HBM: Description and relationship between variables
While the number of items that measured each variable are different,
we divided individuals’ total scores by the number of items
per variable to make them comparable (Table 2). The results
revealed that the mean scores of perceived susceptibility and perceived
severity with respect to conventional foods were 3.16 out of
5 (SD. = 1.21) and 3.74 out of 5 (SD. = 1.01), respectively. These
findings revealed that the students feel high susceptibility and
severity regarding the use of conventional foods. The mean score
for perceived benefits was 3.46 out of 5 (SD. = 1.33), suggesting
that most consumers are influenced by the benefits of eating
organically grown foods. Perceived barrier revealed a relatively
low mean score, 2.98 out of 5 (SD. = 1.21), which shows that the
students feel some barriers to organic foods usage. In examining
consumers’ willingness to use organic foods, the results showed
that they have intention to use such foods (Mean = 3.39 out of 5,
SD. = 1.23). However, the general health orientation regarding the
use of organic foods among our students (Mean = 1.97 out of 5,
SD. = 0.88) was as low as the cue to action (Mean = 1.84 out of 5,
SD. = 1.11). This means that the promotion of organic foods to most
of the students has been limited.
A Pearson correlation test was used to investigate the relationship
between all variables (Table 3). The results revealed a significant
relationship between willingness to use and other variables
including perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, perceived
benefits, self-efficacy and general health orientation. While the
cue to action and perceived barriers were not significantly related
with willingness to use. Furthermore, the general health orientation
had a significant relationship with all variables except perceived
barriers (Table 3).