Trust to Go Green: An Exploration of Consumer Intentions for Eco-friendly Convenience Food

Interest in food products with eco-friendly characteristics and certifications has grown in recent decades. Consumers are also increasingly demanding ready-to-eat products, especially in urban environs, where modem lifestyles tend to limit their available time. Understanding the pro-environmental behaviour of convenience food consumers is particularly challenging because there is often a contradiction between eco-friendly behavioural intent and time constraints imposed by modern lifestyles in large cities. It is not clear to what extent information labels on such products are trusted by consumers and considered when making food choices. This study aims at contributing to the debate investigating the determinants influencing consumer purchase intention, focusing on minimally processed vegetables labelled with integrated-pest-management standards. More specifically, the analysis investigates the role consumer trust plays in consumer intention to buy such products. The conceptual framework builds on and extends the theory of planned behaviour. The analyses are based on face-to-face interviews in a large European city (Milan, Italy). Data were analysed by means of structural equation modelling. Results confirm the important role of consumer trust, which positively affects attitudes towards the purchase of convenience food with eco-friendly attributes, and negatively affects consumer concerns around agricultural practices in relation to environmental and health impacts.