Investigating the Role of Psychological, Social, Religious and Ethical Determinants on Consumers' Purchase Intention and Consumption of Convenience Food

Despite impressive market growth, increasing demand and economic importance of convenience food in emerging economies such as India, comprehensive research regarding the role of psychological and social determinants on convenience food choice is lacking. Therefore, this research aims to investigate the influence of convenience orientation, social status, moral attitude, mood, spiritual concern, religious beliefs and ethical values on purchase intention and consumption of convenience food. The non-probability purposive sampling method was adopted for recruitment of participants. A pre-tested questionnaire was used to collect data from 501 consumers. The descriptive statistics, confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling were carried out to analyse the data. The factor loading, Cronbach's alpha, composite reliability, average variance extracted, and correlations demonstrated good internal consistency and reliability of scale items as well as convergent and discriminant validity of the constructs. The model fit indices revealed that measurement and structural models fitted well with data. The path analysis of the structural model demonstrated that convenience orientation (beta = 0.789 ***, t = 32.462), moral attitude (beta = 0.594 ***, t = 20.984), mood (beta = 0.586 ***, t = 18.683), spiritual concern (beta = 0.145 ***, t = 3.23), religious beliefs (beta = 0.451 ***, t = 14.787) and ethical values (beta = 0.497 ***, t = 16.678) were positively related with purchase intention and consumption of convenience food (*** Significant at p <= 0.01). The path analysis of structural model also indicated that social status was not linked with purchase intention and consumption of convenience food. The convenience orientation was the key determinant influencing purchase intention and consumption of convenience food.