al., 2004; Makatouni, 2002). A
situation in which the individual is aware that the wellbeing of others depends on their act and where they feel
responsible for the act and its consequences can be
classied as a moral decision situation (Davies, Foxall, &
Pallister, 2002, p. 38; Schwartz, 1970, p. 128). Although,
not all consumers necessarily believe in positive unselsh
consequences of organic food purchases or feel responsible
for those, there is reason to believe that affective and moral
considerations have inuence on the decisions to purchase
organic foods.
This study examines the role of affective and moral
attitudes as motivators of organic food purchase in the
context of the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB).
Expectancy value models are recent decades most popular
paradigms designed for the prediction and understanding
human behaviour (see Eagly & Chaiken, 1993). One of the

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A. Arvola et al. / Appetite 50 (2008) 443454

most commonly applied examples of these models, the TPB

was chosen as theoretical frame of this study. The TPB
assumes that behavioural intentions capture the motivational inuences on behaviour. Intention is thus seen as the
most proximal predictor of behaviour. Behavioural intention, in turn, is seen as a function of attitudes, subjective
norms and perceived behavioural control (pbc) related to
that specic behaviour (Ajzen, 1991; Ajzen & Driver, 1991;
Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980).
The TPB has been extensively and successfully applied to
consumer behaviours (see Conner & Sparks, 1995) and to
health behaviours (see Godin & Kok, 1996). Also food
choice has been a focus of TPB studies by a number of
authors (Beale & Manstead, 1991; Lloyd, Paisley, & Mela,
1993; Sparks, Hedderley, & Shepherd, 1992; Sparks &
Shepherd, 1992; Towler & Shepherd, 1992). The predictive
power of the model has been demonstrated in a number of
meta-analyses mentioned above. For example, Armitage
and Conner (2001) analysed 185 studies and found that the
TPB accounted for 27% and 39% of the variance in
behaviour and intention, respectively.
However, the model has been recurrently criticised for
insufcient consideration of affective and moral inuences
on behaviour. One of the most controversial assumptions
of the model is that attitudes are based on cognitive beliefs.
This assumption has been challenged by numerous authors
and the model has been criticised for insufcient consideration of affective aspects of attitude (Bagozzi, 1988;
Zanna & Rempel, 1988). Many researchers have empirically conrmed that attitude is a complex construct
comprised of separate affective and cognitive (and behavioural) components (Batra & Ahtola, 1990; Breckler,
1984; Breckler & Wiggins, 1989; Edwards, 1990; Tramow
& Sheeran, 1998). Simultaneous consideration of these two
components will provide better predictions of behaviour
than the consideration of a single attitudinal dimension or
component alone (Bagozzi & Burnkrant, 1979; Krech,
Crutcheld, & Ballachey, 1962; Norman, 1975). Measures
of affect or emotion exert unique inuence on attitudes;
beyond the inuence of cognition (see Lavine, Thomsen,
Zanna, & Borgida, 1998). The affective component refers
to feelings or emotions that people have in relation to the
attitude object and the cognitive component refers to
thoughts that people have about the attitude object (Eagly
& Chaiken, 1993).
Another recurring criticism of the TPB is that the model
insufciently captures normative or moral inuences on
behaviour (Armitage & Conner, 2001; Gorsuch & Ortberg,
1983; Sparks & Shepherd, 2002). Moral or normative issues
are known to be important in inuencing behaviour
(Etzioni, 1988; Harsanyi, 1982). In the TPB, all moral
and normative inuences on behaviour are assumed to be
mediated via the measures of subjective norms and
attitudes (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980, p. 247; Manstead,
2000). The construct of subjective norm refers to perceived
social pressure to perform or not to perform the behaviour
(Ajzen, 1991) as perceived by the person, and it is thus a

more restricted concept than the sociological view of

norms. Social norms, again, are usually seen as socially
shared rules of what is right and wrong (Harre & Lamb,
1986, p. 234). A measure of social norm is not, however,
suitable in the context of TPB, because these are shared by
a group, and do not necessary reect the individuals own
standards of behaviour. Schwartz (1977) has suggested a
concept of personal (moral) norm, which refers to internalised norms and values of important others, i.e. each
persons own views about right and wrong, which have
been learned during life. What distinguishes personal
norms is that the consequences of violating them or
upholding them are tied to ones self-concept. Moral norm
has often been operationalised identically with Schwartzs
concept of personal norms as perceived moral obligation.
According to Manstead (2000, p. 12) moral norm is an
individuals conviction that acting in a certain way is
inherently right or wrong regardless of their personal or
social consequences. The concepts of moral norms,
personal norms and moral obligation have often been used
interchangeably in the literature.
Originally in the TPB, all moral or normative inuences
on behaviour are assumed to be mediated via the measures
of attitudes and subjective norms (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980,
p. 247). Subsequently, research has suggested that a
measure of moral norm, moral obligation or personal
norm can be a useful addition into the TPB model (see
reviews by Conner & Armitage, 1998; Manstead, 2000).
These studies have shown independent predictive effects of
perceived moral obligation or personal norm on behavioural intentions in actions with moral implications, such
as cheating, stealing and lying (Beck & Ajzen, 1991),
attending church and returning a tax refund made in
error (Gorsuch & Ortberg, 1983), providing home care
(Vermette & Godin, 1996), committing driving violations
(Parker, Manstead, & Strandling, 1995), donating blood
(Pomazal & Jaccard, 1976), transplant donations
(Schwartz & Tessler, 1972), smoking only in designated
areas (Boissoneault & Godin, 1990), use of condoms
(Godin et al., 1996) and doing deliberate self-harm
(OConnor & Armitage, 2003). In 9 out of the 11 studies
Conner and Armitage (1998) reviewed in their metaanalysis, moral norm was a signicant predictor of
intentions. The role of moral norm may depend on the
type of behaviour, however. Godin, Conner, and Sheeran
(2005) and Gorsuch and Ortberg (1983) suggest that moral
norms would be useful only in understanding behaviour
that is construed in moral terms.
Also in the context of food consumptionwith perhaps
milder moral connotationsmeasures of perceived moral
obligation have been found as useful additions into the
TPB model (Raats, Shepherd, & Sparks, 1995; Shaw &
Shiu, 2003; Sparks & Shepherd, 2002; Sparks, Shepherd, &
Frewer, 1995). Raats et al. (1995) examined how mothers
feelings of moral obligation for family health related to
their intentions to consume skimmed milk. Shaw and Shiu
(2003) studied intentions to purchase fair trade grocery

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products. Sparks and Shepherd (2002) focussed on intentions to use genetically modied foods. As an exception,
two studies failed to support the additional predictive
ability of a moral measure. In a study by Sparks et al.
(1995) a measure of moral obligation increased the
prediction of intentions only marginally. Saba, Rosati,
and Vassallo (2000) and Saba and Rosati (2002) failed to
nd any signicant increase at all.
Thgersen (2002) has examined the role of moral issues
in the context of organic foods in Denmark. He found a
measure of personal norms to inuence consumers choice
between organic and conventional wine after controlling
for attitudes and subjective norms. In another study,
personal norm was the most important predictor of
respondents ratings of their purchase frequency of various
organic foods (Thgersen & Olander, 2006). Studies by
Thgersen and colleagues suggest the ability of a moral
measure to increase prediction over and above attitudes
and subjective norms also in the context of organic food
choice. However, they did not explicitly test personal norm
in the context of TPB. Further, these studies only dealt
with Danish consumers. No previous studies have applied
cross-cultural data to examine the role of moral norms in
organic food purchase intentions. Moral issues may have a
different role in a country like Denmark, where organic
consumption is more familiar to the consumers than in
countries with less mature organic markets, like Italy, UK
and Finland (cf. shares of organic consumption in EUcountries Hamm, Gronefeld, & Halpin, 2002).
Most importantly, our study differs from the previous
ones in that moral norm is operationalised as positive selfenhancing feelings of doing the right thing, rather than
as negative feelings of obligation or guilt. According to
Schwartz, violating ones own personal moral norms
evokes negative emotions, such as guilt, whereas following
the norms evokes positive emotions, such as pride or
contentment with oneself (Schwartz & Howard, 1984).
Personal norms are thus based on both negative and
positive anticipated consequences to the self. Despite this,
they and other earlier studies (see reviews by Conner &
Armitage, 1998; Manstead, 2000) have ignored expected
positive feelings or consequences to self. Typically applied
items measure feelings of moral, personal or ethical
obligation and/or feelings of guilt (Schwartz, 1977;
Schwartz & Howard, 1984). In their study concerning
choice of organic wine Thgersen (2002) applied two items:
I feel I ought to choose organicy and I feel obligation
to choosey. In another study, predicting the self-rated
purchase frequency of three organic foods, personal norm
was operationalised with questions: I feel I should choose
organicy and I get bad conscience if I choose
conventional instead of organic (Thgersen & Olander,
2006).
The possibly motivating role of anticipated positive
moral feelings is interesting especially in the case of organic
food purchases. Studies on organic food suggest that
consumers do not usually see purchase of organic food as a

445

moral imperative, and thus do not feel guilty for choosing a

conventional option. Rather, the moral aspects related to
organic food (consequences for environment and animals)
are more likely to evoke positive (good conscience) than
negative feelings.
The aim of this study was to examine how measures of
affective attitudes and positive moral attitude could be
integrated into a model of consumer decision-making in
relation to organic food (TPB). Our measure of moral
attitude reects the anticipated positive feelings of selfsatisfaction about acting in a way that corresponds to ones
own moral values. The role of moral norm and measure of
affective attitudes in the TPB model were studied by
applying structural equation modelling. The survey data
were collected in three counties: Italy, Finland and UK.
Method
Respondents
Data were gathered in three countries: Italy, Finland and
UK. To ensure sufcient variation across the components
to be analysed, stratied random sampling was performed
in each country. The stratication criteria were: (1) each
respondent is at least partially responsible for the familys
grocery shopping, (2) at least 30% of the respondents use
organic food at least weekly, (3) there are roughly the same
percentage of respondents in each of the age groups 1830,
3145 and 4665 years.
The data were collected at the beginning of March 2004
by face-to-face interviews in the UK and Italy and by a
web-questionnaire in Finland. In the UK and Italy, but not
in Finland, the respondents got a small reward for
participating.
The nal sample consists of 672 consumers from the
three countries (Italy n 202 (30.1%), Finland n 270
(40.2%), UK n 200 (29.8%)). In Finland, a total of 987
consumers originally answered the Internet questionnaire.
In order to meet the criteria for quota sampling, a subsample of 270 respondents was drawn for this study. The
sub-sample was randomly drawn within the sample criteria.
The sub-samples in the three countries had different
demographic proles. For example, the share of men
remained higher in Finland (50%) than in the other two
countries (2830%), because it was found impossible to
draw such a Finnish sub-sample, which would at the same
time meet the set sampling criteria and include a low
percentage of men. In the Italian sample the percentage of
higher education (tertiary and post graduate) was lower
(17%) than in the UK (44%) or in Finland (45%). The
share of respondents living in a rural area was lower in
the Italian (0%) than in the other samples (1718%). The
average household size was smallest in the Finnish sample.
Respondents purchase habits of organic food also
differed between the three countries. The share of
consumers with no experience about organic foods was
lowest in Finland (16% in Finland vs. 29% in UK and

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A. Arvola et al. / Appetite 50 (2008) 443454

31% in Italy). In Finland the users of organic food had also

been using organic food for a longer time than respondents
in Italian and UK samples.
Organic apples were rated as most familiar by Italian
respondents, and least familiar by UK respondents. In
comparison to the other countries, the Italian respondents
most often indicated that they do not use any kind of
ready-to-cook pizza. Organic ready-to-cook pizza was
unfamiliar to about half of the respondents in each
country.
Questionnaire
The questionnaire was based on the TPB. Consequently,
measures of attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioural control (pbc), behavioural intention and beliefs
were included in the questionnairewith the addition
of measures of moral attitude and affective attitudes.
The questions focussed on two target behaviours: intentions to purchase organic apples and intentions to
purchase organic ready-to-cook pizza instead of their
conventional alternatives. Organic apple was chosen as
an example of unprocessed products and organic readyto-cook pizza of processed convenience foods. Before
the survey, preliminary qualitative, structured interviews
(97 in total) were arranged to identify salient beliefs
and moral issues in the research population (Dean et al.,
2006). The selection of the items for beliefs, moral
attitudes and attitudes were based on results from these
interviews.
Although the following questions concern buying
organic apples instead of conventional apples, identical
questions were repeated also for organic ready-to-cook
pizza. A question to measure affective attitude was
answered by respondents with two 7-point scales ranging
from 1 not contented/pleased to 7 contented/pleased.
Cognitive attitude was measured correspondingly by two
7-point semantic differential scales: harmfulbenecial and
foolishwise. Pbc was measured by two items: For me
buying organic apples instead of conventional apples
isyeasydifcult and If I wanted to, it would be
possible for me to buy organic apples instead of conventional applesystrongly disagreestrongly agree. Subjective norm questions were: Most people who are important
to me would think that I should notshould buy organic
apples instead of conventional apples. and Most people I
value would buy organic apples instead of conventional
applesystrongly disagreestrongly agree. The respondents further answered eight beliefs statements: Buying
organic apples instead of conventional apples would
meany (1) more expensive apples, (2) apples free
from chemicals such as additives or residues from
fertilisers, pesticides or herbicides, (3) more healthy
apples, (4) better tasting apples, (5) better looking
apples, (6) apples that have been produced in a way that
is better for the environment, (7) more natural apples,
(8) that I can trust how the apples have been produced.

The answers were given on 7-point scale ranging from

strongly disagree to strongly agree.
Based on the pilot study, it seemed that the anticipated
positive feelings from following ones moral principles were
much more salient in the context of organic food choice
than were anticipated negative feelings or feelings of moral
obligation. Although a few respondents did mention
avoidance of guilt feelings, most respondents referring to
moral issues mentioned anticipated positive feelings, such
as feels like being a better/responsible person, I feel
good about myself, I feel I do something good for
organic farming/environment/ small farmersy, I feel
more conscious person, and I feel doing the right thing.
Consequently, following the principle of measuring the
most salient beliefs in the research population (Ajzen &
Fishbein, 1980), we decided to apply a measure we called
positive moral attitude instead of measuring feelings of
moral obligation, which has been done in previous studies.
Positive moral attitude thus aims to measure favourable
self-evaluations which arise from anticipated compliance
with ones own moral principles (cf. Schwartz, 1977). The
applied three items were: Buying organic apples instead of
conventional apples would y (1) feel like making a
personal contribution to something better, (2) feel like
the morally right thing, and (3) make me feel like a better
person. All the above questions were repeated for organic
ready-to-cook pizza.
The questionnaire was developed in English and
translated into Finnish and Italian. In order to check the
validity of the translations, these questionnaires were then
translated back to English. All responses were made on
7-point scales unless otherwise indicated. Furthermore, the
questionnaire included a set of demographic and shopping
behaviour questions.
Data analysis
In the SEM analyses, cases with missing data were
dropped from the analyses. In the case of data for apples
there were no missing data. For pizza data there were seven
questionnaires with missing answers in UK data. The
samples for structural modelling thus were: for apple data
Italy N 202, Finland N 270, UK N 200. In the case of
pizza data: Italy N 202, Finland N 270, UK N 193.
For the purpose of descriptive statistics, all the variables
shown in Table 1 (that is TPB variables and the incorporated measures) were formed by averaging the relevant
items. For example, the measure of affective attitude
towards purchase of organic apples instead of conventional
ones is the mean of the two items: pleased and contented.
One of the items for pbc was reversed, and the one of the
items for intention was recoded so that the answer never
buy any kind of apples/ready-to-cook pizza was recorded
as never buy organic apples or pizza. Before doing this,
we checked that recording these answers as missing or as
never buys organic had insignicant inuence on the
results.

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447

Table 1
Means (and standard deviations) of the TPB variables related to apple and pizza in Italy, Finland and UK
Cronbach Alphas for entire
samples, apple/pizza
Attitude (4 items)
A 0.93/0.93
Affective
Cognitive
Pbc
A 0.60/0.56
Subjective norm
A 0.71/0.77
Moral attitude
A 0.90/0.93
Purchase intention
A 0.90/0.86

Apple

Pizza

IT

FI

UK

All

IT

FI

UK

All

5.1a
(1.5)
4.8a
(1.7)
5.3
(1.4)
4.3a
(1.7)
4.4a
(1.4)
4.6a
(1.7)
4.1a
(1.9)

5.4b
(1.3)
5.2b
(1.3)
5.5
(1.3)
4.4a
(1.4)
4.0b
(1.2)
4.6a
(1.7)
3.6b
(1.8)

5.2a,b
(1.4)
4.8a
(1.6)
5.5
(1.3)
5.1b
(1.4)
3.8b
(1.2)
3.9b
(1.7)
3.7a,b
(2.1)

5.2
(1.4)
5
(1.5)
5.5
(1.4)
4.6
(1.5)
4
(1.3)
4.4
(1.7)
3.8
(1.9)

4.4a
(1.7)
4.0a
(1.9)
4.7
(1.6)
3.5
(1.6)
3.8a
(1.6)
4.0a
(1.8)
3.0a
(2.0)

4.7b
(1.3)
4.7b
(1.3)
4.8
(1.3)
3.8
(1.5)
3.4b
(1.3)
4.1a
(1.6)
2.9a
(1.7)

4.7a,b
(1.3)
4.3a,b
(1.6)
5
(1.3)
3.8
(1.5)
3.2b
(1.2)
3.4b
(1.6)
2.5b
(1.8)

4.6
(1.4)
4.4
(1.6)
4.8
(1.4)
3.7
(1.5)
3.5
(1.4)
3.9
(1.7)
2.8
(1.8)

Mean scores with different letters are signicantly different between the countries (Bonferronis test, po0.05). ACronbach Alphas for entire samples in
apple/pizza data.
 po0.05.
po0.01.

Two-way analyses of variances were applied to identify

statistically signicant differences in the mean scores
between the countries and foods (apples, pizza).
A structural equation model (SEM) using Amos
Graphics 5 was applied to the research model. The
modelling was performed in two phases: measurement
models were estimated separately before the simultaneous
estimation of measurement and structural models (as
recommended by Anderson & Gerbing, 1988). Measurement models for attitudes, moral attitudes and beliefs were
estimated. Each of the model estimations was performed as
simultaneous analysis of the three countries in order to
evaluate the cross-cultural validity of each of the measurement models and of the entire structural model. The
applicability of each model was evaluated by measures of
t provided by Amos Graphics. Rules of thumb for model
evaluation criteria by Schermelleh-Engel and Moosbrugger
(2003) were applied.
w2-difference test was applied for comparison of two
nested models, such as for assessment of whether certain
parameter estimates signicantly differ between the groups
(countries), or whether a certain link between the variables
is zero. Akaike Information Criterion was applied for
comparison of models which were not nested (SchermellehEngel & Moosbrugger, 2003, p. 45).

Results
Responses to organic apples and pizza
The means of all model variables (attitudes, sn, pbc,
intention and moral norm), were signicantly higher for
organic apples than pizza, indicating less positive reactions

towards organic ready-to-cook pizza than towards organic

apples (Table 1).
Respondents in the Finnish sub-sample had on average
more positive affective attitudes towards buying both
organic apples and pizza than respondents in the other
two countries. Cognitive attitudes towards organic apples
did not differ between the three countries. Correlation
between affective and cognitive attitude was 0.76 in the
case of both products.
Generally, the intentions to purchase organic apples and
organic pizza, especially, were rather low. However, there
were signicant interactions between country and product
(F(2, 669) 9.3, po0.001). In the UK the intention to
purchase organic apples and pizza differed most. The Italian
respondents had the highest intentions to purchase organic
apples in comparison to the other countries (Table 1).
There was a signicant interaction between country and
product (F(2, 669) 11.8, po0.001) in perceived control.
The respondents in the UK sub-sample regarded it easier
and more possible to buy organic apples than respondents
in the other two countries, but there were no signicant
differences in perceived control of buying organic pizza
between the three countries. Thus the UK respondents
perceived more behavioural control over purchasing
organic apples than over organic pizza, but no similar
difference was found in Italy and Finland. Subjective
norms for buying organic apples and pizza were weakest
in the UK sample and strongest in the Italian sample
(F(2, 669) 12.5, po0.001) (Table 1).
In comparison to Italy or Finland, the respondents in the
UK less often stated that buying of organic apples or pizza
feels making a personal contribution to something better or
feels like doing the morally right thing (F(2, 669) 15.6,
po0.001).

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Measurement models for beliefs

In the rst phase, Principal Component Analysis
(with varimax rotation) was performed in order to
explore the structure of all belief variables in the data.
The analyses were carried out separately for each country
as well as for the pooled data. Results suggested a
measurement model with two latent variables. Twocomponent model was compared with one component
model, where the beliefs price and appearance had
been omitted. The structural model including one latent
variable tted the data better cross-culturally. The beliefs
price and appearance were therefore excluded from
the measurement model of the latent variable beliefs.
The contents of this latent variable were very similar in
each country: beliefs health, environment and natural had
usually the highest loadings on it. In the case of pizza data
in the UK and Finland also trust was important. Beliefs
about better taste and fewer chemicals had somewhat less
inuence on this variable.
Affective and cognitive attitudes
Conrmatory factor analysis (maximum likelihood,
varimax rotation) on the four attitude items suggested
one attitude component instead of two separate components for cognitive and affective attitudes. This factor
explained 82% of the variation in apple data and 83% in
pizza data. However, comparison of two and one
component measurement models for attitudes with SEM
indicated signicantly better t for the two than for
the one-component model. In order to consider the
underlying two components but to avoid problems with
multi-collinearity, it was decided to apply one-component model for attitudes but, to allow correlation between
the two indicators of the cognitive component. These
measurement models for attitudes tted the cross-cultural
data excellently. Cronbach alphas for the four-item
measures are presented in the Table 1. Affective attitude
items had higher loadings on this factor than did cognitive
attitude items regardless of the country and food in
question.

Measurement models for moral norms, subjective norms and

attitudes
Multi-country conrmatory factor analysis with SEM
was performed on items intended to measure (affective and
cognitive) attitudes, subjective norms and moral norms.
Acceptable t indices supported the discriminant validity
of these latent variables in the case of apple data
(CFI 0.94; RMSEA 0.08). However, the model t
was not acceptable in the case of pizza data (CFI 0.92;
RMSEA 0.10). The measure of moral norm had high
correlations with subjective norms and attitudes (Figs. 1
and 2, Table 2). Because of theoretical reasons these latent
constructs were kept separate, however. The correlations
between moral norm and attitudes or subjective norm
differed between the countries both for apples and pizza
with the lowest correlations in Finland (Table 2).
Development of the structural model
The structural model was developed in several phases by
comparing the model ts, and Chi square difference tests
between the different versions of the structural model. The
results from these comparative analyses are presented in
Table 3 for apple data. Analyses for pizza data are not
shown, because the conclusions were similar with apple
data in each phase. Based on these results it was decided
rstly to omit the measure of pbc, and secondly to allow
the positive moral attitude and subjective norm to correlate
with beliefs. Pbc was omitted because of poorer model ts
and because it was insignicantly linked to intentions in all
countries and both foods. In the third phase, the hypothesis
was tested that the inuence of moral norm would be
0.43

SN
0.69
0.57

MORAL

0.37

0.45

BELIEFS

ATTITUDE

0.40

The theoretical construct pbc was measured with two

items. This latent variable was, however, omitted because
of insignicant contribution to prediction of intentions and
because of problems with estimation. Estimation problems
are common when there are only two indicators for a latent
variable (Anderson & Gerbing, 1988). Also the reliability
of pbc variables was not always good. (For example, in the
case of apple data in UK sample the reliability was only
0.49). Although pbc is an important part of the TPB,
retaining it in the model could have decreased the reliability
of the other estimates.

R2 = 0.60

0.10 (ns)

0.62

Measurement models for perceived control

INTENT

R2 = 0.58

Chi2 = 4550.4, df = 110,

p<0.001
CFI = 0.96
RMSEA = 0.07
AIC = 5410.4

Fig. 1. The nal model, pooled data, apple.

0.37

SN
0.68
0.46

INTENT

MORAL
0.64

BELIEFS

R2 = 0.55

0.21
0.30

0.47
0.29

ATTITUDE

R2 = 0.48

Chi2 = 593.6, df = 110,

p<0.001
CFI = 0.95
RMSEA = 0.08
AIC = 679.6

Fig. 2. The nal model, pooled data, pizza.

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A. Arvola et al. / Appetite 50 (2008) 443454
Table 2
Correlations in pooled data (bold text), in Italy, Finland and UK,
respectively
sn
Organic apples
Attitude
0.57
0.69/0.52/
0.57
Sn

pbc

moral_pos

Intent

0.34
0.44/0.22/
0.40
0.32
0.46/0.28/
0.34

0.65
0.72/0.64/
0.62
0.54
0.64/0.47/
0.52
0.19
0.40/0.12/
0.23

0.65
0.73/0.60/
0.67
0.58
0.62/0.56/
0.55
0.34
0.41/0.31/
0.36
0.57
0.69/0.44/
0.64

0.22
0.35/0.03/
0.26
0.23
0.36/0.15/
0.21

0.66
0.78/0.69/
0.58
0.56
0.73/0.44/
0.52
0.18
0.31/0.09/
0.16

0.58
0.71/0.55/
0.51
0.56
0.64/0.58/
0.38
0.16
0.24/0.10/
0.16
0.59
0.69/0.49/51

Pbc

moral_pos

Ready-to-cook organic pizza

Attitude
0.56
0.76/0.46/
0.51
Sn

Pbc

moral_pos

These correlations are based on the variables averaged from the individual
items.

completely mediated though attitudes (comparison of

models 3 and 4 in Table 3). The t indices suggested only
partial mediation, and therefore both the direct path from
moral attitude to intention and the indirect path via
attitudes were retained in the model. Fourthly, we tested
the hypothesis about usefulness of including the measure of
positive moral attitudes into the model by comparing
models with (model 4) and without (model 5) this variable.
Finally, the cross-cultural validity of the path-coefcients
was tested by comparing model where all paths were
allowed to vary between the countries (model 4) with
model 4b, where all paths were xed to unity between the
countries. Based on the signicance of the Chi square
difference tests and on the CFI and RMSEA indices, model
4 with free parameters was considered as the best one
(Table 3).
Assessing measurement invariance
In order for the cross-national comparisons to be
meaningful, the measurement instruments need to show
adequate cross-national invariance. A procedure suggested
by Steenkamp and Baumgartner (1998) was followed to
test this with the model 4. In the present study, it was
necessary to assume congural and metric invariance.
Congural invariance can be assumed, when items
comprising the measurement instrument exhibit the same

449

conguration of salient (nonzero) and nonsalient (zero or

near zero) factor loadings across different countries
(Steenkamp & Baumgartner, 1998). In all countries, all
the items used in model 4 loaded signicantly and strongly
for their relevant factors. In addition, there was sufcient
discriminant validity between the latent constructs. Consequently, congural invariance could be assumed.
Full metric invariance was tested with multi-country
CFA by constraining the factor loadings to be equal across
countries and comparing it with a model, where factor
loadings we not xed. Metric invariance assumption should
be achieved if the t of model with equality-constrained
loadings is not signicantly worse than that of the
unconstrained model (Kline, 1998). Steenkamp and Baumgartner (1998) suggest using other t indices than w2
difference test (e.g. RMSEA, TLI, CFI) for evaluating
metric invariance. Based on these t indices the constrained
model was not worse than the unconstrained model. In the
case of apple data, the t indices for constrained and
unconstrained models were: RMSEA 0.05 and 0.05; TLI
0.92 and 0.92; CFI 0.93 and 0.094, respectively. In the case
of pizza data: RMSEA 0.06 and 0.06; TLI 0.90 and 0.90;
CFI 0.92 and 0.092, respectively. Thus, also metric
invariance across these three countries can be assumed.
Results from the final structural model
Based on the model comparisons (Table 3) model 4 was
selected as the nal model. In this model, the measure of
pbc had been omitted, the measure of positive moral
attitudes was included, and both affective and cognitive
attitude items were included as one latent variable. The
model tted both the data for organic apples and organic
pizza well. For the sake of simplicity these models are
presented for data pooled over countries in Figs. 1 and 2.
Measures of attitude, subjective norm and moral attitude
all had considerable inuences on intentions to purchase
organic apples and pizza. All the latent variables were
strongly correlated and the effects of moral attitude
measures were partially mediated via attitudes (Figs. 1
and 2). The model 4 tted the data well in the multicountry analyses, suggesting similarity of the overall
structure of the model.
In order to test similarity of the path-coefcients
between the countries two models were compared: model
4, where all paths were allowed to vary between the
countries was compared with model 4b, where all paths
were xed to unity. Better t was obtained for the model 4,
indicating country-wise differences. The most noteworthy
cross-cultural difference was the differing relations of
positive moral attitude and subjective norms. Only in the
Finnish data moral attitude was an insignicant predictor
of intention, but subjective norms were signicant, whereas
in the UK and Italy this was usually the other way around
(Table 4). It is good to note, that moral attitude and
subjective norms correlated highly. In Finland the correlations between these variables were weakest. There were

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A. Arvola et al. / Appetite 50 (2008) 443454

450
Table 3
Model comparisons for apple data

w2/df (p0.30)

CFI (X0.95)
RMSEA
(p0.08)
R2 for attitude
in Italy/
Finland/UK
R2 for
intention in
Italy/Finland/
UK

Model 1
(the starting
model)

Model 2 (pbc
omitted)

Model 3 (correlations
added: moral * belief,
sn * belief)

Model 4 (+ direct path

from moral to intention
added)

Model 4b ( model 4, but all

paths are xed to unity between
the countries)

Model 5 (
moral attitude
omitted)

1348.6/
435 3.10;
po0.001
0.91
0.06

1095.9/
339 3.23;
po0.001
0.92
0.06

771.3/333 2.32;
po0.001

761.4/330 2.31;
po0.001

823.9/346 2.38; po0.001

0.95
0.04

0.96
0.04

0.95
0.05

647.8/
216 3.00;
po0.001
0.94
0.06

0.60/0.42/
0.46

0.60/0.42/0.46

0.71/0.51/0.56

0.70/0.51/0.56

0.60/0.60/0.54

0.58/0.38/0.49

0.65/0.48/
0.64

0.66/0.47/0.64

0.73/0.51/0.69

0.74/0.51/0.65

0.71/0.52/0.58

0.71/0.50/0.60

1335.9

1023.3
Model 2 vs. model 3
323.7(6); po0.001
4Model 3 is better
than model 2

1019.4
Models 3 vs. model 4
9.87 (3); p 0.020
4Model 4 is better
than model 3

1049.9
Model 4 vs. model 4b
62.49 (16); po0.001
4Model 4 is better than model
4b

845.8

Model comparison
AIC
1618.6
Dw2 (Ddf)
Sig.
Conclusion

4Model 2 is
better than
model 1

4Model 4 is
better than
model 5

Note: pcperceived behavioural control, snsubjective norm, CFIComparative Fit Index, RMSEAroot mean square error of approximation,
AICakaike information criterion, Dw2difference in w2 values, Ddfdifference in degrees of freedom. Multi-country models with no constraints
between the countries (rules of thump-cut-offs for t indices suggesting acceptable t).

Table 4
Results from the nal model 4
Apple

Pizza

Italy
Est.

Fin
p

R2 for intention
R2 for attitude

0.74
0.70

Regression weights
Attitude4intent
Moral4intent
SN4intent
Moral4attitude
Beliefs4attitude

0.51
0.30
0.12
0.53
0.37

ns

Correlations
Moral  sn
Belief  sn
Belief  moral

0.77
0.67
0.72





Est.

UK
p

0.51
0.51





0.41
0.02
0.46
0.48
0.32
0.57
0.45
0.62

Est.

Italy
p

0.65
0.56


ns









Est.

Fin
p

0.64
0.62

Est.

UK
p

0.56
0.46

0.31
0.25
0.37
0.36
0.47







0.38
0.32
0.18
0.60
0.24




ns

0.29
0.10
0.52
0.52
0.20

0.74
0.63
0.60





0.80
0.60
0.70





0.52
0.40
0.75




Est.

0.45
0.38


ns












0.33
0.38
0.09
0.36
0.34

ns

0.67
0.34
0.54








Simultaneous multi-country analyses.

 po0.05.
 po0.01.
 po0.001.

further differences between the countries in the shares of

variances in intention and attitudes explained. In the
Italian data the R2 coefcients were clearly higher both for
intentions and attitudes regardless of the target product. In

the case of apple data, the R2 coefcient for intention was

the lowest in the Finnish data. In the case of pizza, the
lowest R2 coefcient for attitude and intention was
observed in the UK data (Table 4).

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A. Arvola et al. / Appetite 50 (2008) 443454

The usefulness of keeping moral attitude in the model

was tested by comparing model 4 with model 5, where
moral attitude had been omitted. According to t indices
RMSEA and CFI, the models including the measure of
positive moral attitude (model 4) tted the data better than
the models without this measure (model 5) (Table 3). In
contrast, the t index AIC for model comparison suggested
better t for the model 5. However, the measure of moral
attitude did improve the predictive ability of the model; the
R2 coefcients for intentions and attitudes were higher in
model 4 than in model 5. Based on these results the moral
attitude was retained in the model (Table 3).
The role of affective attitude items was also important in
the model. Although, having separate measures of affective
and cognitive attitude was not useful, the role of affective
attitude items was important. These items loaded more
strongly (0.900.95) on the latent variable attitude than did
the cognitive items (0.420.70).
The nal model accounted for considerable amounts of
variation of intentions to purchase organic apples
(R2 0.510.74) and organic ready-to-cook pizza
(R2 0.450.64) in each country. From 38% to 70% of
the variation in attitude towards organic apples or pizza
was explained by the model. Variations in intentions and
attitudes were explained better in the case of organic apples
than in the case of ready-to-cook pizza. The lowest R2
coefcients were found for prediction of purchase intentions of organic pizza in the UK and organic apples in
Finland. Both moral attitude and beliefs were signicantly
linked to attitude in all countries and for apples and pizza.
Moral attitude tended to have stronger impact on attitudes
than did beliefs (Table 4).
Discussion
Previous studies have suggested that there is a need to
enhance the ability of TPB in capturing moral inuences of
behaviour. Many studies have also been proved successful
in doing this (Manstead, 2000) with a measure reecting
anticipated negative feelings arising from not adhering to
ones own moral principles, such as feelings of guilt.
Instead of negative feelings of guilt, our study applied a
measure we call positive moral attitude. It refers to selfadministered rewards, which follow from adhering to ones
own moral principles and arouse positive feelings of doing
the right thing. Our study suggests that in the context of
organic food purchase it may be useful to consider these
positive, self-rewarding feelings.
The aim of this study was to examine the role of
measures of affective attitude and positive moral attitude
within the context of the TPB. As a whole, affective and
moral measures were found to have a considerable role in
predicting intentions to purchase organic foods. Firstly, the
measure of positive moral attitude was found to increase
the share of variance explained in attitudes and intentions,
except in the Finnish sample. The model also tted the data
slightly better with moral attitude measure than without it.

451

Secondly, the affective component of attitude had a

stronger role than did the cognitive one. The superiority
of affective over cognitive attitudes is a common nding in
attitude studies in general (Tramow & Sheeran, 1998;
Zanna & Rempel, 1988), depending, however, on the type
of behaviour in question (e.g. Tramow & Sheeran, 1998).
It has been discussed whether moral norm is theoretically distinguishable from TRA constructs or whether it
inuences through attitudes and/or subjective norms
(Conner & Armitage, 1998, p. 1441; Raats et al., 1995).
Our measure of positive moral attitude had high correlations with these variables. Correspondingly, studies on
moral obligation have found it to be closely related to
attitudes, subjective norms and behavioural beliefs in the
context of various behaviours (Conner & Armitage, 1998),
including purchase of organic foods (Thgersen & Olander, 2006). In the previous studies, moral measures have
sometimes been found to improve the prediction of
intentions (Schwartz & Tessler, 1972; Sparks & Shepherd,
2002) and sometimes the prediction of attitudes (Raats
et al., 1995). Our results suggested that the inuence of
moral norms is partially mediated through attitudes and
partially direct. There are also other conceptualisations of
the relationships between moral attitudes and attitudes.
For example, working with a different TPB data set on the
choice of organic foods across eight European countries,
Thgersen (2007) included moral attitudes as part of the
overall attitude concept, rather than including it as a
separate concept the effect of which is partially mediated
by attitude.
The close relation between subjective norms and positive
moral attitude found in this and other studies can be
expected because the theoretical notions of subjective
norms and personal norms are interrelated constructs.
While subjective norms reect external social pressure
persons perceptions of what others think he or she should
dopersonal norms or moral attitudes can be seen as
internal(ised) moral rules or values, where the motivation
arises from anticipated self-administered rewards or
punishments (cf. Ajzen, 1991; Eagly & Chaiken, 1993;
Manstead, 2000; Schwartz & Howard, 1984).
The model performed better in explaining the purchase
intentions of organic apples than those of organic ready-tocook pizza. There are several possible reasons for this. First
of all, organic ready-to-cook pizza was an unfamiliar
product to most participants. Attitudes are often stronger
predictors when the consumers have prior experience about
the attitude object (Fazio & Zanna, 1981; Kraus, 1995),
although only up to a certain point (Schlegel & DiTecco,
1982). In a study by Thgersen (2002) personal moral
norms were found to be better predictors of intentions to
choose organic red wine when consumers had previously
consumed organic red wine. However, prior organic
food consumption in general or experience with organic
apples or pizza did not explain the predictive ability of
moral attitude or the total models in our study. All the
measured reactions of the participants (attitudes etc.) were,

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452

A. Arvola et al. / Appetite 50 (2008) 443454

nonetheless more positive towards organic apples than

towards ready-to-cook organic pizza. In addition to the
unfamiliarity of organic pizza this may be due to some
consumers perceiving a high level of food processing as
being incongruent with the idea of organic food.
The overall structural model had cross-cultural comparability in UK, Finland and Italy. Yet, the strength of
the links between the latent variables varied between the
countries. Most noteworthy differences between the
countries were the relations and inuences of subjective
norms and moral attitudes. Only in the case of the Finnish
data, moral attitude did not add predictive ability to the
model, but subjective norms seemed to capture this effect
instead. There are several possible explanations for the
deviating Finnish results. Firstly, they may reect cultural
differences in the inuence of external social pressure vs.
internalised moral norms. Secondly, there may be cultural
differences in question interpretation. Thirdly, differences
in data collection methods may have inuenced the results
in some way. In the UK and Italy the questionnaire was
completed in face-to-face interviews, whereas in Finland it
was completed by respondents themselves via the Internet.
Further, the Finnish respondents more positive attitudes
towards organic foods, compared to the UK or Italian
respondents, may be explained by the Finnish sample
including a greater share of long-term users of organic
foods.
One limitation of this study is the use of a cross-sectional
design and self-reported measures instead of an independent behavioural measure. This is a common deciency of
TPB studies. It has been demonstrated that sometimes
intentions and observed behaviour are only weakly
connected (Davies et al., 2002) and that TPB variables
account for larger variance in self-reported than in
observed behaviour (Armitage & Conner, 2001). It should
be thus noted that the measures of attitudes, subjective
norms and moral attitude probably are less strongly
connected with actual purchases of organic food than
what has been found in this study about their connection
with self-reported intentions. The predictive ability of
intention measure has been found to depend e.g. on the
correspondence of these measures (cf. Ajzen & Fishbein,
1977), on the ability of pbc measure to capture the factors
that may facilitate or inhibit behaviour (Sheeran, Tramow, & Armitage, 2003), and on how well formulated the
intentions are (Bagozzi & Yi, 1989).
Conclusions
These results lend partial support for the usefulness of
incorporating measures which capture affective and moral
bases of behaviour into the framework of TPB. Moral
attitude, a measure reecting positive, self-rewarding
feeling of doing the right thing, seems to be useful
especially in understanding, but in some cases also in
predicting intentions to buy organic foods. However, its
effects are still partially mediated by other variables, such

as attitude and subjective norm. Future studies need to

address the conditions in which such a moral measure is
useful.
From a practical point of view, this study provides
justication for using a moral dimension in marketing of
organic food. Based on earlier ndings, we know that
consumers tend to be aware of the positive environmental
implications of organic farming. However, there have
been indications that altruistic motivation (moral responsibility for the environment) does not inuence behaviour
(Magnusson et al., 2003). This study indicates that many
consumers experience organic food choice as a morally
right thing to do, which provides an internal reward, and
this moral feeling further relates to intentions to purchase
organic food.

Acknowledgements
This study was carried out with nancial support from
the Commission of the European Communities, specic
RTD programme Quality of Life and Management of
Living Resources, QLK1-2002-02446, Consumer decision making on organic products (CONDOR). It does not
necessarily reect its views and in no way anticipates the
Commissions future policy in this area.

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