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Abstract
The growing demand for eco friendly consumption has prompted various experts to study the factors that influence organic food purchase. The majority of these studies are based on customers self-reports of their purchase behavior, which is investigated through expressed subjective norms. In Hong Kong, there is a dearth of understanding of the factors that influence organic food adoption. To bridge this imbalance, this study relied on self-reported evidence from 109 Hong Kong respondents. The factors of organic food intake are investigated by examining the influence of health consciousness, food safety concerns, and organic food knowledge on consumers willingness to purchase organic food. According to the findings, although health consciousness and food safety concerns have a beneficial impact on customer attitudes toward buying organic products, consumer knowledge about organic products has been demonstrated to have a significant impact on consumer attitudes towards buying organic food. Theoretical and practical consequences, as well as future research directions, are examined.
Introduction
Research Rationale
Since the late 20th century, there has been a significant change in attitude and desire towards the consumption of organic foods. Many people were unaware of organic food, but with increased technology, more than 80% of the world population is currently aware of organic foods and their value (Nica, 2020). With the increased incidence of lifestyle and behavior diseases such as heart disorders and diabetes, many consumers realize the significance of consuming quality food products free from toxins (Rana and Paul, 2017). This resulted in the motto You are what you eat, this perception increased the demand for organic food products, with consumers and producers putting efforts on eco-friendly food products.
Globally, there has been rising popularity on the nutritional value of organic foods. Many people are changing their attitudes regarding organic foods because of peoples expectations of organic food products (Pham et al., 2018). When quality product prices are lowered, many people tend to increase their purchases of the product. This applies to organic food products since their prices have greatly enhanced the change in consumer attitude. Many people prefer purchasing organic food products because they are cheap and have a significant value on peoples life (Hwang and Chung, 2019). Furthermore, many sellers increased their promotion of organic food products, and this awareness has attracted many consumers.
Research Aim
The aim of this research was to determine the factors that affect attitudes towards purchasing organic food in Hong Kong.
Research Question
The research question was to what extent do the safety concern, organic food knowledge, and health consciousness affect the consumers attitude towards purchasing organic food in Hong Kong?
Research objective
The research objective is to investigate the relationship between health consciousness, safety concern, and organic food knowledge to purchasing organic food in Hong Kong.
Literature Review
Conceptual Framework
Currently, buying and selling of organic products have increased rapidly. Many people are changing their diet from fast food to organic foods (Basha and Lal, 2019). The rising health challenges and the increased environmental degradation have favored the expansion of organic food consumption (Nguyen et al., 2019). However, many consumers have changed their consumption pattern of organic food because of their change in attitude. Figure 1 below is the conceptual framework that has been adapted from Nguyen et al., (2019).
Health Consciousness
Health consciousness portrays the consumers thoughts regarding their health and whether they are ready to take any action to ensure their wellbeing. Most consumers countercheck their health condition with the food products they consume (Lee, 2016). Many consumers perceive organic food products as safe and healthy. From the study conducted by Bryla, organic food consumers believe that they are very nutritious (BryBa, 2016). It is therefore noted that the health consciousness of the consumer greatly determines the consumption of organic food. However, the consumers health consciousness is irrelevant in predating the consumers attitude towards organic products. According to Lee (2016), health consciousness has less impact on forecasting the attitude of the consumer regarding organic foods. This gives the following hypothesis;
H1: Consumers health consciousness has a positive impact on their attitude towards buying organic food.
Food Safety Concern
From the study conducted by Wang, Shen, and Gao (2018), consumers have raised their concerns regarding food safety. Food safety has been an area of focus, considering that there have been incidences of fertilizers and chemicals that have traces of heavy metal coagulating on food crops (Pham et al., 2018). Many consumers associate food safety with the food production process, including antibiotics, fertilizers, pesticides, and artificial additives. Organic food products are considered safe because they are free from chemicals in food production (Rana and Paul, 2017). Many people are always keen on the type of food they are eating as they fear risking their lives by contracting chronic diseases that result from heavy metals such as cancer. This leads to the following hypothesis;
H2: Consumers food safety concern has a positive impact on their attitude towards buying organic food.
Organic Food Knowledge
Several researchers view awareness and knowledge of organic food as a determinant of consumers purchasing decisions. Some researchers argue that inadequate consumer knowledge concerning organic foods is a great barrier in purchasing organic food products (McReynolds, Gillan, and Naquin, 2017). This knowledge is crucial as it determines the consumers judging ability on the varieties of organic foods. The objective and subjective knowledge regarding organic food determine the consumers purchase ability (Wu, Zhou, and Chien, 2019). Consumers awareness of objective knowledge is essential as it enhances the subjective knowledge that drives the attitude towards purchasing organic food (Razeghi, Haghi, and Yunesian, 2018). The consumers understanding of organic food products positively impacts the purchasing decision. This results in the following hypothesis;
H3: Consumers organic food knowledge has a positive impact on their attitude towards buying organic food.
Research Methodology
Research Philosophy
This paper uses the philosophy of epistemology and ontology to attain the objectives and aim of the research. Ontology is a research philosophy that focuses on explaining the way things or objects in nature exist (Schiffer, 2019). The paper uses ontology research philosophy to explain the attitudes of the consumer regarding organic foods. Epistemology research philosophy aims to explain how data was gathered and the types of sources used to gather data (McKinnon, 2018). In this research, it is used to describe the way information regarding consumers attitudes was collected.
Research Approach
This research used the scientific deductive technique to examine the attitudes of consumers towards organic food. The deductive approach used structured questionnaires with reliable and valid measurements to collect primary data for hypothesis testing (Mooi, Sarstedt, and Mooi-Reci, 2017). The quantitative methodology is significant because it is easy to handle data and variables when performing linear model predictions.
Research Design
Questionnaire and Measures
The questionnaire adopted under this research consisted of two sections to collect the primary data (see Appendix 3). The first part focused on collecting demographic data. The second section consisted of questions that focus on testing the research hypotheses such as food safety concerns, health consciousness, and organic food knowledge. The measures in this research were the independent and dependent variables. The independent variable constituted the attitude of the consumer towards purchasing organic foods. A five-point Likert scale was used and was distributed as follows; 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, each representing strongly disagree, disagree, neutral, agree, and strongly agree, respectively. The dependent variables for the study comprised three items; health consciousness, food safety concern, and organic food knowledge.
The questionnaire used two languages in English and traditional Chinese, as people in Hong Kong have multicultural backgrounds, and with different languages, it provided an easy way to read and get the responses from the participants. Before publishing the online questionnaire pilot, testing was done to deliver a rehearsal of the research study, which allowed to test the research approach with a small number of test participants.
Sampling, Sample Size, and Participants
The paper used a non-probability sampling of snowball sampling method to select qualified individuals for participation in the questionnaire. Since there were three independent variables, the minimum case required was 74 based on the sample size was calculated using the formula N > 50 + 8m (where m = number of independent variables) which recommended by Tabachnik and Fidell (2013). The participants for this research study were parents and housewives who had considerable knowledge regarding health consciousness and safety concerns of food.
Data Collection
Data for this survey was collected from the questionnaire (see Appendix 3) uploaded to online forums such as the baby kingdom forum and beauty exchange forum. The questionnaire time was approximately 5 minutes to enable the respondents to complete the survey without any pressure. The Internet-based survey took place from the 27th of November to the 29th of November in 2021.
Key Research Ethics
Research ethics establishes rules for the ethical execution of research. The essential problems are the researchers behavior guidelines and moral questions to guarantee that no one is hurt or harmed as a result of study activity (Bell, Bryman, and Harley, 2018). The questionnaires structure and data gathering considered the participants right to comply with the surveys objective, right to cancel, and privacy and security. The questionnaire link, in particular, was distributed through the authors social media and email. During the internet questionnaire, respondents were told about how the data was kept anonymous, their right to privacy, and how to delete the data.
Data Analysis
Respondent Profile
The final effective sample based on the returned survey included 109 responses. Of these, 74 (31.2%) were female and 34 were male (31.9%), with 1 (0.9%) being invalid count. Additionally, the majority of the respondents 39(35.8%) were aged between 30-39 years, while 80(73.4%) were in employment. Based on income status, majority 31 (28.4%) earned in the range of $20,001-$30,000. Further, since most of the respondents were single 55 (50.5%), respondents that noted to have no children were 69 (63.3%). The demographic profile of the respondents is depicted in Table 1.
Table 4.1: The demographic profile of the respondents
As per the current population statistics as published by the statistica, the percentage of females in Hong Kong is 55.15% against male population of 44.85% (Textor, 2021). This ratio portrays that female are the majority in Hong Kong recent population census, which is reflected in this study sample. Based on the survey results of 2020 Annual Earnings and Hours Survey for Hong Kong city, the average earning per month was stated as $18400, which is slightly lower than the one provided by our sample (Census and Statistics Department [CSD], 2020). However, since the average wage reported was based on the results of 2020, and since there is a year-on-year median wage increase, it is hypothesized that it median wage is above the $20,000 mark, just as represented in this study sample (CSD, 2020).
Furthermore, as at August 2021, CSD demonstrated that the percentage of persons aged 20-29, 3039, 4049, 5059 and 60 and above was 11.9%, 15.2%, 15.5%, 15.8% and 13.91% respectively (CSD, 2021). However, since the current research study only focused on individuals within the age group of 18 and above, it can be claimed that the sample for this study resembles those of the Hong Kong age groups in the population. As per the marriage prevalence of the respondent in the sample (54.5%), showing a lower figure as compared to those based on Hong Kong, who are 18 years and above. Furthermore, the educational levels of the current research study sample are similar to those reported in earlier pro-ecofriendly studies in Vietnam, hence increased generalizability (Nguyen, Lobo, and Greenland, 2017; Ricci, Banterle, and Stranieri, 2018; He. et al., 2019; Chen et al., 2021; Hwang, Kim, and Gulzar, 2020; Fang, 2021; Ekasari, and Zaini, 2020). Generally, it is rational to contend that the sample above (see Table 1) fairly represents the entire population of Hong Kong. However, the demographic profiles were not established to be associated to any of the research variables; hence, they were omitted from any further analysis.
Reliability Test
Based on the guidelines suggested by Hair, Babin, and Black (2019) reliability testing employing Cronbachs alpha (±) were implemented to evaluate construct validity and reliability. According to Marla and Nell (2020), a commonly recognized internal consistency of 0.6-0.7 suggests an acceptable degree of dependability, while 0.8 or above implies a very excellent level of predictability. However, values higher than 0.95 are not necessarily good, since they might be an indication of redundancy. Moreover, values of 0.5 and below are unsatisfactory.
Based on the research study, the variables of food safety concern, health concern, organic food knowledge, and attitude towards buying organic food had had excellent internal consistency with 0.736, 0.869, 0.947, and 0.925, respectively (Hair, Babin and Black, 2019). From the analysis, though the variable of food safety concern had acceptable internal consistency, the other three variables had a near perfect reliability results (see Table 2). Since all the values were greater than 0.5, it is therefore realistic to determine that all the measures have decent internal consistency of reliability.
Table 4.2: Cronbachs reliability test results
Hypotheses Testing
A hypothesis test describes which research results may contribute to the refutation of the null hypothesis at a pre-specified level of statistical significance, while utilizing a pre-specified metric of divergence from that hypothesis (the test statistic, or goodness-of-fit measure). As per Jaccard and Jacoby (2020) to test for causality of a relationship of two quantitative variables, linear regression via correlation is important. Conversely, standard linear regression is often employed in research work involving cause-effect associations with more than two quantitative variables.
Therefore, multiple regressions were conducted to predict the level of attitude of towards buying organic food from the perspective of food concern, health concern, and organic food knowledge (see Table 4.3). In this case, the Pearson correlation coefficient, R value, was 0.327, signifying a low correlation among the independent and dependent variables (Chung-Yeung, 2020). The R2 value revealed 32.7% of the total variation in the attitude towards organic food, hence could slightly be used to elucidate food concern, health concern, and organic food knowledge (Marasinghe and Koehler, 2018; Mohd, 2018). From the analysis using ANOVA, the results showed that the data based on the variables food concern, health concern, and organic food knowledge were significant predictor of consumers attitude towards buying organic foods, F (3, 106) = 16.699, P =.000, R2 =.327, R2 adjusted =. 308. Further, the statistical significance p-value was indicated to be less than.0005 (p<.0005). With the low p values from some of the above analysis, there was a great indication that the independent variables had strong positive significance. For instance, the variable organic food knowledge recorded the highest beta value (² =.423, p =.000) than the other independent variables; food safety concern (² =.183, p =.071) and health concern ((² =.056, p =.611), hence strong positive significance. Moreover, the relationships between attitude towards buying organic food and food safety as well as health concern were statistically positive significant (² = 0.183, p > 0.05, p=0.071) and (² = 0.056, p > 0.05, p=0.611), respectively. In this case, organic food knowledge was provided the strongest significant predictor of consumer attitude towards buying organic food, ² =.423, t = 4.175, p=.000). The unstandardized coefficient revealed that for every extra addition of organic food knowledges point increased the attitude of the consumer of the organic food by a mean score of nearly.33 points (² =.327), as one holds the other independent variables constant.
Moreover, statistically significance through a positive association of food safety concern (² =.183, t =1.823, p=.071), showed that an increase in one level of the food safety concern could not correspond or predict, on average, to the increase in consumer attitude with a score of.26 points (² =.257). Also, health concern had a significant anticipation on consumers attitude towards organic foods (² =.056, t =.5110, p =.611). In this case, an increase in one level of the health concern match, on average, with a rise in attitude of the customers towards buying of organic food with score of 0.072 points (² =.072).
Table 4.3: Multiple Regression_Food safety concern, Health concern, Organic food knowledge
Table 4.4: Summary of the Findings
From the table above (see Table 4.4), only the hypothesis three, H3: Consumers organic food knowledge has a positive impact on their attitude towards buying organic food was supported. This shows that organic food knowledge can positively influence the attitude of the consumers on purchasing organic food but not their health consciousness or food safety concerns.
Discussion
This research has constructed and verified a model incorporating essential parts of multiple theories to describe consumer purchasing of no any particular of organic food. The survey results suggest that such an integrated model is beneficial in forecasting purchase behavior of such ecofriendly items as organic food in the perspective of growing cities such as Hong Kong (Sia, and Jose, 2019). The necessity of future study into organic food purchasing in underdeveloped and evolving nations has been stressed in the literature (Pham et al., 2018; Prakash, Singh, and Yadav, 2018; Clark, and Tilman, 2017). A major result in this research involves the attitude-behavior imbalance in the area of organic food buying behavior. That is, Hong Kongs customers sentiments towards buying organic food are not considerably converted into their end user buying behavior.
Although this result lowers the impact of attitudes in driving organic food expenditures, which has been reported in multiple studies, it validates the attitude-behavior gap in a novel study environment, for example, organic foods buying in Hong Kong (Ali, 2021; Testa, Sarti, and Frey, 2019). This gap might be linked to the increased price of organic food products. Similar to past work, for instance, AschemannWitzel and Zielke (2017), the data suggest that price barriers significantly impact customer purchase regularity of organic food. Specifically, customers think that food is excessively costly and such a high price poses a hurdle to their buying behavior. This may be justified by the pervasive financial restrictions of customers in developing nations (Mkhize and Ellis, 2020).
This research has also added to the results of previous studies by conducting a complete examination of the numerous drivers of attitudes toward the purchasing of organic foods. In line with existing research, which suggests that health awareness, food safety sensitivity, and organic food literacy all considerably enhance attitudes toward buying organic food, the results of this study confirm this (Nagaraj, 2021; Wang et al., 2019; Hsu, Chang, and Lin, 2019; Singh, and Verma, 2017; Kushwah, Dhir, and Sagar, 2019; Lee, 2016). One notable finding is that organic food knowledge had the highest possible influence on views among the variables. Because of the optimal level of knowledge about organic food indicated by the respondents in this survey, it is possible that this conclusion is accurate.
Thus, the respondents did fully comprehend the distinctive advantages and qualities of organic food, which may have had a significant influence on their views about purchasing the product. It is also noteworthy that health concerns have the poor effect on peoples perceptions (David, 2020). As shown by many researchers, people who live in impoverished nations like developing and emerging markets (for example, Hong Kong) are less likely to consider health quality when making a purchasing choice (Janssen, 2018; Qi, and Ploeger, 2019). In part, this result may be driven by the fact that the survey participants were urban consumers, with the vast majority of them earning between medium and high incomes. These customers are less likely to be concerned about the health issue than other consumers as they already have the knowledge of the same products. As a result, extra care should be used when extrapolating this data to the whole country of China. In addition, the findings may indicate that Hong Kongs consumers are more concerned about the food safety, as seen by their purchasing choices linked with health concerns items such as organic produce.
Theoretical Implications
The current study addressed the issue of how consumer health awareness, food safety concern, and organic food knowledge and how they are connected with consumers attitude towards purchasing organic food by investigating customer engagement as a mediating mechanism in the stated correlations. Previous study has shown that consumers high degree of engagement in the development of certain items is substantially correlated with their desire to acquire such products (Tandon et al., 2020). Liu, Zhang, and Keh (2019) discovered that customer participation served as a mediating variable in the interactions between comparable characteristics, which is consistent with previous finding (Zhao, Yan, and Keh (2018).
According to our findings, customers who are very concerned about their health and the safety of their food are more likely to be engaged in the purchase of healthy and organic foods, and they are more likely to express a desire to purchase such high-quality foods in the future. Das, Chatterjee, and Pal, (2020) and Alnawas, and Hemsley-Brown (2018) discovered that customers who are concerned about food safety issues such as the natural quality of foods, foods that are devoid of artificial components, and foods that are not contaminated with chemicals are more likely to purchase healthy and organic foods. In a similar vein, Yadav and Pathak (2016) discovered that consumers who are more concerned about their health are more active in expressing their intentions to purchase healthier organic foods. Furthermore, our research discovered that ecological motivation is a significant moderating variable in the interactions between consumer health awareness, purchase intents, and food safety concerns. Hence, the results indicated the linkages are strong when attitudinal motives are high (Ali, and Anwar, 2021; Groening, Sarkis, and Zhu, 2018; Reczek, Trudel, and White, 2018; Sobuj et al, 2021). It is possible that the relationship between consumer health consciousness, organic food knowledge, as well as the connection between purchaser food safety issues and buying behavior toward organic food, is better for consumers who have high attitude or motivations, which could explain our findings.
Organic, healthful, and environmentally friendly food refers to food that does not have a harmful impact on the both the health and the environment in any form whatsoever. The phrase organic refers to such product as apples, berries and veggies, and beef and pork that have been cultivated with regard for the eco-system and human health in mind. Customers who are more concerned about their health or who have strong health-related attitude are more likely to purchase organic food, according to previous research. For instance, since safety of food has a direct connection to the environment in which they are produced. Birch, Memery, and Kanakaratne (2018) revealed that customers who are more concerned about the environment or who have strong environmental motivations are more likely to purchase organic food, hence food safety concerns. Therefore, as a follow-up to previous studies undertaken in a different context, this study investigated the regulating role of attitude in reinforcing the associations between end user health consciousness and food safety issues, as well as organic food knowledge.
Practical Implication
According to the findings of this study, brand managers, legislators, organic food groups, and social and environmental organizations who are working to develop intervention measures aimed at encouraging Hong Kong consumers to buy organic foods should take note of several significant implications. Based on the study, the research is believed to have substantial management implications for companies and decision makers involved in the organic food industry. For example, our research discovered a positive correlation between consumer health consciousness and their participation in expressing their motives to purchase organic food; as a result, sales leaderships in the enterprise of organic food can specifically identify this portion of customers (Abdul, 2017; Sharma, Rangarajan, and Paesbrugghe, 2020). In a comparable fashion, our study reveals that customers with significant food safety considerations may be prioritized for the sale of organic and hygienic foods. Furthermore, organizations and stakeholders should place greater emphasis on their environmental laws in their fresh produce marketing efforts, since customers environmental and economic intentions are a key modulating component (Naidoo and Gasparatos, 2018; Servera-Francés and Piqueras-Tomás, 2019). Therefore, this research should be rewarded accordingly since it contains figures that points towards environmental management.
Ultimately, the characteristics found in our study that influence consumers buy attitude for healthy and organic foods are of significant value to leaders and companies since they can be used to change their promotion efforts and increase their brand awareness, hence sales volume. In the case of organic food knowledge and food safety products, for example, because our research demonstrates a favorable association between consumer involvement and buying attitude, brand promotional executives can make more targeted initiatives to engage their consumers in order to increase their sales of organic and healthy food stuffs.
Limitation and Future Research
Despite its many advantages, this study also has certain drawbacks, which may be divided into four major categories. First and for
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