Effects of consumption values on vegan food purchase intention

: a cross-cultural study in India and Portugal

Abstract

The rising popularity of vegan foods is fueling the growth of the global vegan food market, which is expected to reach 77.8 billion USD by 2025 (Statista, 2024). Despite its popularity, research on vegan foods remains limited. Understanding what drives the purchase intention of vegan foods is crucial for vegan food companies to enhance their product marketing strategies and appeal to a broader audience. Studies on consumer perceived value has shown that it has an important influence on consumer behavior (Bhattacharyya et al., 2023; Sweeney & Soutar, 2001). Thus, the main objective of this cross-cultural study in India and Portugal was to determine the values affecting vegan food purchase intention. Applying the Theory of Consumption Values (Sheth et al., 1991), we investigate the extent of influence of different consumption values on the purchase intention of vegan foods. Adopting a quantitative approach utilizing self-administered surveys, 396 responses were analyzed using multiple linear regression analysis. The findings reveal that functional value quality, functional value price, emotional value, conditional value and ecological value were predictors of vegan foods purchase intention in India. In contrast, functional value quality, emotional value, epistemic value, and ecological value were found to be predictors of vegan foods purchase intention in Portugal. This study extends the theory of consumption values, by including ecological value in the consumption values and contributes to research on sustainable consumption in the context of this theory. It stands as one of the first studies to compare vegan food purchase intention between India and Portugal, shedding light on different predictors of vegan food purchase intention in each country.

Date of Award	23 Jul 2024
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Susana Silva (Supervisor) & Paulo Alexandre de Oliveira Duarte (Co-Supervisor)