Influence of Traffic Lights Food Labeling on Consumer Purchase Intention of Confectionery Items in Sri Lanka - With Special Emphasis to Consumers in Western Province

Abstract

This study aims to analyse the effects of Traffic Light Food Labelling (TLFL) on the purchasing behavior of confectionary consumers and to make TLFL more effective. Today, obesity and other non-communicable health problems are caused by unhealthy food patterns among people. The research highlights the relationship between TLFL’s dimensions and the decision to purchase confectionary concerning Sri Lankan consumers. By considering contemporary literature, three independent variables were selected as ease of understanding, usefulness, and visual appeal as having a relationship with purchase intention and the same constructs were chosen as independent variables were used un formulate the conceptual framework with the dependent variable as customer purchase intention towards confectionary products. The researchers took positivism as an epistemological standpoint and the research was designed accordingly. A survey was conducted with 384 participants from the Western Province with collecting quantitative data. The testing of the hypothesis was performed using Pearson chi-square for asymptotic significance. The study concluded that TLFL's understanding, usefulness and visually appealing have a strong positive effect on the consumer's decision to buy confectionary. By considering the factors that can influence consumer buying decisions, packaging can be considered one of the most crucial factors that can make it more efficient. Based on the key findings, recommendations made were to improve the effectiveness of TLFL on confectionary labels with added detail and to increase consumer awareness of TLFL