Antecedents of intention and behavior towards fair trade products: A study on values and attitudes in Italy

The current study investigates the significance and power of direct and indirect effects of values and attitudes on intention to buy fair trade products and on self-reported behaviors. Drawing on previous research, we selected three attitudinal measures - Consciousness for Fair Consumption, Environmental Concern, Moral Reasoning - and two categories of human values, Power and Universalism. Through a web-based survey conducted in Italy we collected data analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling. Results showed that Universalism exerted a positive indirect effect on buying fair traded products while Power exerted a negative effect. Therefore, according to Theory of Planned Behavior (Ajzen, 1991), the intention was the only direct antecedent of behavior.