The Mediating Impact Of Consumers Perception Of Attributes On The Relationships Between Organic Label,Perceived Quality And Purchase Intention

Organic food label is a process label which proves that the product is produced,processed,and sold in accordance with the organic ecology concept and sustainable philosophy,but not to guarantee product safety,nutrition,or taste.There is indeed no scientific evidence to prove that organic food is safer,more nutritious or delicious than ordinary food.Salmonella outbreaks and E.coli outbreaks in Europe and the United States are related to the insecurity of organic food.In fact,there are scientific controversies about environmental attribute of organic food.However,consumers generally believe that organic food is more nutritious,safer,more environmentally friendly,and tastes better than traditional food.These concepts have been deeply ingrained in the hearts of many consumers and have influenced consumers' evaluation and consumption of organic food.Purposes 1)Verify the positive influence of organic label on perceived quality of food and purchase intention;2)organic labeling is an environmental label and process label,but it has been given too many other connotations by consumers.Whether the impact of organic labeling on perceived quality and purchase intention is primarily due to those wrong perceived attributes other than perception of environmental protection is to be discussed in this paper;3)Explore the different impacts of organic labeling on different organic foods at different processing levels,that is,whether the size of the impact mentioned above will be regulated by the food category;4)If the positive role of the organic label is mainly caused by attributes wrongly perceived,the solution to reduce the effect of perceived bias will be explored and discussed.Findings 1)Organic labeling can significantly positively influence consumers'perceived quality and purchase intention.Moreover,the perceived attributes of food with organic label are significantly improved than those of food without organic label;2)the impact of organic labeling on perceived quality and purchase intention was partly through perceived attributes.Although the positive effect of organic labeling on perceived environmental protection is most significant,the increases of both perceived quality and purchase intention through it are minimal or not significant,indicating that organic labeling does not contribute to the improvement of perceived food quality and purchase intention without perception of label-unrelated attributes;3)the impact of organic labeling on different food types varies.In short,organic labeling has bigger positive effect on fresh fruit than that on processed product;4)Objective information can weaken perceived consumer safety,perceived nutrition and perceived taste,but it cannot completely offset them.Practical implications Even if consumers have a clear understanding of the definition of organic labels and organic foods,consumers will still be disturbed by perceived bias when they make a purchase.Businesses may well use this weakness of consumers to conduct market and increase price,but this may not be conducive to the health of the organic food consumer market.So consumers need to be more rational,businesses more objective as well as relevant agencies give more clearly instructions and guidance;under the current circumstance where people lack emphasis on environmental friendliness,the organic food market size in China with only environmental attribute outstanding is limited.