Factors influencing consumers’ intention to repurchase organic cosmetics

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
VIETNAM JAPAN UNIVERSITY

PHAN THI DINH

FACTORS INFLUENCING CONSUMERS’
INTENTION TO REPURCHASE ORGANIC
COSMETICS

MASTER'S THESIS


VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
VIETNAM JAPAN UNIVERSITY

PHAN THI DINH

FACTORS INFLUENCING CONSUMERS’
INTENTION TO REPURCHASE ORGANIC
COSMETICS

MAJOR: BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
CODE: 8340101.01

RESEARCH SUPERVISOR:
PROF. DR. MOTONARI TANABU
DR. DO XUAN TRUONG

Hanoi, 2021

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to everyone in the MBA
program of Vietnam Japan University for providing me with the opportunity to become
a student of VJU and helping us a lot in the two-year journey. Especially, I want to
express the warmest thanks to my Vietnamese and Japanese professors, Dr. Do Xuan
Truong and Prof. Dr. Motonari Tanabu who gave me useful guidelines and orientation
to finish my thesis. Their advice has helped me improve my skills and knowledge related
to problem logic thinking, synthesizing research, or analyzing data. These experiences
will be very valuable for me not only for my thesis but also for other issues in work and
study.
Moreover, during my master research, I received a lot of enthusiastic encouragement
and support from family, friends, colleagues to overcome difficulties and achieve my
goals.
Last but not least, the two-year study period was really not easy for me, I want to express
my deepest thanks to the support from Vietnam Japan University, Yokohama National
University, VJU officers, YNU IPO staffs, all Professors and kindly classmate.

Thank you.

Author
Phan Thi Dinh


ABSTRACT
Purpose of the study: In recent years, consumer demand for organic and natural
cosmetic products is increasing all over the world and especially in Vietnamese market.
This has created potential development opportunities for companies in the cosmetics
sector. However, this also creates a challenge for businesses in not only attracting new
customers, but also maintaining customers who continue to be interested and ready to
buy their products again in the future. Maintaining customer repurchase intention will

be a strategy for cost-effectiveness and increasing the competitive advantage of the
company. My research aims to identify factors and their influences degree to repurchase
intention towards organic cosmetics. Particularly, this research will investigate the effect
and understand the relationship between health consciousness, environmental
consciousness, safety value, familiarity, expertise, attitude, and repurchase intention in
organic cosmetics at Vietnamese market.
Research Methodology/Design: A quantitative research is implemented using an
online and offline survey in order to collect primary data for hypothesis testing. After
collecting data from 150 respondents, SPSS and Smart-PLS 3.0 software are used to
analyze data.
Findings: The findings indicated the significant positive effects from health
consciousness, and safety value on attitude and the significant influence of
environmental consciousness, attitude, familiarity, and expertise on repurchase intention
organic cosmetics. The analyses also found that that among three antecedents of
repurchase intention, familiarity has the most substantial impact.
Research Limitations: The main limitation of this research is excluding other important
factors that impact repurchase intention such as price, customer satisfaction, etc.
Contribution: The study provides knowledge related to the factors which influence
intention to repurchase of consumer towards organic cosmetics in Vietnamese market.
Keywords: Consumer’s repurchase intention, health consciousness, environmental
consciousness, safety value, attitude, familiarity, expertise.


TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ............................................................................................
ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................................
LIST OF TABLES ...................................................................................................... i
LIST OF FIGURES.................................................................................................... ii
LIST OF ABBREVATIONS .................................................................................... iii
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ...............................................................................1

1.1. Research background .........................................................................................1
1.2. Research objectives ............................................................................................4
1.3. Subject and scope of the research ......................................................................5
1.4. Structure of the research ....................................................................................5
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ....................................................................7
2.1. Organic cosmetics ................................................................................................7
2.2. Repurchase intention ............................................................................................8
2.3. Theory or Planned Behavior .................................................................................9
2.3.1. Attitude ........................................................................................................10
2.4. Health Consciousness .........................................................................................11
2.5. Environmental Consciousness ............................................................................12
2.6. Safety Value .......................................................................................................13
2.7. Familiarity ..........................................................................................................14
2.8. Expertise .............................................................................................................15
2.9. Proposed research model ....................................................................................16
CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY ............................................................................18
3.1. Research process ................................................................................................18
3.2. Research design ..................................................................................................19
3.2.1. Instrument Development ............................................................................19
3.2.2. Sample and Data collection .......................................................................21
3.2. Analysis procedure ...........................................................................................23
CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS ...........................................................................25
4.1. Descriptive analysis ............................................................................................25
4.2. PLS-SEM model assessment ..............................................................................28
4.3. Structural model assessment...............................................................................31
CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION ...............................................35
5.1. Discussion ...........................................................................................................35
5.2. Implications ........................................................................................................37
5.2.1. Theorical implications ..................................................................................37
5.2.2. Practical implication .....................................................................................38

5.3. Limitations and future research recommendations ............................................40
REFERENCES ..........................................................................................................42
APPENDIX ...............................................................................................................50


LIST OF TABLES
Table 3.1. Measurement items for the survey ....................................................... 19
Table 4.1 Demographic information of respondents ............................................. 25
Table 4.2. The codes of variables .......................................................................... 26
Table 4.3. Descriptive statistics of 150 respondents.............................................. 27
Table 4.4. Items loading and composite reliability of the constructs .................... 30
Table 4.5. Convergent validity among constructs ................................................. 31
Table 4.6. Discriminant validity: Fornell-Larcker criterion .................................. 31
Table 4.7. Collinearity statistics (VIF) of exogenous variables ............................ 32
Table 4.8. Results of hypothesis testing from structural model ............................ 33
Table 4.9. Mediation test results ............................................................................ 34

i


LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1.1. Global market value for natural and organic cosmetics from 2018 to 2027
......................................................................................................................................... 2
Figure 2.1. Theory of planned behavior model (Ajzen, 1991) ....................................... 9
Figure 2.2. The proposed theorical model .................................................................... 17
Figure 3.1. Research procedure by the author .............................................................. 18
Figure 4.1. The measurement model (PLS algorithm) ................................................. 29

ii

LIST OF ABBREVATIONS
AVE

Average variance extracted

CR

Composite reliability

TPB

Theory of planned behavior

TRA

Theory of reasoned action

VIF

Variance magnification factor

iii


CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1.

Research background

It cannot be denied that, the environment is having sudden changes under the influence
mainly from human activities in recent years. With warnings such as global warming or
natural disasters happening with increasing frequency, this is affecting every living thing
across the earth and it is also changing economic activities, human society. According
to Haytko and Matulich (2008) indicated that environmental issues and their
consequences for human health have become a significant concern for governments and
organizations. As a result, there has been a movement toward environmental
sustainability, which has led to improvements in consumer demands and behavior
(Mendelson & Polonsky, 1995). Many plans and initiatives to enhance and preserve
habitats and natural resources have emerged as a result of increased awareness and
concern about environmental issues. Green product lines, organic products appear and
are constantly being developed, such as organic food, organic cosmetics, renewable
energy, … (Kim & Chung, 2011).
Natural and organic goods are becoming increasingly popular among consumers, who
believe they are good for their health and the environment. This trend indicates that
consumers are becoming more responsible for their consumption habits (Maragon et al.,
2015). Currently, the market for natural and organic cosmetic products is growing
significantly in recent years. Particularly, global market value for natural and organic
cosmetics and personal care from 2018 to 2027 (in billion U.S. dollars) which is shown
in the figure 1.1:

1


Figure 1.1. Global market value for natural and organic cosmetics from 2018 to 2027
(Units: billion U.S. dollars) (Source: Statista.com)
According to the statistics, organic cosmetics have a higher international growth rate
than traditional cosmetics, which is more or less fluctuating. Organic cosmetics are
considered to be healthier, better quality and eco-friendly for environment because these
products are manufactured under a rigorous process, the ingredients are grown without

pesticides, synthetic fertilizers or genetically modified substances. With these
outstanding features of organic cosmetics, consumers tend to use this product more than
traditional cosmetics. Therefore, organic cosmetics are creating many potential
opportunities for businesses to take advantage of product development to meet consumer
needs.
On the other hand, Vietnam is emerging as one of the promising markets for cosmetic
development in recent years in Asia. The report of Mintel indicated that Vietnam
cosmetic market has value at 2.3 billion USD in 2019. Revenue in the Cosmetics
segment amounts to 506,9 USD in 2020 and the market is expected to grow annually by
5,3% (CAGR 2020-2023). The population of Vietnam has exceeded 97 million people
in 2020 (General Statistic Office, 2020). It is estimated that by 2020, the Vietnamese
middle class will be the major consumers and payers for the rapidly growing cosmetic
product consumption, growing to 33 million people. This estimate is based on the results
of a high economic growth rate of over 6%-7% annually and a young generation

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accounting for 60% of the population. Therefore, it will create a variety of potential
market for cosmetics companies especially in organic cosmetics sector.
Although the consumer demand for organic cosmetics is greatly increased which is
recognized by manufacturers, marketers or organizations, there are still some limitations
to scientific research. For all consumer behavior, understanding the reasons and
motivations for buying organic cosmetics from consumers is complicated. Most of the
research pay attention on only the factors that influence consumers’ intention or
behavior of buying organic products. Theory planned behavior (TPB) is a widely applied
model in the field of research on customer behavior (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980; Madden
et al., 1992). The theory has three main dimensions including attitude, subjective norms,
and perceived behavioral control. TPB is used to investigate the factors that influence
the intention to buy organic food (Arvola et al., 2008). According to Tsakiridou et al.

(2010), consumers are becoming increasingly aware of environmentally sustainable
production practices which affects their buying decision towards organic cosmetics. In
addition, there is only a handful of studies on the factors that influence the intentions of
repurchasing organic cosmetics. In the research of Ghazali et al. (2017), this study
extends TPB by including consumer’s perceived value dimensions (including health,
safety, hedonic and environment) and product knowledge in order to examine the factor
influencing the rebuying of organic personal care products. However, in this research,
factors that are more specific about consumer knowledge were not really addressed in
this study. Another study about repurchase intention towards organic cosmetics is
studied by Nguyen et al. (2019). In this study, in addition to the factors in the TPB model
and the consumer values tested, satisfaction and green perceived value were combined
to study a rebuying intention in the Vietnamese market. In the two most relevant studies
that are the research of Ghazali et al. (2017) and Nguyen et al. (2019), the aspect of
product knowledge is more focused than the knowledge of consumers. Meanwhile, for
repurchase intention, familiarity and expertise which are two major dimensions of
consumer knowledge, is an important factor influencing consumers. In addition, related
to consumer knowledge has not been implemented by many studies in the context of
organic products, so the author would like to investigate this factor more deeply in the
research. Moreover, in the results of these two studies, health-related factors have
3


different impacts on attitudes towards buying organic cosmetics, so the author would
like to reexamine again the impact of health-related factors on consumer attitudes.
On the other hand, organic cosmetics are known to be safe for the skin and less harmful
to the environment, so in this study, two factors related to environmental awareness and
safety will be investigated. Under the context of organic products, in order to predict the
intention to purchase organic personal care products, Kim and Chung (2011) used TPB
with consumer value in their study, and the finding found that all variables in TPB have
an important relationship with purchase intention. Van Loo et al. (2013) discovered that

attitude had a favorable and substantial link with organic consumption. TPB in which
focus only on attitude factor will be applied along with a combination of factors related
to perceptions of health, the environment, and safety value to learn about the dynamics
and factors that influence the intention to rebuy organic cosmetics in this research.
Furthermore, in this study, a consumer’s knowledge factor which includes familiarity
and expertise dimensions will be applied in order to investigate their influence on
repurchase intention of the consumer.
In terms of practical necessity, current businesses are trying to come up with effective
strategies to meet the demand of current customers and create long-term relationships
with that number of customers. According to Kuo et al. (2013), to maintain operations
and gain a competitive advantage, it is critical to maintain consumer repurchase intent
and minimize major switching behavior. In addition, the cost to attract new customers
will be much higher than maintaining with existing customers. The market for cosmetics,
especially with organic cosmetics, has great potential for development in Vietnam, and
the competition between businesses is becoming more and more fierce. Therefore, the
strategy to retain customers to continue to buy the product or service of the business will
be very important in sustainable development. As a result, this research will aid
managers, marketers, and manufacturers in better understanding what motivates
consumers to keep buying so that they may develop strategies that meet their demands.
1.2.

Research objectives

4


Currently, there is very little research on buying intentions for organic cosmetics of
Vietnamese consumers so this study aims to contribute empirical research to identify
driven factors for repurchasing intention organic cosmetics.
In particularly, the research has the following sub-objectives:

-

To investigate the effect of health consciousness, environmental consciousness,
and safety value on attitude and repurchase intention in organic cosmetics.

-

To investigate the effect of attitude, familiarity, and expertise on repurchase
intention in organic cosmetics.

The research question will be investigated in this study as below:
1. What factors affect consumer repurchase intention of organic cosmetics?
2. To what extent these factors impact consumer repurchase intention organic
cosmetics?
3. What factors affect consumers’ attitude toward organic cosmetics?
1.3.
-

Subject and scope of the research

The subject of the research will be the Vietnamese consumers who has at least one
experience of using or purchasing organic cosmetics.

-

The scope of the research: This research will be conducted in Hanoi City, Vietnam.
This is the location of a large and diverse population of all ages. Hanoi is one of the
cities with a very high purchasing power and people have great awareness about new
products, safe for health as well as for the environment. The study is conducted from
October 2020 to May 2021. The data collection time for this study from 23rd April,

2021 to 4th May, 2021.

1.4.

Structure of the research

The research includes five chapters, as detailed below:
▪ Chapter 1: Introduction
This chapter will briefly introduce about the research background about the foundation
of theorical and practical problem in order to make clear about the motivation and
objective of the study
▪ Chapter 2: Literature review

5


This part will give overview about theoretical relevance of the existing study to propose
the hypothesis and conceptual model.
▪ Chapter 3: Research Methodology
This chapter describe the research process, research design, pilot test, variable
measurements, data collection.
▪ Chapter 4: Data analysis
This chapter will analyze the results from data collection.
▪ Chapter 5: Discussion and Conclusion
This part will discuss about the findings of research as well as give several
recommendations. The limitation of the research will be mentioned in this chapter.

6

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. Organic cosmetics
Currently, there is no regulation or exact definition of the term “organic” when applied
to cosmetics, depending on the country there will be different standards and
certifications when using this term for cosmetics.
According to the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture), if a cosmetic
contains or is made up of agricultural ingredients, it can meet the standards of production,
processing, processing and the stamp of the USDA / NOP (United States Department of
Agriculture / National Organic Program), the product is considered eligible for organic
certification under the regulated NOP. In addition, the production and processing of
organic agricultural ingredients and the factory that produces the final product must be
certified by a USDA accredited organic certification body.
The USDA’s general framework of standards for organic farming and production
processes in 2000 is followed by many organic certification organizations around the
world, specifically:
- The used water source must be clean and not polluted.
- The production area must be isolated from sources of pollution such as factories,
industrial parks, export processing zones, areas under construction, …
- Prohibit the use of all chemical fertilizers, chemical pesticides, genetically modified
ingredients, human manure, compost from waste or preservatives during storage.
- Use only inputs that are registered and approved by the organization.
- Prohibit sterile irradiation.
There was a consolidation in Europe that resulted in the development of a standard
procedure known as the Cosmetics Organic Standard – COSMOS. According to
COSMOS standard in 2020, an organic cosmetic has to contain at least 95% organic
ingredients. Especially, rinse-off products, non-emulsified aqueous products, and

7

products containing at least 80% minerals or minerals-derived ingredients must contain
at least 10% organic content.
A product is considered organic when it is produced, manufactured, or processed in
compliance with organic standards, according to the National Organic Standards set
published in Vietnam in 2017.
There are a variety of certifications available around the world, each with its own set of
criteria for organic cosmetics certification. In short, organic cosmetics are understood
as products that contact the external parts of the human body to clean, beautify, increase
the attraction and change the appearance and appearance. These products are made from
natural ingredients and have 95 percent agricultural origin ingredients that must be
approved by reputable organizations.
2.2. Repurchase intention
Repurchase intention is considered to be the chance or willingness of consumer who
already purchased the product and continues to purchase from the similar suppliers or
company (Fornell, 1992). Repurchase intention is a customer behavioral intention that
shows a consumer’s willingness to remain, proceed, or leave a current supplier’s service.
Chiu et al. (2009), Hellier et al. (2003), and Kuan et al. (2008) found that repurchase
intention is influenced by the individual customer’s potential situation and current
condition, implying that repurchase intention acts as a dependent variable in a complex
system of relationships that can be used to improve service delivery, management
insight, and strategic planning. In addition, the person’s possible to carry out desired
conduct is determined by the intensity of their purpose (Ajzen, 1991). Specifically, when
humans have the ability or resources such as money, time, and skills to raise their
intentions, they tend to conduct the actual act than those with a lack of resources. As the
result, in terms of capabilities or resources, when consumers have a bigger repurchase
intention, they are more likely to engage in real repurchase behavior (Ajzen, 1991).
According to Spreng et al. (1995), finding a fresh customer is far more expensive than
keeping an existing customer, therefore effective strategies to retain old customers are
crucial in many companies. Since that would be an important competitive advantage for
any company in the business environment when it maintains its customer repurchase

8


intent and limits switching behavior (Kuo et al., 2013). According to Chang et al. (2014),
companies always want to keep good relationships with old consumers and come up
with effective strategies to increase rebuy intentions because retaining old consumers is
much easier and more economical than attracting a new one. Coming up with effective
strategies to keep customers interested in a product or service for repeat purchases will
create a competitive advantage for businesses, significantly reducing costs (Filieri & Lin,
2017; Ilyas et al., 2020). The process of forming consumer repurchase intent is really
complicated, understanding the process and the factors that increase consumer
acquisition intent will be a sustainable competitive advantage for every company.
2.3. Theory or Planned Behavior
Theory of Planned Behavior model is an extension of the Theory of Reasoned Action
(TRA) (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1988). Ajzen (l985) defined behavioral intention as the
expression of each person's willingness to perform a specified behavior, and it is
considered a premise that directly leads to behavior. According to TRA, the most
important factor determining human behavior is the intention to carry out that behavior.
Intention to implement behavior is governed by two factors: one's attitude towards
behavior and subjective norms related to that behavior. Ajzen afterwards added another
element (perceived behavioral control) and from that behavioral intention is estimated
based on: attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control. TPB model has
been widely used to predict the intentions and human behavior (Shin et al., 2018). TPB
is illustrated in below Figure 2.1.

Figure 2.1. Theory of planned behavior model (Ajzen, 1991)
9


TPB has been useful in predicting customer intentions and behavior in a various field

such as green/pro-environmental areas (Han et al., 2009; Kim et al., 2013), green
product (Chan & Lau, 2002), organic products (Kim & Chung, 2011; Ghazali et al.,
2017). These studies have proven the applicability and robustness of TPB in many fields,
especially in organic cosmetics.
Regarding organic products, Arvola et al. (2008) used TPB to predict purchase
intentions, and their results revealed that attitude and subjective norms can explain
variances in purchase intentions. Another research of Yadav and Pathak (2016) showed
that all variables in TPB had significant impact on consumer intention to buy green
products. It has been proven that attitude has a high association with behavior and
behavioral intention. (Shaw et al., 2000; Shaw & Shiu, 2002a; Choo et al., 2004). In the
research of Nguyen et al. (2019), the researchers found that attitude play an important
role in predicting the intention to repurchase of consumer towards organic cosmetics.
This study applies the theory of planned behavior model with a focus on the attitude
variable to consumer intent and extend the model by adding potential factors that
influence attitudes.
2.3.1. Attitude
According to Ajzen (1991), attitudes that lead to behavior are an individual's assessment
of the results obtained from performing that behavior. It also is the degree to which that
individual judges the behavior to be positive or negative. According to TPB, attitudes
are created through behavioral beliefs, which can be turned into beliefs related to the
expected outcome of behavior. A positive attitude refers to the expectation that the
behavior will result in a positive outcome, while a negative attitude refers to the belief
that the behavior will result in a negative outcome. This means that attitudes are
evaluative responses to an object or behavior based on knowledge about the behavior
that an individual has (Fennis & Stroebe, 2016). The important relationship between
attitude and intention have been supported in buying organic products (Smith &
Paladino, 2010; Tarkiainen & Sundqvist, 2005). The finding is consistent with other
studies on organic personal care products, these studies show that a consumer’s attitude
substantially predicts a portion of their purchasing intention (Kim & Chung, 2011).
Furthermore, Gracia and De Magistris (2007) suggested that in term of organic

10


consumption behavior, environmental and health-related attitudes are particularly
significant, which are incorporated in this attitude variable. In Malaysia market,
consumers are more likely to have a positive attitude toward green food when they are
more concerned about the environmental issues and health consciousness
(Ueasangkomsate & Santiteerakul, 2016). According to repurchase case, the study on
the repurchase intentions of Korean cosmetics in Thailand (Wangwiboolkij, 2012),
attitude plays an important role in driving customer repurchase intentions. Another
research by Ghazali et al. (2017) and Nguyen et al. (2019) also found that a positive
connection between attitude and re-buying intention with organic cosmetics. Therefore,
the first hypothesis is that:
H1: Attitude positively affects to the consumer’s repurchase intention toward organic
cosmetics
2.4. Health Consciousness
According to Becker et al. (1977), health consciousness refers to the extent to which
consumers are willing to take healthy actions. Consumers who care about their health
and desire to maintain their quality of life are more inclined to engage in healthy
behavior (Newsom et al., 2005). Previous research has shown that health consciousness
is considered the most important reason to buy and consume organic foods because
consumers believe that organic foods will provide more health benefits than
conventional foods (Chu, 2018). Consumers who are concerned about their health may
examine if a product is safe for their bodies and skin when purchasing organic cosmetics,
therefore they may pay more attention to ingredients in organic cosmetics than
consumers who are less concerned about their health (Johri & Sahasakmontri, 1998).
Nevertheless, Kim and Chung (2011) found that health consciousness was the least
significant factor in predicting consumer’s attitude towards organic products. Moreover,
in term of Vietnamese market, Nguyen et al. (2019) also found that health consciousness
had a negative impact on the attitude of consumer in the case of organic cosmetics.

Besides, relied on the relevant literature of organic product consumption, a growing
number of studies has shown that health concerns are the main driver for consumers in
terms of attitudes, intentions, and buying organic produce (Magnusson et al., 2001; Chen,
11


2009). In the study of Tsakiridou et al. (2008), health awareness plays a role as a strong
motivator of Greek consumer awareness, attitudes and consumption towards organic
product. In another study of organic personal care product by Ghazali et al. (2017)
showed that consumer concerns regarding health are the key driving force in relation to
the attitude of organic product consumption. Furthermore, previous studies have also
shown that the more health-conscious consumers are, the more motivated they will be
too intent purchase organic products (Grankvist & Biel, 2001; Lockie et al., 2002).
According to Magnusson et al. (2003), health-related factors are considered as the most
impact on attitude and intention to buy organic food products. This has an important role
to play in enhancing intention to continue to purchase in the future. Relied on the review
of the past studies, the following research hypothesis has been proposed:
H2a: Health consciousness positively affects to the consumers’ attitude toward
repurchasing organic cosmetics.
H2b: Health consciousness positively affects to the consumer’s repurchase intention
toward organic cosmetics.
2.5. Environmental Consciousness
Regarding to Chan et al. (2000), environmental consciousness is defined as the level of
awareness and understanding about environmental issues, consumers tend to pay more
attention to product ingredients as well as production processes in their consumption
behavior. Organic cosmetics produced in a rigorous process without the use of pesticides,
synthetic chemicals, organic cosmetics are considered an environmentally friendly
product (Van Loo et al., 2013). Consumers who pay attention on the environment can
alter their purchase habits to help save the environment (Chase, 1991). Awareness of the
negative effects chemicals in conventional cosmetics can have on the environment

(either through drainage systems or from manufacturing plants) are increasing (Boxall
et al., 2012).
A variety of studies found that consumer attitudes and behaviors about green products
are strongly influenced by environmental consciousness (Paladino, 2005; Mostafa,
2007; Essoussi & Zahaf, 2008; Ishaswini & Datta, 2011). In the research of Chen and
Tung (2014), in order to predict the intentions of customers visiting a green hotel, this
12


study extended the TPB model by adding environmental consciousness, and they found
that environmental consciousness had a significant effect to three variables in TPB
model. Moreover, in the context of organic personal care product, both Kim and Chung
(2011) and Ghazali et al. (2017) also showed that environmental consciousness had an
important influence on predicting the consumers’ attitude. Besides, there have also been
numerous studies that suggest that environmental consciousness has a considerable
impact on the intention to buy eco-friendly or green products. Mostafa (2007) found that
environmental consciousness is a variable that has a strong impact on consumers’
attitudes and intentions in purchasing green products. According to Pagiaslis and
Krontalis (2014), environmental consciousness had a substantial impact on the
consumer intention to purchase toward electric vehicle (eco-friendly products).
Environmental consciousness is not only a prerequisite for the use of green products
(Van loo et al., 2013) but also plays significant role in determining consumer behavior
towards organic products (Paladio, 2005). The review of previous studies will be the
basis to help promote the effect of the environmental consciousness on the intention of
repurchase organic cosmetics. The following hypothesis can be proposed:
H3a: Environmental consciousness positively affects to the consumers’ attitude toward
repurchasing organic cosmetics.
H3b: Environmental consciousness positively affects to the consumer’s repurchase
intention toward organic cosmetics.
2.6. Safety Value

Perceived safety value refers to the degree to which consumers consider the use of the
product to be non-hazardous because it does not contain chemical ingredients (Bauer et
al., 2013). Furthermore, consumers can alter their purchasing habits in order to mitigate
the hazards they are aware of (Yeung & Morris, 2001). Traditional cosmetic products
normally include a variety of chemicals such as parabens, lead, and other toxic elements,
this leads to an increase in the risk of cancer, allergies, or respiratory diseases. One
example demonstrates the negative effects of personal care products, a category known
as cosmetics. According to Bross and Feeley (2016), daily use of shower gel or baby
powder from Johnson can cause ovarian cancer, which will be a wake-up call for
consumers in choosing safer products. Meanwhile, organic cosmetics are produced
13


without the use of chemical fertilizers, synthetic chemicals, and genetically modified
substances, these regulations will increase the safety for consumers in using the product.
In several studies, safety valve has been found to be one of the variables that positively
influences consumer attitudes toward organic products (Nguyen et al., 2019; Paksoy et
al., 2014). Moreover, a study on consumer behavior in Korea also found a connection
between food safety and the purchase of ecologically friendly agricultural products (Kim,
2007). The research results of Yin et al. (2010) showed that over 50% of consumers
responded that the reason that motivated them to use organic food for the first time was
that organic food contains no chemicals. In addition, the study of Ghazila et al. (2017)
demonstrated the positive effect of organic cosmetics ‘perception of safe value on
consumers’ intention to repurchase organic cosmetics. Therefore, a hypothesis is
proposed as below:
H4a: Safety value positively affects to the consumers’ attitude toward repurchasing
organic cosmetics.
H4b: Safety value positively affects to the consumer’s repurchase intention toward
organic cosmetics.
2.7. Familiarity

Familiarity with a product or service over a period of time plays an important role in
consumer decision-making (Desai & Hoyer, 2000; Tam, 2008). According to Alba and
Hutchinson (1987), familiarity as ‘‘the number of experiences related to a product that
have been accumulated by the consumer” (p.411). Consumer will become more familiar
with the product if they use it more often, the result of which will increase their buying
intent in the future (Flavia´ n et al., 2005). Furthermore, increased product or service
familiarity leads to a more “elaborated cognitive framework” with them (Alba &
Hutchinson, 1987; Mitchell & Dacin, 1996). Hence, consumers tend likely to rebuy the
same products or use the same services they did before.
According to previous research, product type familiarity, also known as previous
experience with a product category, has an impact on intentions to purchase (Kim &
Chung, 2011; D’Souza et al., 2006). According to Kim and Chung (2011), past
experience of consumer influences their purchase intention of organic shampoo and
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body lotion. This is similar with many studies that suggest that past experience,
particularly frequent past conduct, has a considerable impact on future behavior or
behavior intentions because past behavior leads to learning, which influences future
behavior (Mullen et al., 1987). Moreover, another previous researcher also confirmed
that when consumers have a high degree of familiarity with a certain product, they
respond more positively to their intention to repurchase that product (Soderlund, 2002).
Thus, hypothesis 5 is proposed as below:
H5: Familiarity positively affects to the consumer’s repurchase intention toward organic
cosmetics.
2.8. Expertise
Expertise is another major dimension of consumer knowledge (Alba & Hutchinson,
1987). According to Alba and Hutchinson (1987), expertise is defined “as the ability to
perform product tasks successfully” (p.411). Expertise is present through knowledge
categories such as product types, features, product usage, and product purchase

information.
Experts will judge the quality of products based on expert knowledge of internal
characteristics, internal cues. On the contrary, consumers will evaluate product quality
through product use so that they can accumulate knowledge about product features and
functions that they have been used. Consumers judge product quality differently than
experts in a product. Consumers will rely more on experience, familiarity with the
product to evaluate. As a result, the more specialized knowledge consumers have about
the product, the easier they will be to make purchasing decisions. When making product
choice decisions, the higher a consumer’s level of expertise, the more likely he or she is
to trust a product quality assessment (Golder et al., 2012). As of yet, no study has been
conducted on the association between consumer expertise in a product category and
repurchase intentions in that product category, and so no conclusions have been formed.
As product familiarity increases, consumers’ expertise about the product also increases
(Alba & Hutchinson, 1987). Furthermore, expertise is one of the dimensions of
consumer knowledge, it can influence consumer repurchase intentions of the respective
product category. Therefore, hypothesis 6 is proposed as below:
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H6: Expertise positively affects to the consumer’s repurchase intention toward organic
cosmetics.
2.9. Proposed research model
Based on the reviews of previous studies on factors affecting consumers intention to
repurchase organic cosmetics, the author would like to propose a research model
framework. Some specific intentions and reasons that the author would like to do
research for this model which will be briefly summarized below. Research on
consumers' intention to rebuy organic cosmetics is focused on two aspects: value and
knowledge that customers can accumulate after using the product. Organic cosmetics
are known to be a safe and healthy product to use because the ingredients used in the
product are of organic and natural origin and do not contain preservatives, synthetic

chemicals. In addition, the eco-friendly factor is a prominent feature of organic
cosmetics. Therefore, the value that consumers can perceive in organic cosmetics
focused by the author is: health consciousness, environmental consciousness, and safety
value. Consumers' perception of the value that they will receive after using the product,
it will be an important factor to evaluate the influence of these values on their intention
to continue buying. In previous studies on both the intention to purchase and repurchase
organic products, the researchers only focused on the influence of health consciousness,
environmental consciousness, and safety value on consumers' attitudes, thereby
assessing the influence on intention. In this study, the author not only studies the
influence of three values on attitude but also investigates in more detail the direct
influence of these three values on repurchase intention which has not been studied before.
On the other hand, consumer experience is also one of the important factors in driving
repurchase intention. In previous studies on organic products on repurchase intention,
consumer experience has not been focused much in the research direction. In this study,
the author wants to further investigate the influence of consumer familiarity and
expertise on repurchase intention. Familiarity and expertise are two main dimensions of
consumer knowledge. In the study of Kim and Chung (2011), the researcher used the
past experience factor with organic products to assess the impact on consumers'
purchase intention. However, the consumer experience used in the study by Kim and
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Chung (2011) is also based on the number of organic products they have used or
purchased. Consumer familiarity with a product will be based on the quantity of the
product that they have purchased and used. Because when customers are familiar with
the outstanding features of the product, they will be more motivated to continue buying
this product. With regard to consumer expertise with respect to intention to repurchase,
expertise here will be accumulated through the consumer's use of the product. When
consumers use organic cosmetics, they learn what salient features of the product make
them happy and make them intend to continue using that product more in the future.

Therefore, the two factors including familiarity and expertise that the author would like
to emphasize will be measured based on the use of the product, the consumer's
experience of the product in order to evaluate the influence of these two factors on the
purchase intention of consumers. The proposed research model is presented in Figure
2.2.

Figure 2.2. The proposed theorical model

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