Factors determining the intention to use Malaysian Dietary Guidelines among university students in Malaysia

Abstract

The objective of this study is to examine factors influencing the intention to use Malaysian Dietary Guidelines (MDG) as a source of reference for healthy eating among university students in Malaysia. The Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) was used as the main theoretical framework and the present study examined the influence of four predictor variables (namely attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioural control and perceived risk) on the intention to use the MDG. A total of 218 respondents participated in the study. To test the framework, the present study employed the Partial Least Squares (PLS) method for data analysis. The four predictor variables explained 24.5% of the variance in intention to use the MDG among university students in Malaysia. Furthermore, the result showed that three predictors; namely attitude, subjective norm and perceived risk, were the major contributors of the intention to use the MDG. Of the three, the present study found attitude to be the most significant predictor of intention to use the MDG. The relationship between perceived behavioural control and the intention to use the MDG was however, not supported.