The mediating role of attitudes towards vegan products between consumer sensitivity and customer responses

In this thesis, it is aimed to provide insights for the impact of factors such as animal welfare, environmental awareness, health awareness and social influence on consumers' attitude towards the consumption of vegan products. In addition to these insights, this study also aimed to examine the mediating effect of attitude towards the consumption of vegan products, which is exposed to the influence of these factors, on involvement with vegan products, word-of-mouth communication and purchasing intention for vegan products. In line with this purpose, the hypotheses for the study were developed and the proposed model was developed accordingly. To be able to test the research model, an online survey has been conducted to 455 consumers who consume vegan products. As a result of the analyses, it was determined that consumers' awareness towards animal welfare, environmental sensitivity levels and their social effects on other consumers had a positive effect on their attitudes towards the consumption of vegan products, while their health sensitivity did not have a significant effect on the attitude towards the consumption of vegan products. In addition, it has been found that consumers' attitudes towards the consumption of vegan products has a positive effect on customer response and that sensitivity to animal welfare has a mediating effect on the relationship between social influence and customer response. It was determined that the attitude towards vegan products did not have a mediating effect in the relationship between environmental sensitivity, health sensitivity and customer response.