How perceived communication source and food value stimulate purchase intention of organic food: An examination of the stimulus-organism-response (SOR) model

This study aims to examine how marketing communication channels for organic food (MCOF) and perceived organic food values (OFV) stimulate organic food consumers’ behavioural intentions (BI) within the stimulus-organism-response (S–O-R) framework. The online survey resulted in 1011 responses, and data were statistically investigated, employing the partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) technique. Findings show that MCOF is a two-dimensional second-order construct, including controlled communication sources (CCS) and uncontrolled communication sources (UCS). Both MCOF and OFV have significant effects on utilitarian attitude (UA) and hedonic attitude (HA) that impact BI. Both UA and HA have partial mediational effects between OFV and BI and full mediational effects between MCOF and BI. Besides, gender differences are significant for MCOF→HA and OFV→HA paths in the model. Both researchers and practitioners alike could find the results and insights encouraging and valuable.