The Impact of Gen MZ's Personal Consumer Values on Beliefs, Personal Norms, Attitudes, and Purchase Intentions regarding Vegan Food

The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of the personal values and consumption values of the MZ generation on the generation's beliefs, personal norms, attitudes, and purchase intentions toward vegan food. To achieve this, a survey was conducted targeting members of the MZ generation with experience purchasing vegan food and a total of 285 responses were used for the analysis. This study was analyzed through reliability analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, structural equation modeling analysis and so on with SPSS 29, AMOS 26. The structural model provided a right fit to the data, χ²=1,201.285, df=507 IFI=.916, TLI=.907, CFI=.916 and RMSEA=.069. It was confirmed that altruistic values (β= .360, p<.000), ecological values (β=.264, p<.000), and social values (β=.225, p<.000) significantly in- fluence beliefs, and that beliefs significantly impact personal norms (β=.664, p<.000) and attitudes (β= .811, p<.000). It was also confirmed that personal norms (β=.383, p<.000) and attitudes (β=.487, p<.000) significantly influence purchase intentions. However, it was found that emotional and functional values did not affect beliefs and personal norms do not have a significant impact on attitudes. The key implications of this study based on the research findings are as follows. First, this study is significant in that it examines the consumer behavior process of Gen Z and millennials when purchasing vegan food. Lastly, it holds value in applying the value-belief-norm (VBN) theory to vegan food purchasing behavior, identifying the values prioritized by Gen Z and millennials when buying vegan food.