Predicting consumers' intention to consume poultry during an H7N9 emergency: an extension of the theory of planned behavior model

Based on the theory of planned behavior (TPB), this article explains the impact of H7N9 on poultry meat consumption. A sample of 710 respondents from China participated in the current study following an outbreak of avian influenza in 2017. The empirical results of structural equation model indicate that the consumers' attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control (i.e., the antecedents of the TPB model), as well as their anticipated fear, mediate the relationship between risk perception of H7N9 and poultry consumption intention. Risk perception of H7N9 also influences risk perception of poultry, which has a direct effect on poultry consumption intention. Furthermore, risk perception of poultry is significantly and positively related to anticipated fear and is significantly and negatively related to attitude, which in turn influences the consumption intention. The results confirm the appropriateness of the TPB model and verify that the extended TPB model has good explanatory power in predicting consumers' intention to consume poultry during a pandemic.