Background: Consumers have become more eco-friendly conscious than before, and therefore the demand for organic and environmentally-friendly products has increased during the past decade. Companies are committing to various green practices to improve company's image. Meanwhile, consumers usually have a positive attitude towards the companies who are practicing green concepts into their business operation. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to identify which factors are influential towards customers’ attitude towards the certified food service and the moderating role of green skepticism influences the relationship between green attributes and consumers’ attitude. In this study, it is also considered to research if LOHAS and non-LOHAS consumers’ attitudes towards certified food service differently influence their willingness to dine and willingness to pay the premium. Method: The data was collected with a structured and web-based survey. The valid study sample was 275. In order to answer the research questions and reach research purpose. The research model with 11 hypotheses was tested through hierarchy regression, linear regression, moderation regression and ANOVA analysis. The confirmatory analysis has been applied for testing construct validity. Besides, the descriptive statistics and construct variables correlation were demonstrated. Findings: In total, four hypotheses were rejected, and seven were supported. The result of data from the study showed that consumers’ attitudes towards certified food service were influenced by organic menu attribute, CSR attribute but not manifested on eco-friendly attributes. The study proved the positive relationship between consumers’ attitude and their willingness to dine and willingness to pay premium at certified food service. The study revealed that the LOHAS customer segment differs from the non-LOHAS consumer segment in the following ways: the attitude of LOHAS towards certified food service is more positive than the non-LOHAS and their willingness to dine and willingness to pay the premium is also much greater than the non-LOHAS. Whereas, there existed no significant relationship shifts between customer attitude and the green attributes regarding the certified food service when green skepticism was the moderator. Implications: This paper assists researchers and practitioners by shedding light on the positive relationship between attitude and behavior intentions, the differences between LOHAS and non-LOHAS in regard to their more positive attitude and higher willingness to dine and willingness to pay premium in certified food service setting. Keywords: certified food service, LOHAS, consumers’ attitude, green skepticism, administrative CSR, green practices, organic menu
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:lnu-64991 |
| Date | January 2017 |
| Creators | Zhang, Xiaofang, Fares, Kajin |
| Publisher | Linnéuniversitetet, Institutionen för marknadsföring (MF) |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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