Understanding consumer purchase of free‐of cosmetics: A value‐driven TRA approach

This study concerns the free‐of trend on the cosmetics market as expressed by a tendency among consumers to prefer cosmetics that are free of certain ingredients. Combining the Theory of Reasoned Action with a value‐driven approach, this study empirically investigates the association between consumers' personal values and their attitude and behaviour associated with purchasing free‐of cosmetics. A quantitative online survey of 250 Danish female consumers was conducted using self‐administering questionnaires. The findings indicate that consumers' willingness to purchase free‐of cosmetics ( R ² = .48) is both influenced by attitude ( β  = .65) and perceived subjective norm ( β  = .21) with attitude having the largest predictive power. Moreover, consumers' attitude towards willingness to purchase free‐of cosmetics seems to be value driven. Our results indicate that two values, self‐transcendence ( β  = .28) and self‐enhancement ( β  = −.21), significantly influence attitude towards free‐of cosmetics purchase ( R ² = .10). Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.