Consumer Attitudes Influence on Food Purchase Intentions and Social Networking Service Recommendations

Even after 10 years of the Great East Japan Earthquake, which occurred in March 2011, the radioactive contamination ensuing from the earthquake continues to cause food contamination anxiety in Japan. In this context, this study examined how consumer attitudes influence the purchase intentions of foreign consumers in a social media environment. The study conducted a survey on Korean consumers’ awareness of the quality attributes of Japanese food. The study investigated the purchasing intention using the Fishbein’s attitude model in relation to the quality of Japanese food and sharing and recommendation through the social networking services (SNS). The analysis was performed using the covariance analysis. The results showed that the quality attributes of Japanese food strongly influence attitude, which, in turn, significantly influences purchase intentions and SNS sharing. The purchase intention significantly influences the SNS recommendations. These findings have value in demonstrating the moderating role of SNS sharing and recommendations in the causal relationship between attributes, attitudes, and purchase intentions. These findings have practical implications in that they demonstrate the significance of enhancing the import quality of Japanese food and using SNS to influence purchase intentions.