3857 15606 1 PB PDF
3857 15606 1 PB PDF
3857 15606 1 PB PDF
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products, types and volume of organic products consumed, common places to shop for the products as well as other
characteristics that may provide better picture about the consumers within Klang Vallev in Malaysia.
1.1 Objective of Study
This objective of this study is generally to understand the attitude of local consumers on their intention towards buying
organic food product. These consumers are among those who have experience consuming or buying organic products
and those who never purchase any organic products. Specifically the study aims to:
a. report the descriptive analysis on the respondents’ demographic characteristics in regard to organic products;
b. examine factors that influence purchase intention of organic food among consumers
The ultimate goal was to better understand consumer motivations for buying organic food products so that organic
producers could develop more effective strategic marketing planning. The results could be used for the marketing
planning of organic food products to enable proper marketing strategies, a proper sales channel and promotion to be
targeted to these groups of consumers.
2. Literature Review
Researches on consumers’ attitude towards the use of chemical substance in agriculture were explored as early as in
1965 (Bearler and Willits, 1968). This marked the beginning of the era when human beings were becoming more
concerned with preserving the environment. However, given the need to expand the production in agricultural sector to
ensure continuous supply of food, the use of pesticides and other chemical substance is hard to resist. Perhaps, green
product industry could be deemed as the ideal solution to this problem. The growth of organic agriculture is seen as part
of the emerging marketing trends where consumers demand to know what benefits a food could deliver before making a
purchasing decision. Given the various factors that influence the intention to purchase organic products, it is necessary
to examine which of the factors give the strongest effects.
2.1 Belief on the Safety and Health Aspects of Organic Products
Research related to consumer attitudes and preferences for organic products is very unnoticeable (Chinnici et al., 2002).
Results of studies confirmed that consumers have positive attitudes towards organic products where one of the most
common mentioned reason for purchasing organic products was it is perceived as healthier than conventional
alternatives (Chinnici et al., 2002; Harper and Makatouni, 2002). Consumers do not always buy sustainable products as
consequences of environmental concern or to benefit the community or due to personal beliefs but mainly to give
priority to health (Vermeir and Verbeke, 2004). Based on the previous evidence that implies the positive relationship
between people’s belief that organic product is good for their safety and health, the following hypothesis is forwarded:
Hypothesis 1: The more people believe that consuming organic products as safe and healthy, the higher their intention
to purchase organic products.
2.2 Belief on the Friendliness of Organic Products to the Environment
In Malaysia, as reported in its 9th Malaysia Plan (2006), the use of chemical and hazardous substances showed an
increase, particularly in the agricultural sector. The volume of fertilizers used increased from 2.2 million tones in 2001
to 4.0 million tones in 2004. Through Skim Akreditasi Ladang Malaysia (SLAM) and Skim Organik Malaysia (SOM),
government has introduced better farming practices to reduce the use of chemicals and hazardous substances. Given the
high awareness on preserving the environment, consumers welcome any efforts that seek to apply environmental
friendly farming practices. Consumers are getting more concerned with the consumption of chemical substance used in
farming and as contended by Crosby, Gill and Taylor (1981), environmental concern is a strong attitude towards
preserving the environment. Given the high concern, the behavioural intention of consumers is somehow influenced.
Based on this evidence, the hypothesis is proposed:
Hypothesis 2: The more people believe that organic product farming as environmental friendly, the higher their
intention to purchase the products.
2.3 Perception of Organic Product Worth of Purchase
In the international literature one can find a large body of research regarding consumers’ willingness to pay for
environmental friendliness and/or quality/safety in food production (Harris et al., 2000; Goldman et al., 1991; Lea et al.,
2005) as well as for non-food products (Laroche et al., 1996). Perhaps the most convincing evidence supporting the
growth of ecologically favourable consumer behaviour is the increasing number of individuals who are willing to pay
more for environmentally friendly products (M.harris, 2007). Some researchers have found that organic food consumers
are less likely to consider price as important compared to whose consumers who don’t and never purchase organic
products before (Yiridoe, et al, 2005). It thus expected that price could be one factor that influences people’s intention
to consume organic product. The following hypothesis is therefore forwarded:
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Hypothesis 3: The more people perceive the worth of buying organic products, the higher the intention to purchase the
products.
2.4 Availability of Organic Product Information
Empirical evidence shows that consumer’s difficulty in locating environmentally directed products is partly due to lack
of information (Brown 2003). Several studies have identified that lack of organic food availability in store is considered
as one of the barriers to consumer purchase (Beardworth et.al., 2002; Davies, 1995). Market maven are defined as
“individuals who have information about many kinds of products, place to shop and other facets of market and initiate
discussion with consumers and respond to requests form consumers about market information” (Feick and Price 1987).
Interaction between consumers with positive believe and attitude and high market mavenship and high product
availability might create a favourable attitude towards purchase behaviour, which would result in a stronger intention to
purchase leading to a higher purchase of organic food products. The argument has led to the formation of the following
hypothesis:
Hypothesis 4: The more information that people have about organic products, the higher the intention to purchase the
products.
This paper presents the results conducted with buyers who come and purchases at specified supermarket which is
certain to sell organic food. Again, to be highlighted the objective of this paper is to gain knowledge about consumers’
attitude towards organic food products. To that end, attitude, knowledge on government action, perception towards
organic food, belief about organic food, knowledge of organic food product availability and intention of buying organic
food were studied with a sample of 177 respondents.
3. Research Design
3.1 Sample for the Study and the Measurement Instruments
The survey was conducted using mall-intercept personal survey. Potential respondents were approached while they
were shopping in supermarkets located in 3 different locations within Klang Valley. Prior to the data collection, the
availability of organic food product within these locations was confirmed. The respondents were requested to fill up the
questionnaire and to return it back immediately to the researcher. As a result, a total of 177 questionnaires were
collected. The questionnaire was designed especially to elicit consumers’ buying pattern and their views on organic
products. The first section asked the respondents’ frequency in buying organic product, shopping places, the type of
organic products bought and the reasons for buying. Some of the items used in this section were adapted from Batt et al.,
(1999), Brown (2003). The next section asked on the respondents views on various aspects of organic products. The
items in this section were measured using 5-point Likert scale (1 is low and 5 is high). Most items used in this section
were adapted from (Davies, 1995). Other items in the questionnaire were developed by the researchers based on the
consumers’ buying behaviour in Malaysia.
3.2 Data Analyses
The data obtained from the survey were factor analyzed in order to summarize the large number of items into smaller
underlying factors. A factor analysis using Principal Component extraction was performed. The factor analysis output is
reported in Table 1.
<< Insert Table 1>>
Based on the factor analysis output, the factors were labelled after some items were deleted in order to reach the
minimum coefficient alpha of 0.7. In order to test the hypotheses, Pearson correlation tests were used using SPSS
package version 15.0.
4. Analyses of Findings
4.1 Demographic Analysis of the Respondents
One hundred and seventy seven respondents participated in the survey. Majority were female (63.8%) and their ages
ranged between 18 to 50 years and above. The mean of age for the sample was 35.5 years old. The sample was
predominantly Malays (46.3%) followed Chinese (34.5%), Indians (11.3%) and the remaining 7.3% were from other
races. Most respondents (38.4%) were married with kids and 88.1% indicated that they have no chronic illnesses. Table
2 demonstrated the summary of sample demographics. Two questions on chronic illness were asked at the end of the
demographic questionnaire section. It was found that 11.4% of the respondents were diagnosed with chronic illness and
the remaining 88.6% were not. The other part of the section asking the respondents on chronic illness among family
members and result identified that 44.3% of the respondents’ family members has a history of suffering from chronic
illness.
<<Insert Table 2>>
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the introductory stage where not all many people are aware about. The interest to conduct this study is to have better
understanding among urban Malaysian consumers’ choice of food products. This helps to distinguishes shoppers at
different point including those who buy no organic food. Many studies indicated that one major factor that considered to
be the barrier to organic food consumption is its price (Fotopoulos and Krystallis, 2002; McEachern and McClean,
2002). In this present study, women were more likely than men to agree that they would purchase more organic foods if
they were less expensive and more available. As mentioned by Beardworth et al. (2002) this is commonly assumed the
role of women and the household food purchasers and “gatekeepers”.
Consumers perceived organic food contain health benefits contribute as an important attributes in this study. Most
respondent among buyers of organic food believed that organic food is healthier compared to conventional grown food.
This is consistent with previous study (Chinnici et al., 2002; Pearson, 2002) that discovered health and the natural
content of food have been found to be essential in food choices of organic consumers. In this study respondents also
perceived that organic food products as environmentally friendly contribute, which accord with previous research that
found out that environmental concerns and perceived environmental benefits are related to positive organic food
attitudes (Harper and Makatouni, 2002 and Lockie at al., 2002).
Given the broad range of possible factors that influences organic food decision making, there are others that might
considered as barriers to organic food consumption among Malaysian instead of price. For instance, knowledge on
organic food as well as action taken by the government either to inform or to create awareness has not reach the
satisfactory level in encouraging sustainable consumption with organic food. Therefore, knowing how consumer
perceived organic food product by understanding the reasons of buying would probably help the marketers of organic
food to establish a proper communication message. Hopefully the intended message would be appealing for consumers
who fall within the same category of buyers who exhibit their interest towards organic food products. In addition,
education of consumers must become one of the first objectives for organic producers. An important task is to increase
the consumers’ knowledge what organic products are all about and how to differentiate it in the market place. Research
also showed that some group of consumers (category 4, 5 and 6) have more positive attitude toward organic products
and they exhibit an increase willingness to pay higher prices for these products. For such reason, marketing strategies
for organic food product must be targeted towards those segments of consumers most appreciative of the positive
attributes of organic food.
References
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Table 1. Rotated Component Matrix for All Items
Factors and items Factor loading
Factor 1: Intention to Purchase Organic Products
Eigenvalues: 6.554
Cumulative Variance Explained: 23.789 per cent
Cronbach’s Coefficient Alpha: 0.912
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Age
18-24 25 14.1
25-30 35 19.8
31-40 67 37.9
41-50 34 19.2
51 and above 15 8.5
Marital Status
Single 67 37.9
Married 34 19.2
Married with kids 68 38.4
Level of Education
Diploma 37 20.9
Bachelor 56 31.6
Master 39 22.0
PhD 4 2.3
Professional 10 5.6
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Category 1: I have never bought organic foods and I 36 20.3 Non buyer
am not thinking about buying organic foods now
Category 2: I have never bought organic foods and I 49 27.7 Non buyer
am thinking about buying organic foods sometimes
in the near future
Category 3: I have never bought organic foods and I 4 2.3 Non buyer
am definitely planning to buy organic foods in the
future
Category 4: I used to buy organic foods, but I no 33 18.6 Started again buyers
longer buy them, I might start buying them again
Category 5: I buy organic foods, but not regularly 46 26 Occasional buyer
Category 6: I buy organic foods on most trips to 7 4 Regular buyer
marketplace
Table 4. Buying Score of Organic Products among Buyers in Categories 4, 5 and 6
Types of Organic Food Purchased of > 50% Purchased of < 50%
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75
50
Count
25
57 20 9 3 2 85
others
conventional supermarket
NA
natural and whole food supermarket
6.86%
46.86%
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1.0
0.8
0.4
0.2
0.0
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0
Observed Cum Prob
Scatterplot
4
Regression Standardized Residual
-2
-4
-6
-3 -2 -1 0 1 2
Regression Standardized Predicted Value
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