Sustainable wine purchasing behavior in China: Applying and extending the Theory of Planned Behavior

The increasing environmental concern strongly motivates the production and consumption of environmentally friendly products, which are also called as green products (Rana & Paul, 2017). With both producers and consumers paying more attention to the sustainable development of our planet, green food is becoming accepted not only in developed countries, but also in developing countries, and China is one such case (Zhu, Li, Ceng & Qi, 2013). According to World of Organic Agricultures: Statistics and Emerging Trend 2019, China was the fourth largest market for organic food with 7.6 billion euros in 2017. It is also reported that China has witnessed a 32 percent increase of organic agricultural land in 2017 compared to 2016, which is 12 percent bigger than the global increase (Research Institute of Organic Agriculture FiBL & IFOAM- Organics International, 2019). In terms of wine purchasing behavior, the International Organization of Vine and Wine (OIV) reported that total amount of wine consumption in China has increased from 16.5 mhl (millions of hectoliters) in 2013 to 17.3 mhl in 2016 (2018). Motivated by health consciousness and environment protection, sustainable wine consumption sees a growing trend. Correspondingly, wine-related companies are suggested to make market strategies to well suit such trend. Therefore, a comprehensive understanding of consumer sustainable wine purchasing behavior is required. This research is intended to address this gap by exploring and predicting Chinese sustainable wine consumption behavior. Therefore, the objectives of this study are: (1) to construct a profile of the Chinese consumer who prefers sustainable wine; (2) to test an extended intention-behavior model for explaining and predicting Chinese sustainable wine purchasing behavior; and (3) to provide suggestions to vine and wine practitioners for a better understanding of Chinese wine market.