The melamine milk scandal caused a crisis of confidence in food containing dairy products. The purpose of this paper is to explore the determinants of precautionary behaviour to avoid food containing dairy products among Taiwanese college students.
Of the total respondents selected using a multistage cluster sampling plan, 1,213 respondents completed the questionnaire.
The survey results showed that subjective norms, attitude, perceived behavioural control, attention to news, and perceived credibility of information are significantly associated with the intention to take precautionary behaviour.
The paper developed a modified theory of planned behaviour (TPB) that focused on attention and perceived credibility of milk scandal‐related information as additional determinants of precautionary behaviour to avoid food containing dairy products. The inclusion of attention and perceived credibility of information constructs enabled a better model fit than that of the TPB model.
