Organic food (OF) is seen as a byproduct of organic farming. Organic food is produced in a controlled and verified environment. In its norms, IFOAM outlines the production process in terms of principles and standards worldwide (IFOAM, 2005). The organic production method is governed in the European Union by EC Regulations 834/2007 and 889/2008. In addition, international organizations (such as the FAO’s Codex Alimentarius and the WHO’s Codex Alimentarius and the UN) and national associations (e.g., Bioland, Demeter, Naturland) also have regulations on organic food. Furthermore, various national laws regulate organic food production in several nations across the world, including the United States National Organic Program (www.ams.usda.gov/nop/, accessed on 18 November 2021), China, and Japan ^[1][8].

Organic food is defined in EC Regulation 834/2007, related to EC 178/2002 ^[1][8]. Organic food can be defined using a variety of features that can be used as quality indicators. Because organic food also has a symbolic value, quality attributes can be directly experienced (determined), judged, or believed in ^[2][9].

Organic food includes both organic plants and organic animals, indicating that fruits and vegetables can be grown organically and animals are fed in an organic manner. In other words, organic food is a new form of conventional food that has been improved to change quality and taste through agricultural farming. Organic food targets middle and high-income consumers who are health conscious and care about food safety and hygiene. Krystallis and Ness (2004) ^[3][10] found that “high quality”, “good or safer for health”, “delicious taste”, “convenient”, and “ethical” are the main features that consumers mention when they think about organic food.

Purchase intention refers to an individual’s desire to buy a specific product or service. Numerous studies have investigated purchase intention as it is considered the most crucial direct factor that determines the actual purchase of a product. In the organic food market, organic food purchase intention reflects the desire to own and consume the product of the consumers. Different factors have been discovered to influence consumers’ purchase intention, including the Theory of Planned Behavior.

Many studies have long used the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) to explain people’s actions. An individual’s behavior is determined by their intent to perform such activity, according to TPB. In turn, intentions are linked to some factors such as attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control. A person’s favorable or unfavorable opinions regarding given conduct are referred to as attitude. A person’s perceived societal acceptability of an action is referred to as a subjective norm. Finally, perceived behavioral control refers to a person’s perception of their ability to do a specific behavior. According to Ajzen (1991) ^[4][11] if the attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control are all strong, the intention will be firm, resulting in the desired behavior. As a result, the TPB considers attitude the most critical component in determining intentions and subsequent behaviors.

TPB has been adopted in numerous studies to explain pro-environmental behaviors such as the adoption of energy-efficient home appliances ^[5][6][12,13], energy saving behavior at workplace ^[7][14], environmentally friendly transportation modes ^[8][15], and green products ^[9][16]. In the organic food sector, many studies in both developed and developing countries have adopted and adapted TPB to explain consumers’ purchase behaviors. Some studies include Chakrabarti (2010) ^[10][17], de-Magistris and Gracia Royo (2012) ^[11][18], De Magistris and Gracia (2008) ^[12][19], Dettmann and Dimitri (2009) ^[13][20], Katt and Meixner (2020) ^[14][21], Maaya et al. (2018) ^[15][22], Pham et al. (2019) ^[16][7], Nguyen et al. (2021) ^[17][23], and Rodríguez et al. (2007) ^[18][24].

Schwartz (1977) ^[19][25] proposed the Norm Activation Model (NAM) to describe how people behave regarding moral dilemmas. According to NAM, people participate in pro-environmental actions when their standards reflect moral obligations to act pro-socially and environmentally. NAM has been successfully employed in several studies of consumers’ behaviors since its inception.

The NAM has been adapted in studies to explain a variety of pro-environmental behaviors such as electricity-saving behavior ^[20][26], environmentally friendly travel choices ^[21][27], recycling ^[22][28], and purchasing environmentally friendly products ^[23][29]. Similarly, van der Werff and Steg (2015) ^[24][30] also used NAM to explain energy use with 468 people in the Netherlands.