Introduction
While sustainable consumption and ethical product choice have been broadly studied, the psychological determinants of intentions to purchase cruelty-free personal care products remain underexplored. Prior literature tends to focus on general ethical consumption or environmental behaviors (e.g. Magano et al., 2022) rather than cruelty-free products specifically. Drawing on Ajzen's Theory of Planned Behavior (1991), the present study integrates values, knowledge, and animal welfare concerns to fill this gap.
Purpose
This preliminary study aimed to test whether consumer knowledge, health-related values, and animal welfare concerns predict intentions to purchase cruelty-free products, while accounting for social desirability.
Method
Data were collected online from 201 Turkish adults (57.7% women; Mage = 35.8, SD = 11.3). Participants completed validated measures of knowledge, health values, animal welfare concerns, social desirability, and purchase intention. Multiple regression analyses were conducted.
Results
The model explained 75% of the variance in purchase intention (adj R² = .75). Knowledge emerged as the strongest predictor (β = .72, p < .001), followed by health values (β = .16, p < .001). Unexpectedly, animal welfare concerns were negatively associated with purchase intention (β = -.10, p = .012). Social desirability was non-significant.
Conclusions
These preliminary findings suggest that knowledge-based interventions and health-related appeals may be effective strategies to promote cruelty-free consumption. At the same time, the paradoxical negative role of animal welfare concerns highlights the need for further research into value conflicts in sustainable consumer behavior. This work contributes to applied psychology by addressing an underexplored area at the intersection of health, environmental, and economic psychology.