Health-driven mechanism of organic food consumption: A structural equation modelling approach

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic seriously threatened human survival and development. It has also highlighted the significant correlation between ecological and public health. After three years of the COVID pandemic, Chinese consumers have become more aware of the importance of health. Especially in the Internet era, consumers' purchasing methods and health awareness have been changed. Consumers can buy nutritious and organic foods. To understand the impact of consumer psychology and health beliefs on the willingness to purchase organic food in the post-pandemic period, this study uses organic beef as an example and extracts key variables from three basic theories. The three basic theories include the Health Belief Model (HBM), the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), and the Norm Activation Model (NAM), respectively. Specifically, perceived susceptibility and severity are combined to form a health belief variable that can drive organic food purchasing. In contrast, perceived benefit, moral norms, self-efficiency, and controllability are introduced as mediating variables to construct the health driving factors of organic beef purchasing. Structural equation modeling (SEM) and mediation effect tests are used to analyse 539 samples. Meanwhile, paths and mechanisms between health concern and other variables are explored. The results show that health concern is an important driving factor. Health concern can significantly promote the formation of willingness to purchase organic beef. Mediation effect tests suggest that health concern can indirectly affect the willingness to purchase organic beef through perceived benefit, moral norms, and controllability, but the mediation effect of self-efficiency is not significant. This study provides important references for government regulation and certification of organic foods as well as for enterprises'organic food marketing strategies.

1. Introduction

2500 years ago, the ancient Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu suggested protecting the ecosystem, prohibiting over-exploitation and severe ecological destruction of natural resources [1]. However, the past century has witnessed increasing exploitation of natural resources. Environmental problems such as energy crises, climate changes, and greenhouse effects have negatively affected human life and development [2,3]. There has been a rising concern regarding how to solve environmental pollution, and use natural resources reasonably and search for a sustainable, green, and low-carbon consumption model for long-term development [4,5].

From the consumer perspectives, the first significant change is the food supply and demand requirement. That is mainly because the global food system is the “main contributor” to greenhouse gas emissions, responsible for 23–42% of the total emissions [6,7]. Over the past 30 years, greenhouse gas emissions from global agriculture and food production have increased by 17% [8]. To ensure the food supply for 8 billion people worldwide and to complete the green and sustainable transformation of the agricultural system, it is essential to alleviate human-caused environmental pollution and build a sound ecosystem.

Yet, environmental problems have already caused human concerns about food quality. Water pollution, toxic elements in soil, and other threats have endangered human food safety. The public is worried about the food they buy, so they purchase products with trusted labels. These labels help them determine whether the food they buy is safe and reliable. Organic food is a good choice for the public to address environmental worries and health problems [9,10]. Some scholars have raised questions about whether organic food is healthier. They are wondering whether mycotoxin levels are increasing due to the absence of pesticides in organic food production. On the contrary, some scholars think that organic food is safer, since it does not use chemically synthesized pesticides, fertilizers, growth regulators, and growth hormones in its production process [11]. Different from traditional food, organic food is strictly tested by organic certification agencies, and an annual inspection is required for organic food labeling certification [12]. If failing to pass the audit, organic food is not allowed to use the organic certification. Thereby, organic food is globally acknowledged for its stringent safety and quality standards, earning greater consumer trust. For instance, organic rice cultivation imposes elevated requirements on soil and water quality during the planting process. Besides, this production and processing process requires biological fertilizers, farmhouse fertilizers, and physical weeding methods instead of artificially synthesized substances such as pesticides, fertilizers, and hormones. Given this, some scholars hold the opinion that organic rice is healthier and safer compared to ordinary rice [13].

With the acceleration of urbanisation, China's food consumption structure has been upgraded. Chinese have a growing demand for agricultural products, particularly meat and dairy products [14]. According to statistics from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in agriculture comes from methane produced during livestock digestion, with enteric fermentation, manure, and manure management accounting for 72% of agricultural carbon emissions. Livestock has become the primary source of agricultural greenhouse gas emissions [15]. In addition, among all animal-based foods, beef and milk production are the primary sources of carbon emissions in livestock farming, taking up 41% and 20% of the total livestock emissions [16], respectively. This is mainly because cows are ruminants that feed on fibrous plants. Meanwhile, microbes in their stomachs produce large amounts of carbon dioxide while helping them digest the plant. With the spike in Chinese demand for meat, eggs, and dairy products, greenhouse gas emissions are also increasing. This has pressured China to achieve carbon peak and carbon neutrality in the livestock industry. Existing studies have shown that compared with the traditional animal husbandry model, organic animal husbandry can use modern agricultural technology to improve feed utilization, reduce the production of excreta, and realize the resource utilization of livestock manure and other wastes, thus reducing carbon emissions [17]. This also means that the “organic and green” transformation of livestock products is urgent, but Chinese consumers have not yet had a strong awareness of buying organic and green livestock products. Additionally, the demand of Chinese residents for organic food is still insufficient. This has brought more difficulty to China's transition from traditional agriculture to organic agriculture.

Nevertheless, the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019 significantly changed Chinese consumers' attitudes towards organic food. There has been an increasing demand for healthier, safer, and more nutritious food among Chinese consumers. This probably indicates new opportunities for developing the organic food industry in China. It was not until December 2022 that China officially announced the lifting of its lockdown on the pandemic. This marked the end of the three-year COVID-19 pandemic. At the same time, the Chinese government also proposed the slogan – “Everyone is responsible for their health”. According to this slogan, Chinese residents should sharpen their health awareness. Consumers have significantly been panicked and concerned, from the moral condemnation of human consumption of wild animals at the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak to the numerous food safety incidents during the pandemic. Chinese consumers now prioritize trustworthy, green, sustainable, and healthy food due to increased awareness of the adverse health impact of harmful food [18,19]. The production and consumption of organic food are believed to be green and safe, environmentally friendly, and linked to health, environmental protection, and low carbon. Organic food is gradually becoming known and adopted by consumers. These external factors have greatly stimulated the rise of Chinese consumers’ health beliefs. Chinese have been striving to find healthier organic food.

Extensive research has been conducted on the influencing factors of organic food purchases. Research of this kind mainly focuses on “personal characteristics [20], product perception [21], risk awareness, attitude [22], and product labelling [23]. Studies by Briz and Ward on Spanish consumers found that demographic characteristics such as gender, age, and income can affect consumers' perception and purchasing behavior towards green products [24]. There is a lack of studies discussing organic food purchase intentions from the health perspective. Among the current psychological theories explaining health and organic food consumption, the one closely related to health is the health belief theory [25]. Previous scholars mostly explained that health beliefs could promote the occurrence of healthy behaviors through the use of health belief theory. For instance, individuals with strong health beliefs are more active in engaging in physical exercise [26]. However, there are few studies paying attention to the impact of health beliefs on the willingness to purchase organic food from the perspective of health belief theory. Only a small number of scholars have proposed two important factors influencing consumers' selection of organic food, including health benefits and environmental benefits [27], but health benefits are only regarded as part of perceived benefits. For example, in accordance with the analysis by using attribution theory, Yao Wen found that consumers' perception of the health attributes and environmental protection effects of green agricultural products can significantly influence their willingness to buy green agricultural products [28]. Consequently, few specialized studies have been found to use health beliefs as a driving factor to examine consumers' purchasing willingness towards organic food. Furthermore, despite the exploration of the direct relationship between various variables proposed in the health belief theory and purchase intention by the existing literature [29], it fails to take health belief as a pre-variable to discuss the relationship between health belief and other variables. On the other hand, it's necessary to verify the mechanism relationship between health beliefs and organic food's purchase intention.

To make up for the shortcomings of existing research, the discussion on the determinants of consumers’ organic food purchasing decisions is conducted from the perspective of health belief. Additionally, the relationship between health beliefs and other variables, as well as the mechanism between health beliefs and organic food purchase intentions, are explored.

The remainder of the paper is split into five parts: In the second part, an overview of the theoretical background is conducted, and the research hypotheses are formed. This helps establish a theoretical framework for the organic food health-driven purchase intention model. In the third part, the material sources and research methods are introduced. In the fourth part, the introduction to the research results is carried out. In the fifth part, beyond the discussion of the research results, theoretical implications and practical implications are also emphasized. In the sixth part, the conclusions are drawn, limitations and recommendations for future research are also elaborated.

2. Theoretical background and research hypotheses

2.1. Theoretical background

2.1.1. Health belief theory

The health belief theory refers to an individual's beliefs and concepts about preventing diseases, maintaining health, and striving for optimal well-being. Individuals with beliefs related to diseases and health are more likely to adopt healthy behaviours and change risky behaviours [30]. The health belief theory mainly comprises perceived threat variables and behaviour evaluation variables. Perceived threat primarily arises from individuals' feelings of insecurity. It consists of perceived susceptibility and severity of the problem. Behaviour evaluation variables include perceived benefits, barriers, and self-efficiency. Previous research has confirmed the solid predictive role of various variables in the health belief model on healthy eating behaviours [31]. However, existing research lacks an exploration of the correlations among the variables in the health belief model. Therefore, this study adopts Yixiang et al.‘s health belief variables [32], including perceived susceptibility and severity. On this basis, the correlation between health belief and perceived benefits, perceived barriers and self-efficiency is investigated for a better understanding of the impact of health belief on consumers' willingness to purchase organic food.

2.1.2. Theory of Planned Behavior

The Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) is one of the most influential theories in health psychology. This theory has been widely applied to healthy eating and consumer behaviour. Developed by Ajzen, TPB consists of three components: attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioural control. However, some scholars have pointed out that TPB, while having solid explanatory power in healthy eating behaviour, lacks a motivational drive for action and fails to consider the evaluation of perceived risks. Due to these two defects, TPB cannot help scholars understand the impact of negative information evaluation on purchase intention related to health [33,34]. Additionally, TPB has been criticised for not considering human beings’ moral and emotional factors. Therefore, some scholars have proposed improvements and expansions to TPB by introducing moral norms and self-identity. Their efforts have significantly enhanced the effectiveness and applicability of TPB [35].

Inspired by existing literature, this study replaces and expands the traditional variables of TPB to improve the model's explanatory power. First, the health belief variables of perceived susceptibility and perceived severity provide an assessment of health risks. These variables can effectively address the lack of motivational factors and help evaluate perceived risks in TPB. Second, we have modified TPB. Some scholars have suggested that in case of food safety incidents, information asymmetry may lead to the influence of behavioural attitude on consumer behaviour being weaker than perceived benefit. So we have replaced the attitude component of TPB with perceived benefit from the HBM [25]. The meaning expressed by perceived behavioural control in TPB and perceived barriers in HBM contradict each other. Besides, perceived behavioural control has more enriched connotations. Therefore, we have replaced perceived barriers with perceived behavioural control. Finally, Urbig's empirical test of perceived behavioural control has confirmed the existence of a two-factor structure. The empirical test also pointed out that perceived behavioural control could be classified into self-efficiency and controllability. Moreover, the two-factor structure is more persuasive than a single factor. Hence, this study takes a closer look into the impact of self-efficiency and controllability on organic beef purchase intention and verifies the path correlation of health belief with self-efficiency and controllability, respectively.

2.1.3. Norm activation theory

The norm activation theory, developed by Schwartz in 1977, is fundamental in environmental behaviour. It has found wide applications in various social behaviours, such as low-carbon energy consumption and green consumption [36,37]. Generally, this theory consists of four latent variables: consequence awareness, responsibility attribution, moral norms, and behavioural intention. Among them, moral norms mediate the effects of consequence awareness, responsibility attribution, and behavioural intention. Consequence awareness refers to individuals recognising the consequences of not performing a specific behaviour. Some studies have verified that environmental consequence awareness significantly affects the willingness to purchase organic food [38].

In this study, consequence awareness is replaced with health belief, which refers to consumers'concerns about the harm to health caused by purchasing beef that may be contaminated with diseases or containing pesticide residues. In organic food consumption, the health belief variable is similar to the consequence awareness variable. In the purchasing behaviour of organic beef, health and consequence consciousness are concerned about the damage to one's health caused by buying infected or unhealthy beef. Hence, we replace consequence awareness with health belief. Moral norms are individuals'moral obligations to fulfil or avoid certain behaviours [39]. Consuming organic beef undoubtedly can be considered a moral behaviour, as it benefits the environment and animal welfare by not using antibiotics, hormones, feed additives, or genetic engineering techniques in the production process. Moreover, moral norms differ fundamentally from subjective norms in TPB. The former is mainly driven by social group pressures such as threats of sanctions or promises of rewards [40]. In addition, moral norms emphasise individual internal emotional factors and attempt to guide individuals'environmental behaviour from a moral-emotional perspective.

In COVID-19 pandemic, many scholars demonstrated that subjective norms can significantly promote the formation of willingness to purchase organic food. Consumers may also be influenced by the government or social groups [41]. However, there have been limited discussions on moral norms in existing studies. Research has shown that moral norms are more enduring and stable than subjective norms. Moral norms are related to an individual's beliefs. Once beliefs are formed, they will be long-lasting and stable [42,43]. Therefore, internalised moral norms are more meaningful than subjective norms in practice.

The analysis above reveals similarities and differences between the three models involved in this research. Combining them can complement each other in explaining and predicting organic food consumption. This can reinforce the explanatory power of the model. Fig. 1 illustrates the theoretical framework of this study. It first constructs the risk perception assessment of the indicator, namely health belief. As shown in Fig. 1 health belief have two antecedent variables, including perceived susceptibility and perceived severity. This study integrates variables from health belief theory, the theory of planned behaviour, and norm activation theory. These variables include health beliefs, perceived benefits, subjective norms, self-efficiency, and controllability. Then, a health-driven model of organic beef purchase intention is proposed based on the logical correlations among these variables. To sum up, this study follows the research path below: first, health belief is taken as the antecedent driving factor of organic beef purchase intention, and perceived benefits, subjective norm, self-efficiency, and controllability as mediating variables to examine the correlations and mechanisms among health belief and these variables.

Fig. 1.

Conceptual model.

2.2. Research hypotheses

2.2.1. Health belief

Health belief is a conscious behavioural tendency formed on a specific cognitive basis. It serves as a fundamental driver for decision-making. In this study, following the approach of previous scholars, we combine perceived susceptibility and perceived severity in the health belief theory into a single variable, health belief [32]. Consumers with higher perceived susceptibility may pay more attention to information related to the benefits of organic food, corporate production control, and government monitoring and regulation of food quality and safety. Being more aware of food safety issues and concerned about purchasing unhealthy food, these consumers want to mitigate food safety risks and satisfy their psychological needs to buy safe food [44]. For consumers with higher perceived severity, scholars argue that behaviour change only occurs when they realize that their current behaviour harms their health and that changing their behaviour can reduce their food risks [45].

During the COVID-19 pandemic, food safety incidents often happened to meat and poultry products. Consumers are worried that the food might be contaminated with the virus, which lead to contracting a disease [46]. Therefore, consumers with a higher awareness of health beliefs are expected to have a significantly higher perceived value of organic food compared to those who do not prioritize health [47]. At the same time, a stronger awareness of health is likely to evoke a sense of moral responsibility in consumers and a willingness to pay a higher consumption cost for organic beef. Meanwhile, a stronger health awareness can overcome barriers such as convenience and availability [48], and can ultimately increase organic beef consumption. Thus, this study proposed the following hypotheses:

H1

Health belief has a positive promoting effect on perceived benefit.

H2

Health belief has a positive promoting effect on moral norms.

H3

Health belief has a positive promoting effect on self-efficiency.

H4

Health belief has a positive promoting effect on controllability.

H5

Health belief has a positive promoting effect on willingness to purchase organic beef.

2.2.2. Perceived benefit

Perceived benefit refers to the perceived effectiveness and evaluation of specific attributes and performance of a product in helping consumers achieve their goals or intentions in particular consumption contexts. Consumers often perceive organic food as a reputable product that is produced using natural ingredients, so organic food is pollution-free and safe. Studies by Akter and others suggest that consumers perceive organic food as healthier and more nutritious than conventional food, as organic production does not involve harmful chemical fertilisers [49]. Further research by Guanqi and Husnain Mudassir indicates a significant association between perceived benefit and willingness to engage in green consumption, with health concerns being an essential driving factor for positive attitudes and intentions towards organic food consumption [50]. Therefore, consumers expect to consume more nutritious, healthy, and pesticide free food to reduce the potential food safety risks. From the perspective of behavioural evaluation, if consumers perceive a substantial benefit in consuming organic food, they will believe that it is beneficial to their health. Consequently, they are more likely to increase their purchase intention towards organic beef. Hence, this study proposes the following hypotheses:

H6

Perceived benefit has a positive promoting effect on organic beef purchase intention.

H6a

Health belief indirectly influences organic beef purchase intention through perceived benefit.

2.2.3. Moral norm

Moral norms refer to the expectations of individuals regarding their behaviour in specific situations under society's unwritten rules. Once moral norms are activated, individuals feel obligated to engage in environmentally-friendly behaviour. In the context of organic beef consumption, moral norms refer to consumers' moral emotions and sense of responsibility and obligation to purchase organic beef that is environmentally and animal friendly. Consumers with strong moral norms feel guilty when consuming uncertified conventional beef. They might consider eating beef harmful to animal rights [51], but consuming certified organic beef bring them emotional well-being and moral values. Research has shown that moral norms positively influence behavioural intentions. For example, Mørk et al. found that moral norms positively impact consumers' willingness to purchase organic food [43]. Consequence awareness is another variable in the NAM model. In this study, it is defined as health belief, referring to consumers' awareness of the health risks and environmental damages associated with not consuming organic beef. Because health belief is closely related to consequence awareness, we use health belief as a substitute for consequence awareness. Research has confirmed that individuals aware of the severity of environmental damage and health risks caused by waste disposal are more likely to moral obligation and responsibility for the consequences of risk. Meanwhile, these consumers are also more inclined to engage in waste sorting to promote resource recycling and reduce human health risks. Therefore, we propose the following hypotheses:

H7

Moral norms positively influence consumers' willingness to purchase organic beef.

H7a

Health belief indirectly affects consumers' willingness to buy organic beef through moral norms

2.2.4. Self-efficiency

Self-efficiency is an individual's subjective judgment of whether they can successfully perform a behaviour. It reflects the individual's confidence level and determines whether they will take action. The stronger consumers' confidence in their ability to perform a behaviour, the lower the perceived risks and the stronger their willingness to purchase. In the face of unfamiliar new products, consumers' willingness to purchase is more likely to be influenced by their beliefs about the perceived difficulty or ease of the task Such perception of difficulty can come from internal measurement (self-efficiency) or external measurement (Controllability). Referring to viewpoints of multiple scholars, this study divides perceived behavioral control into self-efficiency and controllability.

Ashraf et al. confirmed that high self-efficiency increases trust and personal willingness to purchase [52]. Son and Lee also found that self-efficiency is a key factor influencing online purchase intention and behaviour [53]. Therefore, when individuals have sufficient confidence in certain behaviours, their motivation to take action will be stronger. Specifically, when consumers have higher self-efficiency, they are more confident in purchasing green products and demonstrate stronger will to overcome difficulties during the purchasing process. All in all, they will show a stronger willingness and behaviour to buy green products. In addition, self-efficiency strongly influences organic food purchases, which helps optimize the cognitive process. Rich experience in organic food purchase help understand the nutrition and health value of organic food and promote the formation of consumers’ organic food purchase behaviour. Health belief is the basis of organic food buying behaviour and an important link in the development of nutrition and health cognition and behaviour. As Bandura pointed out, a person who is certain that an action will have a positive outcome will have a stronger sense of self-efficiency, which affects the behaviour. Thus, health beliefs can indirectly promote organic food purchase by influencing self-efficiency. Based on the above discussions, the following hypotheses are proposed:

H8

Self-efficiency has a positive promotion effect on organic beef purchase intention.

H8a

Health belief indirectly influences organic beef purchase intention through self-efficiency.

2.2.5. Controllability

Controllability refers to the perceived degree of control over external conditions, including time, money, and accessibility, necessary for individuals to engage in certain behaviours. When individuals perceive a higher control over external conditions, their willingness to purchase will also be stronger. People are more inclined to engage in behaviours when they have the necessary resources. On the other hand, when individuals do not have sufficient conditions to complete a specific behaviour, their intention to engage in that behaviour decreases. Chiciudean et al. found that controllability is essential to Chinese consumer behaviour [54]. Sultan and Tarafder argued that price and convenience are essential factors constraining consumer purchasing of organic food [55]. Beniwal suggested that the availability of organic food is a significant factor influencing household purchasing behaviour; that is, an adequate supply of organic food in the market can increase likelihood of purchase intention. Controllability also changes an individual behaviour [56]. When consumers have sufficient resources and can control their behaviour, they will have enough confidence, and their intention and action to purchase organic food will be stronger.

If consumers perceive significant barriers, such as the belief that engaging in healthy behaviour requires expensive costs in terms of time and money, the likelihood of taking beneficial actions decreases. When consumers believe they can purchase a particular product for food safety and perceive a few or no barriers during the purchasing process, their controllability will be more robust, and they will be more willing to purchase green products [57]. When consumers perceive that the purchased food and its functions do not meet their expectations or may incur losses, they will actively cope with potential losses and seek external help to overcome purchasing barriers and purchase organic food. Based on these findings, we hypothesise the following:

H8

Controllability positively promotes the intention to purchase organic beef.

H8a

Health belief indirectly influences the intention to purchase organic beef through controllability.

3. Materials and methods

3.1. Data collection and the sample

Using a quantitative design, the study was conducted through an online survey in China from July to November 2022. China's largest questionnaire survey platform was adopted for data collection (www.wenjuan.com; accessed in July 2022). After a preliminary survey of 100 consumers, the questions were revised to enhance readability. Having attached importance to the investigation of consumers' willingness to purchase organic food, organic meat, and organic rice, previous studies did not specifically study the purchase intention of organic beef [58,59]. Therefore, the questionnaire survey method was used in this dissertation and organic beef consumption was taken as an example to investigate consumers' willingness to purchase organic beef. The target group of this survey is consumers who have previously purchased beef, as only consumers who have purchased beef can perceive the characteristics of organic beef. Therefore, we set a screening question, “Have you ever bought beef?“. The survey will continue only after the respondents have bought beef. A total of 621 people participated in our survey. After deleting incomplete and unreliable questionnaires, a valid sample of 539 respondents was obtained, with a questionnaire efficiency of 86.79%. According to Kline's research [60]. The minimum sample size for empirical surveys is 10 times that of measurement items. There were 20 measurement items in our study, so 539 effective sample sizes were acceptable.

3.2. Measures

Previous studies have focused on developed cities. This article surveyed Jiangxi Province in central China to find out about organic food consumption in less developed areas. Based on previous studies and discussed by three academic experts, this study modified the scale to adapt to the consumption of organic beef in the Chinese environment. The scale include not only the respondents’ perception of their own threatened health, but also iperceived benefit, moral norms, self-efficiency, controllability and purchase intention of organic beef. The 5-point Likert scale was used for all scales except demographic questions. The questionnaire items and their sources of adoption are illustrated in Table 1.

Table 1.

Questionnaire items and their source of adoption.

Variables	Items	Measurement Items	Adopted From
health belief (HB)	Perceived susceptibility	The novel coronavirus has been detected in beef,I worried about buying infected beef Due to food safety issues, I concerned about purchasing beef with veterinary drug residues I worried that consuming infected beef poses a threat to health	Huang and Zhang [32]
	Perceived severity	I concerned that eating problematic beef may threaten life and health Do you think that damage to family health due to long-term consumption of problematic beef?
perceived benefit (PB)	PB1 PB2 PB3	Eating organic beef will make me healthier Organic beef gives me a greater sense of security than other beef Organic beef can enhance the nutrition and health of family members	Teixeira et al. [61]
moral norms (MN)	MN1 MN2 MN3	In my opinion, Organic beef farming does not use growth hormones Organic beef production is less damaging to the ecological environment Organic beef production is more in line with human moral emotions	Hossain et al. [62]
self-efficiency (SE)	SE1 SE2	I have sufficient experience to ensure that I can purchase safe organic beef I have a good understanding of the nutritional value of the organic beef purchased	Sharma and Dayal [63]
Controllability (C)	C1 C2 C3 C4	I can easily and quickly purchase the organic beef I need The price of organic beef is reasonable Organic beef can be purchased through many channels and is convenient to buy I have enough time and money to buy organic beef	Han et al. [64]
purchase intention (PI)	BI1 BI2 BI3	In the future, I will buy organic beef I prefer to buy organic beef over uncertified beef I am willing to pay more for organic beef	Yazdanpanah and Forouzani [65]

3.3. Research method

Traditional multivariate statistical methods can only test the single relationship between independent variables and dependent variables, while structural equation model (SEM) can integrate regression analysis, factor analysis, path analysis and other methods, and change the test of variable relations from exploratory analysis to confirmatory analysis while dealing with multiple interrelationships of variables [66]. Structural equation model allow for measurement errors in independent and dependent variables, and the results are more accurate than traditional regression analysis. Data analysis in this study is divided into three steps. First, the reliability and validity of the variables were tested using SPSS26.0 and AMOS24.0 to ensure the goodness of fit of the structural model. Secondly, AMOS24.0 was used to verify the hypothetical relationship among six variables: health beliefs, moral morals, self-efficiency, controllability, purchase intention. The structural equation model (SEM) includes dominant, potential, and error variables. The model formula is as follows:

Measurement model：

$$\mathrm{X}=\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{x}\mathrm{\xi }+\mathrm{\delta }$$ (1)

$$\mathrm{Y}=\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{y}\mathrm{\eta }+\mathrm{\epsilon }$$ (2)

Structural model：

$$\mathbf{\eta }=\mathrm{B}\mathrm{\eta }+\Gamma \xi +\mathrm{\zeta }$$ (3)

4. Results

4.1. Descriptive statistics analysis

As shown in Table 2, the number of females (63.6%) is significantly more than that of male (36.4%). This may be because women are the major food buyers in Chinese households. Respondents aged 26–35 account for the most significant proportion (41.1%), followed by those aged 36–45 (18.4%), indicating that younger consumers are more willing to buy organic beef. In addition, most respondents were in excellent physical health (78.5%). More than half of consumers have a bachelor's degree or above (56.5%). Regarding personal income, respondents with a monthly income of 3000–5001 yuan topped on the list, accounting for 31.3%. In general, the survey samples in this study are more consistent with the actual situation of organic consumption in China, which can be further analysed.

Table 2.

Demographic characteristics of the samples (n = 539).

Variables		Frequency	Percentage
Gender	male	196	36.4
	female	343	63.6
Age (years)	18–25	88	16.3
	26–35	221	41.1
	36–45	99	18.4
	46–55	97	18.1
	over55	34	6.5
Health condition	Very unhealthy	5	0.9
	Not very healthy	18	3.3
	Good	93	17.3
	Relatively healthy	250	46.4
	Very healthy	173	32.1
Education	Primary school and below	42	7.8
	Junior high school	67	12.4
	Technical secondary school or high school	49	9.1
	Junior college	82	15.2
	Undergraduate	241	44.7
	Postgraduate	58	10.8
Income	0-3000¥	109	20.5
	3001-5000¥	167	31.3
	5001-8000¥	148	27.5
	over8000¥	115	21.5

4.2. Reliability and validity test

According to the measured results of the model in Table 3, the standardised factor loading of each project is greater than the critical value of 0.50, and Cronbach's α values were greater than the threshold value of 0.7 [67]. Secondly, the composite reliability (CR) value was used to test the reliability of the questionnaire. CR values are greater than 0.7, indicating that the indicators of each dimension have sufficient reliability and internal consistency [68]. The convergent and discriminant validity are used to measure the validity. The convergent validity is mainly reflected in factor load and average variance extracted (AVE). The results show that the factor loading is greater than 0.6, and the average variance extraction (AVE) is greater than 0.5. This indicates that the scale has high convergence validity [69].

Table 3.

Measurement model: reliability and validity.

Construct	Item code	Loading	CA	CR	AVE
HB	HB1	0.872	0.808	0.961	0.832
	HB2	0.945
	HB3	0.988
	HB4	0.894
	HB5	0.855
PB	PB1	0.777	0.73	0.769	0.528
	PB2	0.644
	PB3	0.753
MN	SN1	0.745	0.786	0.788	0.554
	SN2	0.774
	SN3	0.713
SE	SE1	0.859	0.764	0.856	0.749
	SE2	0.872
C	C1	0.756	0.749	0.819	0.532
	C2	0.744
	C3	0.724
	C4	0.693
BI	BI1	0.837	0.889	0.894	0.738
	BI2	0.916
	BI3	0.822

Note: BI, behavioural intention; HB, health belief; PB, perceived benefit; MN, moral norms; SE, self-efficiency; C, Controllability.

Meanwhile, Table 4 shows the results of the discriminant validity test. The correlation coefficient between any two variables is less than the square root of AVE in each variable; the scale has good discriminant validity [70]. Therefore, through confirmatory factor analysis(CFA), the model has sufficient reliability and validity.

Table 4.

Discriminant validity.

	AVE	HB	PB	MN	SE	C	BI
HB	0.832	0.912
PB	0.528	0.340	0.727
MN	0.554	0.329	0.471	0.744
SE	0.749	0.224	0.289	0.492	0.865
C	0.532	0.264	0.389	0.601	0.605	0.729
BI	0.738	0.457	0.556	0.432	0.334	0.454	0.859

Note: The items on the diagonal represent the square roots of the AVE; off-diagonal elements are the correlation estimates.

4.3. Model fitness test

We further tested the fit of the measurement model using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The results indicate that the proposed theoretical framework has good model fit(χ 2/df = 3.364, GFI = 0.916, IFI = 0.926, TLI = 0.908, CFI = 0.925, RMSEA = 0.066). Table 5 shows the calculated indicator values for fitting the measurement model. All indicators meet the recommended standards: R² is 0.57, meaning that the model can explain 57% of the total variance in this study.

Table 5.

Summary of fit indices from confirmatory factor analysis.

Fit Indices	Model	Recommended Value	Results
CMIN/DF	3.364	>1 and < 5	Satisfactory
GFI	0.916	≥0.9	Satisfactory
IFI	0.926	≥0.9	Satisfactory
TLI	0.908	≥0.9	Satisfactory
CFI	0.925	≥0.9	Satisfactory
RMSEA	0.066	≤0.08	Satisfactory
R2	0.57

Note: GFI, goodness-of-fit index; TLI, Tucker-Lewis index; CFI, comparative fit index; IFI, incremental fit index; RMSEA, root mean square error approximation.

4.4. Test of the measurement model

As expected, health beliefs can significantly promote perceived benefits(β = 0.351, p < 0.001), moral norm(β = 0.338, p < 0.001), self-efficiency(β = 0.256, p < 0.001), controllability(β = 0.277, p < 0.001) and purchase intention(β = 0.242,p < 0.001).Therefore, the research hypotheses H1, H2, H3, H4, and H5 are supported. In addition, perceived benefits positively promote the formation of willingness to purchase organic beef(β = 0.366, p < 0.001). Moral norms positively promote the formation of willingness to purchase organic beef(β = 0.103,p < 0.05). The stronger the controllability of consumers, the more likely they are to buy organic beef(β = 0.209,p < 0.001). Therefore, the research hypotheses H6, H7 and H9 are supported. However, self-efficiency did not significantly affect organic beef purchase intention (β = 0.072, p > 0.05). The research hypothesis H8 could not be confirmed. Table 6 shows the hypothesis testing results of the structural equation model.

Table 6.

Results of the hypothesis test.

Hypothesised Path	Estimate	S.E.	T	Results
HB→PB	0.351	0.217	4.659***	Supported
HB→MN	0.338	0.217	4.608***	Supported
HB→SE	0.256	0.171	3.291***	Supported
HB→C	0.277	0.162	4.115***	Supported
HB→BI	0.242	0.21	3.854***	Supported
PB→BI	0.366	0.061	6.986***	Supported
MN→BI	0.103	0.052	2.241*	Supported
SE→BI	0.072	0.074	1.485	Not Supported
C→BI	0.209	0.066	4.444***	Supported

4.5. Mediation effect test

Next is the evaluation of the mediation model. The bootstrap method proposed by Hayes et al. (2009) was used to test the mediation effect. According to previous studies, the mediation effect test is conducted in AMOS. In 95% confidence intervals, the existence of indirect effects depends on whether 0 is included between the upper and lower limits. When the main effect is significant, if the lower limit and upper limit contain 0, the mediation effect does not exist. If 0 is not included, there is a mediation effect [71,72]. In AMOS, We set the sample size at 5000 with 95% confidence. The results are shown in Table 7. Confidence intervals for perceived benefit (β = 0.43, p = 0.05), moral norm (β = 0.117, p < 0.05) and controllability(β = 0.194, p < 0.05) do not contain 0, so the direct effect is significant. Therefore, health beliefs can indirectly affect organic beef purchase intention through perceived benefits, subjective norms and controllability. This also suggests the existence of partial mediation effect. This can provide solid evidence for H6a, H7a and H9a. However, self-efficiency contains 0 between the upper and lower limits at the 95% confidence interval(β = 0.062, p > 0.05). So the main effect is not significant, meaning that H8a fails the test.

Table 7.

Results of mediating effect test.

Parameter	Estimate	Lower	Upper	P	Results
HB→PB→BI	0.43	0.228	0.821	0.001	Accepted
HB→MN→BI	0.117	0.112	0.317	0.005	Accepted
HB→SE→BI	0.062	−0.032	0.204	0.167	Rejected
HB→C→BI	0.194	0.077	0.409	0.002	Accepted

5. Discussions and implications

5.1. Discussions of findings

This study takes health belief theory, theory of planned behaviour, and norm activation theory as theoretical foundations. Then, key variables are extracted from these three theories. The health belief is adopted as the driving factor of the model. Perceived benefits, moral norms, self-efficacy, and controllability are used as mediating variables to explore the driving mechanism of health on organic food purchasing. Thereafter, we discuss the empirical results based on the current situation of organic food consumption in China.

First, health belief is a perceived risk evaluation variable. It can significantly promote other variables in the health-driven mechanism model. Meanwhile, it can effectively predict consumers’ willingness to purchase organic beef. Furthermore, the structural equation model validates correlations among the variables in the health belief model. Consumers with stronger health beliefs perceive higher risks in food. These consumers are more concerned about buying beef that may be infected with diseases and threaten their health. This conclusion is consistent with the study by Chai and Wang [44,45]. They found that food safety concerns and attitudes of consumers can promote organic food consumption intentions, and that health-conscious consumers also increase their organic food purchases.

Therefore, these consumers are more likely to perceive organic beef as safer and of higher quality. At the same time, consumers with a stronger awareness of health consequences have more apprehensions about environmental protection and animal welfare. This can lead to the formation of personal moral norms and a positive influence on moral norms. This is consistent with the study of Czudec, A et al. [51]. In other words, due to the abuse of hormones in the meat production process, breeding methods do not conform to the natural growth laws of animals. As a result, individuals with strong health consciousness realize the importance of the coordinated development of human health and ecological health. This proposition is confirmed in this study. This will stimulate their formation of personal moral norms. Consumers with stronger health beliefs also significantly promote self-efficiency and increase their confidence in purchasing organic beef. They are also willing to overcome barriers such as cost and convenience to buy organic beef [52,53]. Food safety incidents as external shocks have disrupted consumers' original purchasing patterns, increased consumers' perception of risks in traditional food, and decreased consumers' willingness to purchase. On the contrary, the COVID-19 pandemic has raised consumers’ concerns on their health. Their demand for healthier, safer, and more nutritious food increases [55,56]. This means consumers are willing to break through barriers, change their original consumption concepts and habits, and accept healthier organic food.

Second, this study demonstrates that consumers' perception of the health benefits of organic beef can positively influence their purchase intention. For every unit increase in perceived benefits of organic beef, consumers' purchase intention will increase by 36.6%. Additionally, stronger moral norms awareness among consumers can promote their purchase intention towards organic beef, with a 10.3% increase for every unit increase in moral norms. This finding is consistent with previous conclusions [34]. Furthermore, controllability also significantly promotes consumers' purchase intention towards organic beef, with a 20.9% increase for every unit increase in controllability. When consumers believe they have sufficient control over resources such as money, time, and effort, their purchase intention towards organic food will be enhanced. However, consumers' self-efficiency is not significantly associated with their purchase intention towards organic beef. This inconsistency in findings may be explained by the unstable predictive ability of self-efficiency in different contexts. Some scholars argue that self-efficiency varies across other activity domains due to differences in required abilities and skills, This result supports Jiao and Hale, which holds a similar conclusion [73,74]. Organic food, which relies on government certification and corporate production regulation, tends to establish its position in consumers' minds through certification and information disclosure [75], while consumers’ self-efficiency represents their confidence in purchasing. On the one hand, organic awareness has not yet deeply penetrated the public consciousness, and consumers cannot judge the quality of organic food based on their purchasing experience [76]. On the other hand, the characteristics of organic food, which are described by the production and supply side to consumers, belong to external information [77].

Nevertheless, affected by information asymmetry, consumers are sceptical about the benefits of organic food. Therefore, self-efficiency does not play a significant role in forming purchase intention, which is contrary to the study conducted by Ashraf [78], His research suggests that high levels of self-efficacy among consumers can promote organic food consumption. In addition, consumers' belief in pursuing health cannot influence the formation of purchase intention through their confidence in purchasing organic food. A main cause of this is that their affirmation of organic food is not internalised. Under the overlapping impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and food safety risks, consumers’ confidence in purchasing organic beef varies greatly. Some consumers have a good understanding of the health and nutritional status of organic beef. They believe that they will purchase organic beef. But are some consumers have concerns about buying organic beef, because of a lack of purchase channels.

Third, research findings indicate that health beliefs can indirectly influence consumers’ willingness to purchase organic beef through perceived benefits, moral norms, and controllability. During the COVID-19 pandemic, consumers with A higher awareness of food safety care more about the safety and quality of food. This is because the virus was found in beef during the COVID-19 outbreak in China. For example, in November 2022, China found the novel coronavirus in a batch of imported Argentine beef. It was highly possible to contract the virus from eating ordinary beef that had not been tested. These consumers better understand the benefits and significance of organic food for health and environmental protection, which increases their willingness to purchase organic beef. This result is in line with the study conducted by Guanqi, Z.; Husnain, M. et al. [50]. Similarly, consumers with a stronger health belief exhibit a higher sense of moral responsibility and are more likely to overcome barriers such as convenience in purchasing organic food [43,57]. These consumers also have a stronger intention to buy organic beef. However, the health belief model does not indirectly affect willingness to purchase organic beef through self-efficiency.

5.2. Theoretical implications

The results of this research provide various theoretical meanings for organic food consumption. First, to our knowledge, no previous studies have combined the HBM, TPB, and NAM theories to explain Chinese consumers’ purchasing behaviour toward organic food [31,34,35]. On the contrary, this study establishes an updated model of organic food purchasing intention driven by health. Second, in previous studies, when research was carried out with health belief theory as its theoretical basis, the focus was usually on examining the willingness to consume by using variables such as perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, perceived benefit, perceived barriers, and self-efficacy [32], but the correlation among variables involved in health belief theory were left unexplored. Third, some scholars believe that the theory of planned behaviour provides prerequisites for action implementation through the variables of attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioural control, but it does not provide motivational driving force for action. Therefore, we have introduced health belief variables, including perceived susceptibility and perceived severity, as the driving factors for the entire model. This study is helpful to enrich the theoretical connotation of the study of organic food purchase intention. It has reference significance for subsequent research.

5.3. Practical implications

Some scholars have proposed that with the continuous improvement of Chinese residents' living standards, Chinese residents' food consumption continues to upgrade. This has increased the level of meat consumption, thus posing a major challenge to sustainable development [79]. Compared to conventional meat, organic meat can reduce greenhouse gas emissions and overuse of natural resources during production. Therefore, the results of this study can help marketers, policymakers and environmental groups better understand the various needs and motivations of consumers for organic meat consumption, such as health needs and emotional appeals, and adjust marketing strategies accordingly to promote consumers’ organic meat consumption.

In keeping with recommendations by other researchers, the findings of this study can help the China government promote organic food and raise consumer awareness of organic consumption effectively [35]. The government can make propaganda in the form of slogans or slogans. In the longer term, however, the sustainable consumption benefits of organic food should be included in national education programs to help children develop sustainable consumption attitude and behaviour from an early age.

The study found that consumers have limited awareness of various certification standards and regulatory systems for organic food. As a result, they tend to be sceptical about organic food. The outbreak of quality and safety issues in certified organic food has greatly undermined consumer confidence in purchasing. For example, the “Sanlu Milk Powder Incident” in China in 2008 caused many infants to suffer from kidney dysfunction or even death. Even to this date, Chinese parents are still living in the aftermath of this scandal [80]. They dare not purchase infant formula produced by Chinese companies. So it is urgent for Chinese government to build a supervisory and management system for organic food. This supervisory and management system can help resolve the social trust crisis caused by food safety issues.

The findings reinforce the idea that health belief promotes organic food purchase intentions. Food safety incidents have dealt a heavy blow to consumers’ confidence in food safety. Consumers tend to pay more attention to information on food safety and quality, and prefer to purchase healthy organic food [81,82]. Therefore, producers and marketers need to use various media, such as videos or images, to show consumers the production process of organic food, including production, transportation, and sales. Through these media, consumers can better understand the benefits of organic food for health and the environment.

China was a late starter in organic food development. This can explain the varying development speeds of different types of organic food. For example, organic vegetables and organic rice have relatively matured development, while organic animal husbandry still lags behind Western countries. In the future, with the progress of urbanization in China and the continuous increase of middle-income population, the demand for animal products will further increase. Therefore, the government and enterprises need to constantly enrich the supply of organic animal products and services, and ban animal husbandry practices that harm animal welfare and pollute the environment [83]. All these measures can help speed up the green transformation of animal husbandry. In addition, to reduce the psychological distance with consumers, it is necessary to lower the prices of organic food and narrow the gap with regular food. The issue of generally high prices of organic food still exists in the Chinese organic food consumer market. Multiple channel strategies should be adopted to reduce the cost of organic food [84]. Last but not least, organic food manufacturers should strengthen their technological innovation, increase production, and reduce production costs, so that consumers can afford healthy and safe organic food.

6. Conclusions

6.1. Research summary and conclusion

Against the backdrop of the post-pandemic period and food safety incidents, this study investigates the intention of Chinese consumers to purchase organic beef in the central region of China. The main objective of this study is to identify factors that can enhance or hinder consumers' willingness to buy organic beef. The survey results indicate that factors such as health belief (HB), perceived benefit (PB), moral norms (MN), and controllability (C) play a crucial role in shaping consumers' intention to purchase organic food, but self-efficiency (SE) had no significant effect on consumers' organic beef purchase intention. In addition, the results also show that consumers' own health belief can indirectly affect consumers' organic beef purchase intention through PB, MN, C, etc. They can also validate the path relationships and mechanisms between health belief and other variables. In conclusion, strategic management of the factors that influence organic beef purchase intentions can increase consumers’ purchase intentions.

6.2. Research limitation and future research direction

This study has the following limitations: We only measure consumers’ purchase intention and ignore that there is a significant gap between purchase intention and actual behaviour. Although we have modified and replaced variables based the Theory of Planned Behaviour and Health Belief Model to propose a new health-driven model for organic food purchase intention, we have not covered variables like willingness and actual organic beef purchase behaviours based on the above mentioned theoretical framework. As willingness may not be the same as the actual behaviour [85], this study can cover actual purchasing behaviour in the future. Besides, many of our perceptions are affected by culture, and food consumption is no exception. Further research may compare the differences in organic food consumption per different cultural dimensions [86].

Funding

This research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(project number: 72063017); Jiangxi Modern Cattle and Sheep Technology Industry System Special Fund (Project number: JXARS-13-Economic Post); Social Science Fund of Jiangxi Province “Qingma Project” special project(project number: 23ZXOM61).

Institutional review board statement

Not applicable.

Informed consent statement

Informed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in the study.

Data availability statement

The data are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

CRediT authorship contribution statement

Changxu Wang: Writing – review & editing, Writing – original draft, Methodology, Conceptualization. Jinyong Guo: Writing – original draft, Project administration, Investigation, Funding acquisition, Data curation, Conceptualization. Wenbin Huang: Writing – review & editing, Writing – original draft, Data curation. Yonghong Tang: Writing – review & editing, Supervision, Project administration, Data curation. Rita Yi Man Li: Writing – review & editing, Writing – original draft, Project administration, Conceptualization. Xiaoguang Yue: Writing – original draft, Visualization, Supervision, Formal analysis, Conceptualization.

Declaration of competing interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.