Value attitude behaviour and social stigma in the adoption of veganism: An integrated model
Anne Renée Brouwer, Clare D’Souza, Stephen Singaraju, Luis Alfredo Arango-Soler
Abstract
While veganism has been growing and receiving increasing attention, there is a gap on how factors such as health and environmental beliefs and anti-speciesism values, that create attitude towards their diets, influence their vegan behaviour. Furthermore, the role of social stigma experienced by vegans has not been examined within this context. Building on the value-attitude-behaviour model, the present study addresses this gap by conceptualizing these different streams of variables to build a testable conceptual framework for understanding how these factors contribute to maintaining a vegan lifestyle. The study uses structural equation modelling to analyse the data on 315 vegan consumers, testing the framework and its variables. The study shows that the value‐attitude‐behaviour model can successfully be applied to vegan behaviour. The findings show that anti-speciesism values are strong predictors of a positive attitude toward a vegan diet. Furthermore, social stigma does not inhibit consumers from maintaining a vegan lifestyle. Ultimately, the study contributes to a novel multifaceted model for understanding veganism in broader terms, allowing for the examination of other influencing factors on a complex outcome. The findings are useful for policymakers and marketing practitioners to engage in understanding behavioural segments.