Relationships among Knowledge of Healthy Food, Health Concern, and Behavioral Intention: Evidence from the United States and South Korea

Abstract

This study explores the correlations among knowledge of healthy food, heath concern, and behavioral intention among college students. This study also examines the perception of these factors by students in the United States and South Korea. This study employed a distribution of 630 questionnaires, of which 550 (203 from the United States and 347 from South Korea) represent the dataset for analysis. The findings show that knowledge of healthy food had a significant effect on behavioral intention and positively affected health concern among college students in the United States and South Korea. In addition, health concern has a significant impact on college students’ behavioral intention. Results also showed that the links among the three constructs were consistently important to the participating college students. Additionally, the moderating effect of culture differences on knowledge of healthy food and behavioral intention were observed.

Keywords:

• behavioral intention
• college students
• health concern
• knowledge of healthy food

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

This study was supported by Kyngsung University Research grants in 2012.