Predicting the itentions to buy fair-trade products: the role of attitude, social norm, perceived behavioral control, and moral norm

The current study examined to what extent attitude, social norm, and perceived behavioral control explain students’ intentions to buy fair-trade products. Moreover, it was explored whether the addition of moral norm to these three factors permitted the better prediction of the intentions in question. Questionnaire data was collected from 192 students of the University of Luxemburg. The results of structural equation analyses revealed that attitude and perceived behavioral control explained 61% of the variance in intention. The addition of the moral norm construct increased the explained variance of intention from 61% to 73%. These results suggest that to encourage students to buy fair-trade products, applied social psychologists or educational institutions should create programs that develop their perceived control over the behavior, for instance, by offering the products in their canteens as well as in their food and drink dispensers. In addition, they should insist on the advantages of fair-trade consumerism to favor the development of a positive attitude. Finally, they should emphasize the moral correctness of the behavior.