Understanding Chinese consumers' purchase intention towards traceable seafood using an extended Theory of Planned Behavior model

Under the urgent concern for seafood safety, the traceability of seafood has drawn attention to the public. In recent years, China is actively establishing the traceability platforms to ensure the traceability of seafood in-formation on the whole supply chain. By reviewing the policy evolution and the status quo of seafood traceability development in China, this paper aims to investigate the Chinese consumers' purchase intention towards traceable seafood by adopting an extended theory of planned behavior (TPB) model. Apart from three traditional influencing factors, we consider three novel factors as trust, face consciousness and policy support in the TPB model. The results find that all factors have significant positive effects on the purchase intention and further impact the behavior of purchasing traceable seafood. And the face consciousness is the most positive factor which acts on the purchase intention. Furthermore, subjective norm (SN) and perceived behavior control (PBC) also have positive effects on attitude. In addition, some suggestions to promote the development of traceable seafood are proposed, aimed at providing a reference for policymakers.

Automated summary

This paper reviews the policy evolution and current status of seafood traceability development in China, and investigates Chinese consumers' purchase intention towards traceable seafood using an extended theory of planned behavior model. The results show that trust, face consciousness, and policy support have significant positive effects on purchase intention.