Should I Buy Organic Food? A Psychological Perspective on Purchase Decisions - Organic Food and Agriculture: New Trends and Developments in the Social Sciences - page 52

Availability of eco-labelled products

Motivation

Pro-
environmental
attitude

Belief in
environmental-
friendly buying

Paying
attention to eco-
labels

Decision to buy
eco-labelled
products

Perceived
consumer
efficiency

Trust

Knowledge about eco-label

Fig. 4. A model of predicting paying attention to eco-labels and the purchase of labelled
products (Thøgersen, 2000, p. 293)

Thøgersen (2000) developed a framework model that describes under which conditions
consumers pay attention to eco-labels (see figure 4). He assumes that a decision to buy an
eco-labelled product in the supermarket is depending on availability of labelled products in
the store and knowledge about the label but also on paying attention to the labels.
Following the model paying attention is influenced by availability, knowledge, a
fundamental belief in benefits of environment-friendly buying and trust. The latter two are
impacted by a general pro-environmental attitude and perceived consumer effectiveness
(see section 5.1). Thøgersen (2000) tested parts of the proposed models on a sample of
customers from five European countries and found general support for the model.
In a recent paper Thøgersen et al. (2010) applied E. M. Rogers (1995) diffusion of innovation
theory to the adoption of eco-labels. Based on the theory they developed a framework
model of the adoption process of an eco-label and how it diffuses through a population (see
figure 5). They assume that the individual process of adoption goes through six stages: (a)
the individual needs to be exposed to the new label, (b) the individual needs to perceive it at
least subconsciously, (c) the individual needs to understand the label and its message and
needs to make inferences about what it means related to goals that are important for the
individual, (d) the individual evaluates the message and potentially likes it, (e) the product
is tried once, and if that resulted in satisfaction (f) adoption becomes more permanent.
The speed of this process depends on factors within the environment (e.g., how much effort
is put into campaigning or how many other people already adopted the label), the adopting
person, and the label itself. Using a food label for sustainable fish as an example they
identified factors that contributed to start the adoption process (perceiving the label and
aiming to understand it) and factors that contribute to complete the process (trying and
continuing to use the label for purchase decisions). General knowledge about eco-labels,
subjective knowledge about sustainable fishery, having the intention to buy sustainable fish,
the degree of innovativeness with respect to eco-labels, and being female contributed