Modeling the Antecedents of Green Consumption Values to Promote the Green Attitude

Abstract

The use of organic food is of paramount importance in ensuring the safety of our food supply and safeguarding the well-being of people worldwide. This study aims to add to existing knowledge about family perceptions toward organic food consumption, specifically their pro-environmental and pro-social attitudes. The study’s goal is to see if green consumption values can influence customers’ decisions to buy organic food. The theory of consumption value, theory of planned behavior, and protection motivation theory are used to find out what motivates consumers toward organic food purchases. A total sample of 208 families was randomly selected using a self-administrated questionnaire-based survey. Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling were used to analyze the results. The results suggest that families who demonstrate environmentally conscious behavior and prioritize green consumption values are more likely to choose organic food, in contrast to families who prioritize pro-social behavior. The study enhances the study of sustainable food consumption by providing a fresh perspective on consumers’ attitudes toward organic foods and might provide marketers, decision makers, and future researchers with useful data. This finding signifies the development of the organic food market with the implication of self-identities and green consumption values.

1. Introduction

Nowadays, consumers are attempting to make informed food decisions and favor organic food over its alternatives since it combats climate change by emitting less greenhouse gases and lessening pollution from synthetic fertilizers [1]. According to UNDP, this approach is in accordance with Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 13, which was established by the United Nations to address the urgent need for developing nations to battle and adapt to climate change and engage in low-carbon development [2,3,4]. Hence, demand for organic food is rising quickly throughout the world [5].

It is instanced that the market for organic food has grown by more than fourfold since the turn of the millennium and has already surpassed a value of USD 90 billion [6]. Previous studies, e.g., [7,8], point to the advantages of organic foods for a person’s health and safety, as well as their nutritional content, flavor, and quality, as the major driving forces behind the current global surge in the consumption of organic foods. In addition, it is believed that traditional foods include harmful substances, therefore increasing the possibility of food-borne diseases including melamine, clenbuterol, and bird influenza and food safety events [9]. At large, people have perceptions that organic food is a natural food that contains extraordinarily little to no artificial chemicals of any type, including antibiotics, pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers, pesticides, and hormone-like elements [10].

Green consumption, also known as environmentally responsible consumption, is the act of procuring, utilizing, and discarding products and services with consideration for their environmental impact [11]. Ref. [12] discovered that health-conscious consumers value and prefer them as a top priority. Since climate change is a severe global issue that poses an urgent and may be one of the biggest concerns confronting civilization, there is a growing recognition to understand what consumer organic food choices are [13]. Considering this, ref. [14] discovered that the two most frequently cited justifications for adopting organic practices and buying organic food are environmental concerns and health concerns, with the latter being more significant than the former. Although numerous previous research has examined the antecedents of purchase intention for organic food [15], their conclusions have not reached a consensus on the essential antecedent [14]. However, those studies reflect that the public’s attention is drawn to organic foods, which are seen as ecologically healthy, because of unsustainable food consumption and its real effects on human health and the environment [16]. Further, consumers choose organic foods because of issues relating to their health, the environment, and social conscience as well as growing worries about food safety and health [7].

The increasing popularity of organic food in Bangladesh can be attributed to its numerous health-related advantages when compared to conventional food. This encompasses considerations regarding the environmental impact, safety, nutritional value, and palatability of the food consumed [17]. Bangladesh possesses a substantial untapped market for organic products. There was a greater propensity among family members to allocate higher financial resources toward the purchase of organic food. The given text consists of a numerical range, specifically [18].

The prior study focuses on the pro-environmental and pro-social behavioral effects on sustainable consumption [19], although, in the recent context, almost no study found the modeling effect of green consumption values to promote the attitude toward organic food consumption. Together, this research aims at extending the conceptual determinant framework of attitudes toward organic food among pro-environmental and pro-social consumers by identifying if green consumption values promote such consumption.

Moreover, several research studies have attempted to identify the antecedents of green consumption, consumers’ green perception, intention, and the behavior–attitude gap toward organic food consumption through implementing theories for the understanding of the phenomenon of green consumer behavior hierarchy including the theory of planned behavior (TPB) [20], protection motivation theory (PMT) [21], and theory of consumption values (TCV) [22]. Their sense of control in the decision-making process is affected by a number of factors, such as their ability to make changes and their access to information. The protection motivation theory says that people are more likely to make decisions when they care more about their own well-being or the health of the environment. This theoretical framework focuses on how anxiety and the perception of a threat affect the way people who care about the environment act. The theory of consumer theories says that beliefs and intentions affect consumer behavior when it comes to buying organic food.

A standardized and structured survey questionnaire was administered to the participants. Data were gathered using an offline survey approach, wherein a questionnaire was administered by personally visiting the residences of respondents in various locations within the city of Chittagong. Therefore, the objective of this study is to enhance the current literature regarding attitudes toward organic food among individuals who are pro-environmental and pro-social by investigating the potential influence of green consumption values on promoting such consumption.

The paper is organized as follows. The second section examines the literature on organic foods as well as the opinions, emotions, and concerns of consumers. The methodology is presented in Section 3, followed by the findings and analysis in Section 4. The study’s limitations and recommendations for further research are presented in Section 5. Finally, Section 6 presents the conclusion.

2. Literature Review and Hypothesis Development

2.1. Definition and Determinants of Organic Food Preferences

Although the word “organic food” is regularly used in the literature, there is not currently a widely agreed meaning [23]. One widely agreed meaning is that organic food is a part of green food which is produced and consumed in an environmentally friendly way. Green food has two categories: one uses a certain limit of chemicals, and the other is organic food [24]. Over time, organic food consumption and production gained popularity [25]. Since everyone wants a sustainable future, support for its realization grows. Prior studies suggest that food grown organically using green technology was regarded as one of the environmentally favorable items [26]. They also state that organic foods are harmful chemical-free and that having nutritional elements is convenient.

Consumers prefer organic food for health and nutritional value. The purchasing preference toward organic foods is also affected by sociodemographic factors including age, income, and education [16]. A person’s sense of identity, habit, social impact, sentiments, and tangibility are affected by the message and context they receive regarding the food [27]. It was also found that customers had a positive outlook on sustainable food practices [28].

2.2. Organic Food Sector in Bangladesh

The Bangladesh government is striving to increase the consumption of organic foods as part of its Vision 2040 campaign to achieve a sustainable society. Most of the population here is dependent on agriculture, either directly or indirectly, and therefore, agriculture becomes a crucial factor. However, in this agricultural sector, traditional agricultural methods grew incredibly reliant on artificial fertilizers and pesticides. According to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), between 1984 and 2010, the use of pesticides increased by an average of 446,246.78 metric tons per year. According to the WHO, each year, 30,000,000 people are harmed by pesticide use. Organic food is becoming more and more popular, particularly in developing nations like Bangladesh [29]. It is also accepted that customers’ lifestyle and health concerns, pricing, quality, and environmental factors all have an impact on customer purchasing behavior, even though consumers here prefer organic meals to conventional products due to technological advancements, protection of the environment and human health, and nutritional value. The growing demand for organic food in Bangladesh has created some new business opportunities. The current growth in sales of organic foods is 7% [26]. In order to examine consumer experience, perception, and awareness of organic foods, we believe that understanding the causes of attitudes toward the consumption of organic foods will assist in defining the present food consumption scenario.

2.3. Theoretical Integration

This study integrates the theory of planned behavior (TPB) [20], protection motivation theory (PMT) [21] and theory of consumption values (TCV) [22] to understand the consumers’ attitudes toward organic foods. PMT is widely applied in health behavioral studies [30]. Using this theory is appropriate since organic food choice is a health concern issue for consumers. However, PMT does not explain the potential motivators governing the consumption of organic food in terms of uncertainty and risk [1]. Therefore, TPB was integrated to comprehensively explain how attitudes, perceived behavioral control, and subjective norms could yield organic food consumption. Further, there is a theoretical background on how social values encourage individuals to purchase specific goods to satisfy the needs that emerge from the group to which they belong. These pro-social values demonstrate the pro-social behavior that influences the consumer when they purchase organic food [31]. With this respect, TCV was also integrated. The theories have substantial levels of similarities in nature [1] which makes them a good approach for theory integration. Together, this research seeks to explain how the concern for environmental concern (PMT) and group behavior (TCV) under risk and uncertainty (TPB) affects the attitudes toward organic foods. Therefore, to address the need for consumer behavioral participation in consumption and the role of green consumption values, this planned study approach will look into what the consumer’s motivations are for purchasing organic food and the role that green consumption values play in modifying those motivations. Considering the earlier empirical studies and theoretical foundation, we designed the conceptual framework that is depicted in Figure 1.

2.4. Pro-Environmental Behavior

The authors’ ultimate purpose is to promote food choices that favor organic foods in supporting environmental sustainability. The comprehension of environmental behavior and how it affects decisions about organic food is expected in this context. Behavior that causes the least amount of environmental damage or even benefits the environment is referred to as pro-environmental behavior [32]. Additionally, [33] discussed how environmental values impact people’s interactions with the environment. Psychological and demographic elements, such as influences, connections, reciprocity effects, etc., are the most significant factors influencing pro-environmental behavior [34] which enjoins people to take part in various campaigns to safeguard the environment [35]. However, previous research has shown that environmental concerns and beliefs may not necessarily result in ecologically responsible behavior [36]. These conflicting findings motivate the authors to investigate how consumer attitudes regarding the consumption of organic foods are affected by pro-environmental behavior. The motivation considers prior studies that indicated pro-environmental values as motivating factors to purchase organic food [37]. Ref. [1] states that following TPB and PMT in adopting a pro-environmental decision, individuals weigh the costs and advantages of both the existing and new behaviors which indirectly rely on the individual’s attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control. Thus, the hypothesis can be presented as follows:

Hypothesis 1 (H1):

Pro-environmental behavior positively influences green consumption values.

2.5. Pro-Social Behavior

Pro-social behavior including civic engagement, volunteer work, financial donations, and purchasing goods that support a good cause is very interesting to both consumers and marketers [38]. This behavior is normally caused by individuals’ reactions to affective empathy; seeing another person’s suffering may cause them to feel personally distressed or concerned, which can have an impact on their motivation for pro-social activity [39]. Pro-social behavior has a positive impact on organic consumption as people morally care for society which induces their sustainable consumption practice. There are also many contradictory results found in the literature. When consumers’ individual intention is stronger than the social norms, they do not care about what society will think [40]. In addition, buying intentions are considered a duty to animals and the environment in pro-social behavior. So, social behavior is not necessarily associated with pro-social behavior conserving health and nutritional values [41]. Moreover, [42] found the extent of consumption facilitated by pro-social behavior is a long-term process that cannot be examined in the short term. These different findings motivate the authors to investigate how consumer attitudes regarding the consumption of organic foods are affected by pro-environmental behavior. According to TCV and TPB, consumers may be irrational about purchasing a costly yet environmentally beneficial product depending on functional, social, and emotional values while situational factors like income, price, and organic food availability also relate to perceived behavioral control [43]. Hence, the proposed hypothesis is as follows:

Hypothesis 2 (H2):

Pro-social behavior positively influences green consumption values.

2.6. Green Consumption Values

“Green consumption values” is an approach for accelerating environmental preservation. There are various attributes of green products, such as their capacity for recycling, their ability to safeguard the environment, and their resource efficiency [44]. However, the influence of price on consumers’ willingness to pay extra for organic food was surprisingly minimal [45]. Moreover, social and environmental values play a significant role in the decision to buy a green product, and “green consumers” have a favorable outlook on eating organic foods for their health and the environment [46]. Ref. [47] found that consumers who care about the environment are connected to green consumption. This motivates the authors to find out the moderating effect of green consumption. According to TPB, to study how people think and act, [48] examined that values have to be considered in the context of the situation to predict purchasing behavior and attitudes toward organic foods. As a result, the hypothesis can be presented as follows:

Hypothesis 3 (H3):

Green consumption values have a positive effect on attitudes toward organic foods.

3. Research Methods

3.1. Participants and Sample Characteristics

The second largest metropolitan city and the commercial capital city, Chattogram is situated in the southeast of Bangladesh and is considered a major economic hub for foreign inflows to the country [49]. According to Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), considering the rapid urbanization, relative per capita GDP, and higher consumption patterns, the people of the city are eligible subjects for green consumption of organic products. The diverse backgrounds (economic, social, and cultural settings) add richness to the study, though the respondents were from a single city. Thus, the sources of primary data were essentially in the urban zone of Chattogram taking into consideration that participation remained voluntary. The study employed a structured questionnaire from previous literature, and a non-probabilistic sampling method was used through an offline survey. In the preliminary stage, after conducting a pilot survey with 15 family chiefs, the questionnaire was slightly modified for a better understanding of the questions and the relevance of the content. In the final stage, researchers personally visited the respondents (family chief) and distributed a total of 260 questionnaires between April and May 2023. A total of 221 replies were received with a response rate of 85% which is quite satisfactory and suitable for the study [50]; 13 responses were dropped due to incomplete information. The main statistical

Table 1. Descriptive statistics.

	Description	Frequencies	Percentage
Gender
	Female	178	86%
	Male	30	14%
Age
	30–40	13	7%
	41–50	121	58%
	51–60	71	34%
	Above 60	3	1%
Marital status
	Married	192	92%
	Unmarried	16	8%
Education level
	Primary and Secondary	175	84%
	Graduate and Post-graduate	29	14%
	Doctoral or another advanced degree	4	2%
Monthly income
	0–24 k	120	58%
	25 k–50 k	78	38%
	Above 50 k	10	4%
Do you do most of the shopping for your family?
	Yes	187	90%
	No	21	10%

depicts the demographic respondents’ profile attributes (n = 208) and their corresponding frequency. The survey illustrates that most of the participants were female (86%) who did the most shopping for the family, and the respondents’ average ages were between 41 and 50 years. Most of the respondents had mostly completed primary and secondary education while 29% of them had completed graduation and post-graduation, and the majority had an average monthly income of between BDT 0 and 24,000 which represents almost 58% of the study.

Several measures had to be employed to determine whether the respondents’ data were appropriate for the study. Bartlett’s sphericity test and Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin (KMO) are the most widely used techniques in this area [51]. The overall KMO index of 0.5 is considered adequate for factor analysis that ranges between 0 and 1, and Bartlett’s test for sphericity should be appropriate and significant (p < 0.005).

Table 2. Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin (KMO) and Bartlett’s test of sphericity.

KMO and Bartlett’s Test
Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy		0.844
Bartlett’s Test of Sphericity	Approx. Chi-Square	1066.427
	df	136
	Sig.	0.000

depicts the KMO and Bartlett’s test where KMO results reached 0.844 justifying sampling adequacy. Bartlett’s sphericity test with a significant value (p < 0.005) ensures a high probability of factorability as consistent with other studies [51].

3.2. Questionnaire and Measures

The questionnaire’s items for each component were developed based on the literature review. The original questionnaire was structured in English, and a panel of bilingual experts’ team translated the version into Bangla for better reach and understanding. The questionnaire had two sections wherein the first section measured pro-environmental and pro-social behavior, green consumption values, and attitudes toward organic consumption, and the second section of the questionnaire covered the demographic profile of the respondents. A 7-point Likert scale was used to assess the degree of agreement that ranged from “strongly disagree (1)” to “strongly agree (7)”. Pro-environmental behavior was measured through 5 items adapted from [52], and 2 items were deleted due to poor loading; for pro-social behavior, 7 measures were developed by [53,54]; green consumption values were based on 4 items adapted from [55]; and finally, for attitudes toward organic consumption, 3 item measures were adapted from [14]. Appendix A presents the items of all the measurements.

4. Findings

4.1. Measurement Model Evaluation

To assure the robustness and authenticity of the model, descriptive analysis, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and structural equation modeling (SEM) were used in the study. The SPSS and AMOS graphics, 21.00 version, were used to test the factor analysis and measurement model.

The reliability and validity of the model were tested, i.e., composite reliability, convergent validity, validity concerns, and the model fitness test [56]. Here,

Table 3. Estimates of reliability and validity.

Variables	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
1. Age	1
2. Gender	0.381 **	1
3. Marital status	0.170 *	0.061	1
4. Monthly income	0.270	0.162 *	0.099	1
5. Education	0.171	0.029	−0.120	−0.057	1
6. Registered member of any environmental organization	−0.410	−0.028	−0.032	0.158 *	0.118	1
7. Registered member of any social org.	0.062	0.041	−0.144 *	−0.072	0.284 *	0.054	1				E
8. Do the most shopping for family	0.031	0.012	0.096	0.160 *	0.030	−0.133	0.025	1
Latent Variable
9. PEB	−0.078	−0.016	−0.038	−0.025	−0.022	0.041	−0.140	0.081	0.807
10. PSB	0.123 *	−0.026	0.005	0.087	0.004	0.114	0.15 *	−0.191 *	−0.208 **	0.791
11. GCV	−0.006	0.027	0.062	−0.088	0.040	0.122	0.135	0.187 *	0.134 **	−0.095 **	0.768
12. AT	−0.046	0.095	−0.057	0.084	0.031	0.129	0.081	0.087	0.398	0.194 **	0.572 **	0.832
Composite reliability									0.848	0.921	0.851	0.871
Average variance extracted									0.651	0.626	0.590	0.693
Standard deviation									1.603	1.582	1.843	1.248
Mean									5.001	5.120	4.951	5.652

Abbreviations: PEB, pro-environmental behavior. PSB, pro-social behavior. GCV, green consumption value. AT, attitudes toward organic consumption. ** The correlation is significant at 0.01. * The correlation is significant at 0.05.

shows the composite reliability (CR) and average variance extracted (AVE) that satisfied the minimum threshold limits of 0.70 and 0.50 and also confirms the discriminant validity that is established when the square root of the AVE of every construct is higher than its respective inter-construct correlations representing diagonally (the bolded values of the table) [57]. Moreover, the control variables like age, gender, income, and education are found to be significant other than marital status. Figure 2 shows the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) that represents the subject variable and a good-fit model (CMIN/DF = 1.737, GFI = 0.938, TLI = 0.910, RMSEA = 0.061, CFI = 0.936, p-value = 0.000) and satisfies the minimum cut-off value [58].

4.2. Non-Response Bias

To limit the response bias in the generalizability of findings, Harman’s one-factor test was used where a single factor explains 26% which is less than 50%. Then, the correlation matrix between two items was assessed to check whether any correlation was more than 0.90. The highest correlation between any of the two is 0.684 (green consumption values and pro-environmental behavior) which satisfies the minimum threshold [59].

4.3. Structural Model Evaluation and Testing of the Hypothesis

This study employs a structural model along with a path coefficient and p-value that ensures a significant hypothesized relationship along with the path estimates, path coefficient, standard errors, and decision statement. Figure 3 shows that the estimated model fit indicates a good fit (CMIN/DF = 1.724, GFI = 0.936, TLI = 0.912, RMSEA = 0.060, CFI = 0.937, p-value = 0.000) [57]. According to [60], any score for both β and R² greater than 0.12 is acceptable and satisfactory. Figure 3 illustrates that only one path direction (β_PSB→GCV = 0.023) is less than 0.12, β is greater than 0.50 (i.e., β_PEB→GCV = 0.523, and β_PSB→GCV = 0.564), and the coefficient of determination is above 0.30 in both of the cases (i.e., R²_GCV = 0.33, and R²_ATOF = 0.32) which supports the minimum threshold limit.

In

Table 4. Testing the hypotheses.

Hypothesis	Path Relations		β	S.E.	C.R.	p-Value	Decision
H1	PEB -------->	GCV	0.523	0.097	4.087	0.001	Supported
H2	PSB -------->	GCV	0.023	0.083	0.279	0.781	Not Supported
H3	GCV -------->	AT	0.564	0.104	5.421	0.001	Supported

Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed). SE: Standard Error, CR: Critical Ratio.

, the results show that pro-environmental behavior positively influences green consumption values (β = 0.523, SE = 0.097, CR = 4.087, p-value = 0.001), and it supports Hypothesis 1 (H1) as the effect is significant. Then, we hypothesized that pro-social behavior positively influences green consumption values (β = 0.023, SE = 0.083, CR = 0.279, p-value = 0.781). It means that pro-social behavior has no significant direct influence on green consumption values as the p-value was 0.781 which was more than 0.05. Thus, our proposed Hypothesis 2 (H2) is not supported. Finally, Hypothesis 3 states that green consumption values have a positive impact on the attitudes toward the organic product (β = 0.564, SE = 0.104, CR = 5.421, p-value = 0.001) which significantly supports Hypothesis 3 (H3).

5. Discussion

Despite rising environmental awareness, Bangladeshi consumers still lack eco-friendly purchasing habits and a preference for organic food which raises the problem of the significance of green consumption’s antecedents. As the previous research highlighted, self-identity is an antecedent of eco-friendly or green consumption intention [61,62]. This study endeavored to determine the empirical evidence that promoting organic and environmentally friendly identities may increase consumers’ inclinations to buy organic goods in the context of the theory of planned behavior and theory of consumption values.

Consistent with the prior studies [63,64], this empirical research demonstrated that pro-environmental behavior positively influences green consumption values, as the more pro-environmental engagement that is driven by the consumer’s self-identity and values [65], the stronger the pro-environmental behavior [54]. Thus, the significant antecedents of consumer sustainable behavior (i.e., organic consumption) are environmental self-identity and consumption values [66]. Thus, to encourage green and environmental consciousness, green involvement has a positive influence on green consumption values and pro-environmental practices [67]. The relations become stronger with recreational, generative, and societal behavior [68] and, among the psychological variables, green self-identity. Previous studies [69] similarly assert that pro-environmental behavior is a crucial aspect of the value-construction process, and the relationship between pro-environmental behavior and green consumption is mediated by social and emotional values.

Though previous studies considered the mediating role of green product consumption as a pro-social reaction, as it encourages environmental and sustainable behavior [62], the study by [70] contradicts earlier studies that promote green consumption values and suggests that pro-social behavior may not be a significant antecedent because uncertainty regarding social values leads to strengthening individual intentions rather than social norms [40,71]. Ref. [72] affirms that social norms may not always translate into behavioral changes in consumer choice since the effects of pro-social issues are often complicated and demand cognitive elaboration (e.g., inappropriate exchange venue to communicate norms, spending better by cutting prices, fear of negative evaluation). Thus, to promote green values and environmental attitudes, pro-social behavior is not necessary in the first place as consumers’ personality makes them more likely to do it. To encourage pro-environmental behavior, pro-social motives do not appear to be going green [73,74,75]. Moreover, exposure to ethical and environmentally friendly consumption leads to less pro-social behavior and stricter moral judgment [76]. Moreover, exposure to ethical and environmentally friendly consumption leads to less pro-social behavior and stricter moral judgment [76]. Due to these confidence and trust concerns, some academics have discussed a “green backlash” in the context of pro-social consumer behavior, whereby consumers reject green products due to misunderstanding and doubts about the credibility of green promises [77]. However, pro-social behavior may not be examined or influenced during a short interval and may need time to develop [42].

Furthermore, the statistical result of the study confirms that green consumption values have a positive impact on attitudes toward organic products [78]. This result highlights that an individual who is concerned with sustainable consumption values is thereby motivated to amplify the attitude toward organic consumption. Concerns for the environment and taking into consideration ecological or environmental core values lead to sustainable consumption. Consistent with the finding of [79], this study shows that green consumption values play a mediating role between consumer attitude and the sustainable consumption of the organic consumer. As consumers have high knowledge about organic products’ benefits related to their health, the effects of consumption values have an impact on choice behavior toward organic products [80]. Thus, for consumers who are concerned about preserving and protecting the environment, green environmental values have an impact on their organic food consumption [47].

Therefore, along with the growing concern about the use of chemicals, adulteration, and climate change, the development of organic products has attracted multi-dimensional views in the global industry. Concern about food safety, health consciousness, food knowledge, and media exposure to food messages contributed significantly to the development of attitudes toward organic food [16]. Consequently, the effect of environmental values, awareness, self-identity, and behavioral control is associated with consumption [81]. Hence, the findings of [62,72] support this study. The hypothesized relation is also considered with the observations of TPB, PMT, and TCV since the study examined the motives why people purchase organic food as well as the antecedents that green consumption values have on those reasons with figuring out the significance awareness of individuals’ psychological factors to the attitudes of organic food consumption.

6. Conclusions

This study seeks to determine how attitudes regarding the use of organic foods are influenced by social behavior and environmental behavior through the integrating theory of planned behavior and protection motivation theory. Our finding indicates that people who care a lot about the environment and treat it with respect are more likely to make decisions that are good for the environment. This means making decisions that are in line with what they believe about the environment. People often put their own health and life expectancy ahead of the goals of society. People who care about the environment, on the other hand, tend to focus on eating organic food and show a preference for it. When individuals are determined to contribute to sustainable development, especially environmental preservation, an ideal place to begin would be with regular consumption patterns [82]. The behavior and interaction with social networks, family, and peers are found contradictory to organic food purchase. Hence, the study seeks to offer behavioral aspects, consumer values, and attitudes through an environmental perspective that induces organic consumerism at the individual level, filling the gaps in the existing literature. However, the results also determine that the consumption of organic food is less concerned with economic benefit and social approval gain [1,66].

6.1. Theoretical Implication

This study entails significant implications from both theoretical and managerial perspectives. In terms of theoretical insights, this study sought knowledge-based contribution through the integration of the theory of planned behavior and protection motivation theory studying perceived behavioral control, attitudes, and subjective norms on organic food consumption [1,16,53] and also the theory of consumption value that influence socioeconomic, demographic, and cultural aspects [44]). Previous studies show how green values could shape environmental behaviors and sustainable consumption [67,70,79]. This study focused on the antecedents behind the green consumption values that shape the attitude toward organic consumption [68,80,83,84].

6.2. Managerial Implication

From a managerial perspective, the findings of this research hold substantial implications for marketers, organizations, and policymakers seeking to advance the adoption of organic food consumption. In order to effectively engage with consumers, it is imperative to gain a comprehensive understanding of their environmentally conscious behaviors. By leveraging these research findings, organizations have the opportunity to integrate environmentally conscious marketing communication strategies that effectively appeal to diverse consumer segments. In order to promote the consumption of organic food, it is imperative for businesses to utilize diverse communication channels to effectively convey key social and environmental values. Marketers can effectively target consumers and encourage them to select organic options by employing strategies that focus on cultivating trust, highlighting health advantages, promoting social responsibility, and fostering environmental consciousness.

6.3. Limitations and Future Directions

There are some limitations to the current study. To ensure a precise interpretation of the results, it is imperative to recognize and take into account the inherent constraints of the research. The research was conducted exclusively within the geographical boundaries of Bangladesh, with a particular emphasis on households situated in Chittagong. It is crucial to recognize that the sample size was relatively small, consisting of only 208 individuals. Furthermore, the study primarily focused on investigating consumer behaviors and the cognitive mechanisms implicated in the purchasing decision-making process. Organic foods produced locally and traditionally make a great subject for further study. Future research should focus on the patterns of consumption across a large sample of urban and rural areas. Although green consumption embraces a variety of values, we only measured one of them. Consumer interest in generating organic food may be increased by government support for organic food certification. Future studies may compare conflicting results while studying environmental and societal issues using various demographic scenarios or in a time horizontal. A variety of methods may be used to establish the relationship, and there may be both theoretical and real-world implications for marketers and decision makers.