Literature review and hypothesis development

The current study’s objective was to explore the different factors that affect the
purchase intention which further also affects the purchasing behavior of organic food.
The “intention to perform behavior of different kinds can be predicted with high accuracy
from attitude towards behavior, subjective norm and perceived behavior control” (Ajzen,
1991). These three variables are part of a well-constructed theory i.e. Theory of
Planned Behavior (Ajzen, 1985).
(Rivis et al., 2009, p. 2985) proposed that “the TPB is perhaps the most influential
theory in the prediction of social and health behaviors.” The theory’s wide relevance
qualifies it to be a perfect model to assess purchase intention of consumers. Its broad
applicability makes it a useful model for determining consumer preferences in the food
sector (Kim, Jang, & Kim, 2014). In social and psychological research, the theory of
planned behavior has been widely recognized and applied to examine consumer
behavior (Shah Alam & Mohamed Sayuti, 2011). (Ajzen, 1985), in the theory proposed
that the attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control are constructs that
affect purchase intention which in turn affects behavior. The creation of behavioral
intention is influenced by an amalgamation of attitude towards the behavior, subjective
norms, and perceived behavioral control. Several previous studies have used this
theory to navigate their way through consumer’s purchase intention and behavior.
(Dowd and Burke, 2013) investigated the TPB's capability to predict consumers'
intentions to purchase sustainably grown food in Asian culture. Hence, here also we’ll
use this theory with the intrusion of two other variables as country of origin and
awareness to investigate organic foods’ purchase intention. Further by assigning
purchase intention as mediator and price consciousness as moderator.

The first variable of the TPB is Attitude, which can be defined as “the evaluative effect
of positive or negative feelings of individuals in performing a particular behavior” by
(Fishbein and Ajzen,1977). Here, attitude has a notable relation with purchase
intention. Attitude is the consequence of Behavioral beliefs and result assessments.
Behavioral beliefs refers to the individual belief about the consequences of engaging in
a particular behavior. Result assessments refers to the corresponding favorable or
unfavorable judgment about the possible consequences of the behavior. According to
(Ajzen, 1991), attitude has a substantial impact on purchase intention.

The second variable Subjective Norm is defined as “the individual’s perception of the
likelihood that the potential referent group or individuals approve or disapprove of
performing the given behavior" (Fishbein and Ajzen,1977). Subjective norm is the
perceived social pressure to perform or not to play out the conduct. It has a substantial
impact on purchase intention towards organic foods (Al-Swidi et al., 2014; Tarkiainen &
Sundqvist, 2005).

The third TPB variable is the Perceived Behavioral Control and it is defined as “the
perceived ease or difficulty of performing the behavior, and it is assumed to reflect
experience as well as anticipated impediments and obstacles” (Ajzen, 1991). The PBC
measures the power an individual needs, to restrain from playing out a specific conduct
or not. According to (Ajzen,1991), Perceived behavioral control is a direct result of an
individual's belief system regarding power over a circumstance and internal elements
that effects the behavior.

Based on the above assumptions, the following hypotheses are proposed:

H1: Attitude has a positive impact on purchase intention.

H2: Subjective Norms has a positive impact on purchase intention.

H3: Perceived behavioral control has a positive impact on purchase intention.

The impact of purchase intention on purchase behavior:

The best predictor of behavior is intention, which is defined as a cognitive expression of

an individual's will to undertake a particular behavior (Ajzen, 1991). The TPB asserts
that behavior is a result of collection of intentions functioning collaboratively (Ajzen and
Fishbein, 1980). The relationship and link between attitude and behavior is investigated
in a variety of settings and countries (Kaiser and Gutscher, 2003; Quoquab et al., 2017).
The more favorable the attitude towards behavior, the better the subjective norms, and
the higher the perceived behavioral control, the stronger the individual's intention to
execute the behavior. There are, however, few studies that have investigated this
relationship in an Asian setting such as Pakistan. Current research suggests that
consumers who have a positive attitude towards organic food are more inclined to buy
it. This indicates that customers' attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral
control can all play a vital role in evaluating their purchase intention and behavior
towards organic food. The following hypothesis is proposed based on this assumption:

H4: Consumer’s intention to purchase organic food has a positive impact on

purchase behavior.

The mediating role of purchase intention:

(Ajzen, 1991) in The TPB claims that intention is the most immediate and important
predictor of behavior and it mediates the impact of further variables. Specifically, people
shape intentions to carry out established behaviors that emerge from an individual’s
attitude towards the behavior.
This research provides the understanding of how one perceives others’ opinions
(subjective norms), their confidence level to perform the behavior successfully
(perceived behavioral control), their attitude, country of origin and awareness about the
product affects their buying intention. This study claims that the greater the positive
attitude, SN, perceived behavioral control, the higher the purchase intention towards
organic food and, as a result, the higher the probabilities that consumers will purchase
organic food. Hence, the following hypotheses are proposed:

H5: The relationship between attitude and PB is mediated by PI.

H6: The relationship between SN and PB is mediated by PI.

H7: The relationship between perceived behavioral control and PB is mediated by

PI.

The moderating role of awareness:

Now coming to the extended TPB variables which are Awareness and Country of
Origin. Awareness is defined as “the extent or alertness of individual consumers of their
rights and responsibilities in the marketplace.” (Rousseau and Venter, 1995,18). Due to
globalization, worries about the nature of items have been raised by consumers. This
has prompted buyer mindfulness in both marketing and research. Numerous consumers
know about the expression "organic" yet most are ignorant of organic practices. As per
(Kapuge, 2016), awareness is one of the two major factors that has a significant positive
influence with purchase intention of organic food. So, it means that more awareness
prompts more effect on the goal to buy. Based on this discussion, the hypothesis can be
formulated as:

H8: Awareness positively moderates in the purchase intention of organic food.

The moderating role of Country-of-Origin (COO):

The last variable Country of Origin is defined as customer insights on stereotype

images about nations are named as the COO impact. (Bilkey and Nes, 1982)
contended that such images go about as an outward showcasing signal in impacting
the assessment of items from different origins. Furthermore, various past studies have
affirmed that the COO of an item influences consumers’' assessments and buying
choices like (Awada and Yiannaka, 2012; Insch and McBride, 2004). (Veale and
Quester, 2009) proposed that COO may produce substantial contributions. Moreover,
(Askegaard and Ger, 1998) recommended that COO is probably going to connect an
item to yield product- country imagery, with emotional, tangible, and ceremonial
meanings. (Dobrenova et al., 2015) affirmed that purchasers with more certain COO
have significant effects on product insight and buying intention. Based on the stated
above, it can be hypothesized that:

H9: COO positively moderates in the purchase intention of organic food. When
COO is more positive,

a) The positive impact of attitude towards PI will be strengthened.

b) The positive impact of SN towards PI will be strengthened.
c) The positive impact of perceived behavioral control towards PI will be
strengthened.

The moderating role of Price Consciousness:

PC refers to “the degree to which the consumer focuses exclusively on paying low
prices” (Lichtenstein et al., 1993, p. 237). (Evanschitzky and Wunderlich, 2006)
suggested that certain customers are more worried and conscious of prices than others,
which has an impact on their overall shopping encounter. As previously discussed,
paying low prices is the most important concern of price conscious buyers. If the price
conscious shopper beliefs that the increased price of a product that offers unique
features is still not worth it, so he would never make the purchase. Researches suggest
that the biggest obstacle while purchasing organic food is dealing with the perception
that it is expensive. As a result, it's reasonable to predict that price-conscious buyers on
the lookout for special deals are less inclined to buy organic food. Based on this
discussion, the study predicts that the association between PI and PB is less among
price conscious consumers than among consumers who are less price conscious. So,
the following hypothesis is developed:

H10: The relationship between PI and PB is moderated by Price Consciousness.