Social-Psychological Factors in Food Consumption of Rural Residents: The Role of Perceived Need and Habit within the Theory of Planned Behavior

Nutrients

卷:12

Jiaqi Huang¹  Fengying Nie¹  Gerrit Antonides² 

[1] Agricultural Information Institute of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China;

[2] Urban Economics Group, Department of Social Sciences, Wageningen University, 6706 KN Wageningen, The Netherlands;

关键词: theory of planned behavior (TPB);    perceived need;    habit;    food consumption;    rural residents;   

DOI  :  10.3390/nu12041203

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

To address the problem of malnutrition in poor rural areas of China, this study aims to examine the effects of social-psychological factors in food consumption of rural residents in poor counties of Southwest China. In addition, it investigates the role of perceived need and habit within the theory of planned behavior (TPB) in predicting food consumption. A survey with random sampling was conducted on rural residents (n = 424), and the theoretical frameworks of both the standard and extended TPB were applied for comparison purposes. Structural equation modeling was applied to test the relationships among constructs. Consumption of five food items was studied, respectively: meat, eggs, dairy, fish, and fruits. Results showed that incorporation of perceived need and habit substantially increased the explanatory power of the TPB, but these factors only had significant direct effects on intention rather than behavior. Perceived need and habit are stronger predictors of intention than any other TPB construct for consumption of all food items except for meat. We found indirect effects of the constructs in the extended TPB model on consumption to be different across food items. Practical implications to improve consumption of different food items were proposed accordingly.

【 授权许可】

Unknown