Drivers of organic food purchase intentions in mainland China – evaluating potential customers' attitudes, demographics and segmentation

Abstract

This research aims to investigate the important attitudes, demographics and segmentation of potential consumers' purchase intentions of organic food in urban China. The survey instrument was designed based on validated measures and three focus group interviews. Data were collected at supermarkets in the major cities which yielded 935 usable responses. The 23 attributes that measured attitudes were factor analysed and five dimensions were generated. Of these, the strongest dimension was 'Certification' which accounted for 24.7% of the total variance of 58.4% explained by the five dimensions. This dimension included food safety, government regulations and correct labelling. Chinese consumers are highly concerned about food safety issues relating to personal health. The findings also revealed that gender, age and educational level had no significant relationship in influencing the purchase intentions. However, income, attitudes and pre-purchase intentions all demonstrated weak to moderate significant correlations with purchase intentions of organic food. Gender moderated the relationship between attitudes and purchase intentions. Finally, a cluster analysis was performed which generated three distinct clusters, which we named safety conscious, gastronomes and sceptics. The distinctive features of the profiles of these three clusters are discussed in the paper. The findings of this study have important implications to all stakeholders of the organic food industry, in particular to foreign firms that intend to export organic food to China.

The consumer of food products in organic markets of central Mexico

“…These results are consistent with those found in several other studies in which the largest proportion of consumers of organic food found in street and organic markets are women (Çabuk et al, 2014;Chen et al, 2014;Mohamada et al, 2014;Van Loo et al, 2014;Wu et al, 2014).…”

“…The name of this group was chosen because these consumers have the lowest scores for most factors in relation to the other groups. Chen et al (2014) identified different groups of consumers and named them as: "Consumers aware of safety"; this type of consumers are interested in certifications, coinciding with the "Conscious consumers interested in certifications"; "Gastronomic consumers"; this group pays attention to the country of origin of the products, something that was not included in the questionnaires used in this work; and "Skeptical consumers", which have a similar behaviour to the "Unconscious opportunistic consumers", but differ in that sceptical consumers attach the greatest importance to social status. Tsourgiannis et al (2015) identified other groups: "Curious consumers", who consume organic wine just for prestige and curiosity; "Opportunistic consumers" who are not influenced by any particular factor, and are very similar to the "Unconscious opportunistic consumers"; and "Conscious consumers", who are interested in buying these products because they are free of additives, do not damage the environment and have nutritional value, coinciding with the first two groups identified in this work.…”

“…However, the participation of men should not be set aside (Díaz Víquez et al, 2015;Chen et al, 2014;Van Loo et al, 2014 …”

“…These results are similar to those of Díaz Víquez et al (2015), who report that 54 per cent of the people in their sample had university studies. Chen et al (2014) mention that 80 per cent of consumers of organic food found in street markets are professionals, and Stolz et al (2011) report that more than 50 per cent the people in their sample had university studies.…”

Organic Food Awareness in Turkey

“…It is focused on the researches that purchase of organic foods can be seen as an action motivated by beliefs about healthiness, about animal welfare and food safety, about the environmental care, and about the way the product is produced. (Chen et al, 2014;Çabuk et al, 2014;Mohamad et al, 2014;Manuela et al, 2013;Sangkumchalian and Huang, 2012;Shafie and Rennie, 2012;Hjelmar, 2011;Maya et al, 2011;Michaelidou and Hassan, 2010;Zander and Hamm, 2010;Arvola et al, 2008;Gracia and Magistris, 2008;Schobesberger et al, 2008;Wadoloswka et al, 2008). Additionally, a growing interest in organic food has prompted many studies comparing aspects of organic food because other sensory attributes such as nutritive value, taste, freshness and appearance also affect consumer preference (Probst et al, 2012;Hjelmar, 2011;Michaelidou and Hassan, 2010;Alizadeh et al, 2008;Wier et al, 2008;Kihlberg and Risvik, 2007).…”