Ethical food choices: Examining people's Fair Trade purchasing decisions

Fair Trade is a product certification system and social movement that aims to address global supply-chain issues such as forced labour, unsafe working conditions, and unfair pay for workers. The potential for Fair Trade to benefit producers relies directly on consumers' decisions to support these products in their food purchasing choices. An extended Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) was used to investigate Fair Trade purchasing among a university student and community sample (N = 178). First, the reliability of the extended TPB measures was confirmed via confirmatory factor analysis. Second, a proposed model predicting people's Fair Trade purchasing behaviour showed a good fit via structural equation modelling. The model indicated that attitude, perceived behavioural control, self-identity, and moral norm predicted intentions which, in turn, predicted fair trade purchasing behaviour. The model explained 62.6% and 40.5% of the variance in intention and behaviour, respectively. Finally, a series of MANOVAs established that the underlying TPB beliefs of 'making me feel good'; 'reflecting my values', and 'being unable to afford Fair Trade products' distinguished between people who did and did not purchase Fair Trade products. These salient beliefs, in conjunction with the identified predictors of people's intentions and behaviour, can be used in persuasive campaigns by those advocating socially-motivated behaviour changes in our food choices.