The Impact of Agricultural Food Retailers’ ESG Activities on Purchase Intention: The Mediating Effect of Consumer ESG Perception

In recent years, climate issues have become a common challenge for all mankind. It is urgent and important to protect the environment, promote green transformation, and realize sustainable development. Consequently, increasing attention is being paid to ESG (environmental, social, and governance) actions. This study empirically investigated the effect of companies’ ESG activities on the ESG perceptions and purchase intentions of agricultural food consumers in Hebei Province, China, using structural equation modeling. The results of the study show that, firstly, the environmental and social factors of ESG activities had a significant positive effect on consumer ESG perception while governance had a non-significant effect on consumer ESG perception. Secondly, the environmental, social, and governance components of ESG activities had a significant positive effect on purchase intention. Thirdly, there was a significant mediating effect of consumer ESG perception (environmental and social, excluding governance). The theoretical contribution of this study is to reveal the important role of consumers’ ESG perceptions and to emphasize the unique contribution of governance factors in purchase intentions. In addition, this study supports the effect of ESG activities on agri-food consumer behavior through empirical data, which provides a new theoretical perspective on agri-food retailers’ ESG practices and helps to further promote the green transformation of Chinese agricultural food retailers.