Article information: Access to this document was granted through an Emerald subscription provided by Emerald Author Access

Transcription

1 British Food Journal Emerald Article: Attitudinal inconsistency food in relation to purchasing intention and behavior: An illustration of Taiwan consumers Shih-Jui Tung, Ching-Chun Shih, Sherrie Wei, Yu-Hua Chen Article information: To cite this document: Shih-Jui Tung, Ching-Chun Shih, Sherrie Wei, Yu-Hua Chen, (2012),"Attitudinal inconsistency food in relation to purchasing intention and behavior: An illustration of Taiwan consumers", British Food Journal, Vol. 114 Iss: 7 pp Permanent link to this document: Downloaded on: References: This document contains references to 56 other documents To copy this document: permissions@emeraldinsight.com Access to this document was granted through an Emerald subscription provided by Emerald Author Access For Authors: If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service. Information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit for more information. About Emerald With over forty years' experience, Emerald Group Publishing is a leading independent publisher of global research with impact in business, society, public policy and education. In total, Emerald publishes over 275 journals and more than 130 book series, as well as an extensive range of online products and services. Emerald is both COUNTER 3 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. *Related content and download information correct at time of download.

2 The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at Attitudinal inconsistency toward organic food in relation to purchasing intention and behavior An illustration of Taiwan consumers Shih-Jui Tung Graduate Institute of Bio-Industry Management, National Chung-Hsing University, Taichung, Taiwan Ching-Chun Shih Department of Beauty Science, Chienkuo Technology University, Changhua, Taiwan Sherrie Wei Department of International Business Administration, Chienkuo Technology University, Changhua, Taiwan, and Yu-Hua Chen Department of Bio-Industry Communication and Development, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan Inconsistency food 997 Received 9 December 2010 Revised 20 March 2011 Accepted 28 March 2011 Abstract Purpose This study aims to examine the attitudinal inconsistency among Taiwanese consumers agriculture/food, and its relationship to their willingness to pay a premium and purchase for organic product. Design/methodology/approach A telephone survey consisting of 913 households was made to reach an estimated 3.3 percent sampling error with 95 percent confidence level. Findings It was found that those who were female, who had higher occupation prestige, who had college education levels, who were aged in their 40s, and who possessed an optimistic opinion toward the necessity of organic farming tend to pay a premium for and buy organic food. The majority of Taiwanese respondents showed a high level of concern about pesticides but a low trust in organic food, which revealed an attitudinal inconsistency agriculture/food. A multiple discriminant analysis with a moderating variable shows that consumers trust in organic food and their pesticide concern jointly explain the respondents willingness to pay a premium and purchasing behavior. The influence of consumers pesticide concern on their willingness to pay a premium and purchase actually depends on their levels of trust. Originality/value As a whole, lack of trust and confusing organic product certification levels is the main barrier to Taiwan s organic agriculture development. Further communication and policy modification is needed to reinforce consumers confidence in organic agriculture/food. Keywords Organic agriculture, Organic foods, Consumer attitudes, Willingness to pay a premium, Buying behaviour, Trust, Consumer behaviour, Taiwan Paper type Research paper British Food Journal Vol. 114 No. 7, 2012 pp q Emerald Group Publishing Limited X DOI /

3 BFJ 114,7 998 Introduction With the remarkable rise of global organic agriculture and environmentally friendly-oriented food industry, recently organic-product providers, policymakers have an increasingly large stake in consumers attitudes agriculture/food, intention to pay a premium, and the consequent buying behavior. This stake remains despite the manifested controversies and contradictions over the safety and quality of organic food in contrast with conventionally grown products (Grunert and Juhl, 1995; Allen and Kovach, 2000; Magkos et al., 2006). It is generally postulated that consumers attitudes toward a product are of importance in predicting their purchase intention and behavior. The well-known Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) supports this contention by positing that attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control, jointly determine one s behavioral intentions and consequently lead to actual behavior. This theory sheds light on the complex interrelationship between attitudes, intention, and consequent behavior, and it has been applied in several green consumption studies (e.g. Kalafatis et al., 1999; Chen, 2007; Lobb et al., 2007; Kim and Chung, 2011). Even though there have been few direct applications of TPB in studies on organic food consumption, a growing number of studies have stressed that buying intention and behavior of organic products is related to attitudes (Chen, 2007; Grunert and Juhl, 1995; Rimal et al., 2001; Lockie et al., 2004; Padel and Foster, 2005; Rimal et al. 2005; Tarkiainen and Sundqvist, 2005). In the area of organic food consumption, the spotlight has generally been on the predictability between favorable attitudes and behavior. While many studies found correlation between respective attitudinal dimension and behavior for green or organic consumption (Davies et al., 1995; Grunert and Juhl, 1995; Tanner and Kast, 2003; Lockie et al., 2004; Rimal et al., 2001, 2005; Tarkiainen and Sundqvist, 2005), the issues of interaction and inconsistency among attitudinal components and its impacts on behavior, however, is rarely investigated. Very likely, however, there exists attitudinal inconsistency when ethics is introduced in the study of attitudes. One common explanation for the inconsistency is that there is social desirability involved in ethics-related themes, and people feel compelled to give responses conforming to the rules of ethics. In studying consumers attitudes food and their buying behavior, themes involved include ethics, the environment, and personal health issues (Makatouni, 2002; Torjusen et al., 2001). Hence, this topic is not immune from problems arising from the issue of giving socially responsive answers. The issue of attitudinal inconsistency and interaction, in this sense, deserves more consideration. Ajzen (2001) proposed the possibility of a co-existence of opposite attitude dispositions, referred to as attitudinal ambivalence. He concluded that one could hold different attitudes toward the same concept even in the same context. It is thus arguable that people s behavior is not necessarily predictable by their opinions of various attitudinal dimensions or single attitudinal indicator, particularly when ethical judgment is involved. In brief, following the TPB theory s emphasis on the linkages among attitudes, behavioral intention, and actual behavior, two features should be noticed in organic food consumption study. First, the willingness to pay a premium is a better indicator of buying intention due to the comparatively higher price of organic product. Second, the inconsistency between attitudinal elements and its influence on behavior is greatly noteworthy. Since the construct of consumer attitude is usually multi-faceted and the congruency among diverse attitudinal dimensions of organic food consumers has

4 rarely been explored in existing studies, the possibility of attitudinal ambivalence and its effect on intention to pay a premium and buying behavior deserve further examination. One interesting question to ask is whether the relationship between attitudes, intention and consequent behavior varies across cultures. It has been pointed out in one study that consumers might demonstrate distinctive attitudes, purchase intention and behavior ally grown food that vary based on the level of their country s development (Squires et al., 2001). By far, the great majority of organic-food consumption researches investigating the relationship between attitudes, intention and behavior have focused on consumers of European or North America countries (e.g. Torjusen et al., 2001; Fotopoulos and Krystallis, 2002; Saba and Messina, 2003; Krystallis and Chryssohoidis, 2005; Padel and Foster, 2005; Rimal et al., 2005; Tarkiainen and Sundqvist, 2005). Moreover, most studies applying TPB theory pertaining to organic food consumption have taken consumers of these countries as target population (e.g. Kalafatis et al., 1999; Kim and Chung, 2011; Lobb et al., 2007). Study of Asian consumers deserves more attention in the context of cultural differences. This study aims to take Taiwan as an illustration of organic product consumption in Asian area. There are two reasons why the case of Taiwan is intriguing for study in this area. First, consumers, in theory, might be positive agriculture and increase their organic consumption as their income rises. The per capita GDP (Gross Domestic Product) in Taiwan has been rising steadily for several decades to reach 18,603 US dollars in 2010, compared with 897 US dollars in Organic food is becoming more affordable, in theory, for the public in general. However, Taiwan governmental statistics show that, despite a slow, steady increase in the conversion of farmland from conventional to organic cultivation in the past decade, organically cultivated land has never exceeded one percent of total farmland. For instance, the percentage of organically cultivated land has risen merely from percent in 2001 to percent in This shows that there is no comparable development of organic agriculture vis-à-vis rising income in Taiwan which is quite different from that in European countries. Second, the common perception of pesticide overuse in Taiwan, along with speedy industrial development and a decreasing number of farmers, has brought about anxiety in the general public about farming in general. As Batte et al. (2007) stated that the most important reason for purchasing organic products was to avoid intake of chemicals, and that one impetus for the rise of organic farming is the abuse of agricultural chemicals, a natural assumption is that those who are worried about the overuse of chemicals generally support organic consumption. If this is the case, the organic food market in Taiwan should have burgeoned and grown dramatically more than it actually has. In theory, the rising level of economic development in Taiwan, in conjunction with concerns about environmental degradation by the overuse of agricultural chemicals, should have brought about galvanized support for organic farming. However, this is not happening in Taiwan. Why not? Is the surprisingly low rise in organic consumption related to contradictions in attitudes about organic agriculture? Does the current low rate of organic food consumption indicate that Taiwanese people tend to ignore pesticide overuse and be reluctant to pay a premium? Or are most of them just Inconsistency food 999

5 BFJ 114, distrustful that the organic food in Taiwan is truly free of agricultural chemicals? How do their perceptions products affect their final purchasing decisions? In light of the above questions, this study has two purposes. First, it seeks to investigate Taiwanese consumers attitudes food and their willingness to pay a premium and buying behavior. Second, it attempts to identify the level of attitudinal inconsistency food and to determine how it affects consumers willingness to pay a premium and purchasing behavior. Literature review Organic food consumption The concepts and principles of organic agriculture have been worldly acknowledged and practiced. An organic product or food is described as being a lately introduced differentiated product possessing a niche market share with brand awareness (Chryssochoidis, 2000). According to IFOAM (2011), the global sales of organic products in 2009 has totaled at nearly 55 billion US dollars and organic farming has been found in 160 countries to contain approximately 37.2 million hectares of agricultural land. Because farm input costs for organic production are high and yields are low, the market share of organic products has increased in only a few market segments. An organic-product consumer is generally classified as a concerned consumer sensitive to moral and health issues (Weatherell et al., 2003). Concerns about environmental ethics and health, and therefore methods of food production, differentiate this group from the general consumer population in the food market. In spite of the notable increase of organically grown products worldwide, the so-called royal organic food consumers still accounts for a very limited portion of the general population. As a whole, there are several primary reasons why consumers are deterred from buying organic food. They include high prices, low availability and accessibility, lack of trust that products labeled as organic were truly organically grown, limited choices, and low perceived value (Soil Association, 2000). Motives of self-interest (e.g. a desire for high food quality and safety to ensure personal health) were widely cited in the literature as the key factors to explain conumers purchasing decision of organic food (Carrigan and Attalla, 2001; McEachern and McClean, 2002; Magkos et al., 2006). It has also been argued, however, that the major purchasing motive for organic-food consumers might be altruistic. Some studies showed that being environmentally friendly is the main motives for consumers buying decision (Fotopoulos and Krystallis, 2002). Since motives are related to one s attitudes, attitudes agriculture/food are proposed to predict one s buying intention and behavior of organic product. Consumers attitudes agriculture/food in relation to purchasing intention and behavior Consumers attitudes are essential contributors in predicting their buying intention and behavior, so they are useful factors in explaining why some consumers switched from being non-buyers to loyal buyers (Baldinger and Rubinson, 1996). Some studies confirm that this is true with organic food consumption as well (e.g. Tarkiainen and Sundqvist, 2005; Chen, 2007). Chen (2007) even used TPB in an investigation of organic food consumers in Taiwan, which confirmed this relationship.

6 Consumers attitudes food contain various dimensions of constructs related to awareness, affection, and behavioral tendency. The key dimensions stated in the literature include concerns over pesticides and food safety, perceptions of food quality, concerns about the environment, trust in the veracity of organic food labeling, and opinions on the prospects of organic agriculture (Batte et al., 2007; Boccaletti and Nardella, 2000; Grunert, 2005; Grunert and Juhl, 1995; Krystallis and Chryssohoidis, 2005; Padel and Foster, 2005; Saba and Messina, 2003; Tarkiainen and Sundqvist, 2005; Tuu and Olsen, 2009). The components of these attitudes are often interrelated and correlated to purchasing decisions. Pesticide concerns. Concerns about pesticide residue or other safety concerns, either in regard to the environment or to personal health, are assumed to be the most important determining factors in the decision to buy organic food (Swanson and Lewis, 1993). Modern farming techniques generally include the application of chemicals to speed up growth process and to achieve high yields. These practices, however, can deplete the soil, damage the environment, and create products that are unsafe to eat. Brom (2000) uses the term consumer concern to describe consumers fears about food safety and pesticide residue under modern food production systems. The perceived pesticide risks was found to relate to consumers trust and buying of organic food (Saba and Messina, 2003). The pesticide fear can cause consumers to buy organic products in order to reduce their intake of food, which they consider to be unsafe. Perception of the necessity of organic agriculture. Consumers perception of the necessity of organic agriculture is also a crucial aspect of attitudes food and was employed in prior studies (Soler et al., 2002; Saba and Messina, 2003; Lea and Worsley, 2005). It generally refers to personal views about the development of organic agriculture, abuse of chemicals and environmental degradation, and confidence in organic products. Dreezens et al. (2005) found that organic agriculture was generally rated high in terms of people welfare and nature protection. It is stated that consumers concerned about environmental degradation, one of the major concerns of organic farming, tend to pay a high premium for organically grown product (Gil et al., 2000). Trust in organic products. Whether consumer concern leads to purchasing organic products depends largely upon consumer confidence in the feasibility of the organic farming process and confidence that food labeled as organic was truly produced organically. Lobb et al. (2007) noted that, in addition to risk perception, trust should be included in the TPB model when addressing food safety issues. Berger and Mitchell (1989) also argued that consumer confidence significantly affected the attitude-behavior relationship. Risk perception of pesticide is found to be an indicator of organic food purchase (Rimal et al., 2005). Trust, either in farming practices or certification, is a crucial factor in determining consumers purchasing decisions in regard to organic product consumption (Krystallis and Chryssohoidis, 2005). Lee and Holden (1999) pointed out that trust in organic products, the certification system, and the integrity of producers are crucial for sustainable consumption of organic products. While promoting their products as organic gives firms a marketing edge (Munnichs, 2004), the trustworthiness of food labeled as organic is difficult for the general public to determine, as there are still controversies among experts surrounding the acceptable level of risks for human bodies (Lingreen, 2003; Yee et al., 2005). Inconsistency food 1001

7 BFJ 114, Willingness to pay a premium. The willingness to pay a premium (WTP) is an important aspect of behavioral intention exhibiting close linkage with consumer attitudes and buying behavior (Soler et al., 2002). For instance, Boccaletti and Nardella (2000) state that perception of food risk is positively related to WTP for organic produce. It is also positively related to organic-agriculture perception and purchase behavior (Gil et al., 2000; Lockie et al., 2004). Once consumer concern about chemicals in non-organic products is substantiated and the truthfulness of organic products is verified, WTP is a good predictor of purchasing behavior with regard to organic products (Huotilainen et al., 2006). It is hypothesized that as one s WTP increases, the likelihood of purchasing organic products is expected to increase when other factors, such as availability, accessibility, and variety, are also improved. Attitudinal inconsistency It is conventional wisdom that those who worried about pesticide abuse have a positive outlook on organic agriculture/food, and are more inclined to trust organic product, but this is not always the case. In addition to the discrepancy between consumers attitudes and purchasing behavior, inconsistency across various attitudinal dimensions on organically grown products deserves more discussion. In their case study of Belgium, Vermeir and Verbeke (2006) found that some consumers intention to purchase products that were grown with environmentally sustainable practices was positively influenced by social pressure in spite of those consumers rather negative attitudes agriculture. In the past, it was usually accepted that organic food consumers possess similar perceptions in all attitudinal dimensions, but this is not always the case. For instance, risk perception of pesticide was shown to have a positive relationship with willingness-to-pay (Boccaletti and Nardella, 2000), but the perception was also shown to have a negative association with trust in organic food (Dreezens et al., 2005). Consumers conceived risk of chemicals does not necessarily predict their trust in organically grown product. Although food safety perception was deemed the most important consideration for most consumers, some studies also cited that organic food does not necessarily mean safe food for most consumers (Magkos et al., 2006), especially when distrust is prevalent in the society. It was even hypothesized that high consumer concern can result in eventual loss of trust, both in conventional and sustainable farming systems (Dittus and Hillers, 1996; Brom, 2000). It was found that consumers contradictory perceptions formed a barrier against buying organic products (Fotopoulos and Krystallis, 2002). Contradictions in consumers attitudes, coupled with organic food s high price and inconvenience, often decrease consumers intention to pay a premium and finally deter them from purchasing organic food. It seems logical that concerns over pesticide overuse would likely bring about an increase in the purchase of organic products. However, the same suspicion over pesticides could, for some consumers, also indicate that they are likely to have little trust in organic farming and therefore decrease their organic-product consumption. While attitudes agriculture play an increasingly important role in consumers purchasing decisions, their causal relationship is often less obvious due to some extraneous factors. For instance, consumers may possess positive attitudes food, but they tend to be relatively passive in their purchasing

8 behavior, often due to having a limited budget (Grunert and Juhl, 1995) or some personal characteristics. Padel and Foster state that prices and personal income remain crucial barriers, but these barriers will be lessened and consumers will pay a premium once they possess positive attitudes food and realize the reasons for organic food s higher cost (Padel and Foster, 2005). Thus, consumers attitudes toward organic agri-food could become a significant factor in influencing their buying behavior once the personal factors were controlled. Inconsistency food 1003 Other determinants of organic food purchasing intention and behavior Considerable research has provided evidence that a number of socio-demographic factors indeed influence attitudes and buying behavior related to organically grown products. They should therefore be included in the analysis for control to see the net contribution of attitudinal factors. Although some authors have posited that the importance of socio-demographic variables in predicting green consumption has been overestimated (Diamantopoulos et al., 2003), other researchers claim that consumers socio-demographic backgrounds make significant differences in their purchasing habits. Socio-demographic variables such as gender (Davies et al., 1995; Laroche et al., 2001; Robinson and Smith, 2003; Lockie et al., 2002; Lockie et al., 2004; Lea and Worsley, 2005; Rimal et al., 2005; Oni et al., 2005), age (Thompson, 1998; Smith and Riethmller, 1999; Robinson and Smith, 2003; Rimal et al., 2005), educational attainment (Thompson, 1998; Thompson and Kidwell, 1998; Lockie et al., 2002; Robinson and Smith, 2003; Oni et al., 2005) have been suggested as having significant influence in purchasing habits of organic food. These propositions were also confirmed by some studies in Asian countries (e.g. Roitner-Schobesberger et al., 2008). In general, consumers who are females, who are older, and who have higher educational backgrounds tend to be positive about organic products and more inclined to purchase organically grown products. Dining habits are also a possible determinant of organic food buying behavior. These are rarely cited in previous research, but are included in this study. Dining at home increases the probability of buying organic products. Hence, the frequency of dining at home should be included in the analysis. The influence of consumers occupations on their attitudes and purchasing behavior about organic products has rarely been mentioned in the literature. As occupation is an important part of a person s socio-economic status, it is included in this study. Socio-economic variables have been included in this study mainly for the purpose of acting as a statistical control for explanatory variables. Methodology Research design and sampling The target population was limited to Taiwanese adults who are in charge of the food shopping in their household. To aid in questionnaire design and to gain an overall understanding of respondents attitudes and buying behavior related to organic agriculture/food, one focus group composed of six household representatives was created. The draft structured questionnaire was carefully reviewed by both the focus group members and three experts to ensure the validity of the measures. Then it was pre-tested by phone interviews of 50 individuals who served as the primary food purchasers in their households. The questionnaire was revised accordingly with minor

9 BFJ 114, changes in wording. A nationwide telephone survey using a random-digit dialing technique was conducted by the TVBS Company, a highly reputable poll company in Taiwan. Data was collected during a one-week period in December of A total of 913 valid interviews were obtained, generating results with an estimated 3.3 percent sampling error and a 95 percent confidence level. Measurements and analysis Based on the TPB theory and literature, this study first explores the relationships among Taiwanese consumers attitudinal dimensions agriculture/food, and then examines their respective effects on respondents willingness to pay a premium and purchase. The questionnaire was composed of sections for organic food attitudes, purchasing intention and behavior, and socio-demographic variables. Attitudinal variables included concerns of pesticide use, trust in organic food claims, and perception of the necessity of organic agriculture. They were measured respectively by sentences such as I do worry about the pesticide residue of the fresh produce I regularly buy, I trust the organically grown product as it claims, and I believe it is necessary to further promote organic agriculture in Taiwan. The purchasing intention was measured by the willingness to pay a premium (WTP). It was measured by asking I am willing to pay a premium for certified organic food. A five-point Likert Scale was used for the above attitudinal variables and WTP, with five possible agreement levels: strongly agree (5 points), agree, no opinion, disagree, and strongly disagree (1 point). Purchasing behavior was based on the respondents purchasing decisions within the six months prior to the survey. There were five possible responses: almost every week, at times, rarely, never, and don t know. Socio-demographic variables, such as respondents gender, age, educational attainment, occupation, and dining habits, were included to control their possible intervening or spurious effects on the relationship between attitudinal and buying behavior variables. Age was classified into four categories: below 30, 30-39, 40-49, and above 49. Respondents educational levels were categorized into below high school, high school, and college or above. There were five occupational groups: public employee, high-level manager/ professional, white-collar worker, entrepreneur, and other. The other category included blue-collar workers, homemakers, and unemployed persons, as indicated on the survey. There were three categories for dining habits: always dine at home, usually dine at home, and frequently dine out. Both bivariate and partial correlation analyses were employed to reveal the interrelationships among attitudinal variables. In case there are evidences of inconsistency, multiple discriminant analyses with moderating variables would be employed to examine their joint effects in explaining respondents willingness to pay a premium and purchasing behavior. Results Taiwan consumers attitudes, buying intention and behavior agriculture/food About 78 percent of the respondents were already familiar with the concept of organic food at the time they agreed to take the survey, be it defined as certified or not certified. For those respondents who were not familiar with the concept of organic food, the

10 interviewer explained it to them and the survey went on. A series of questions were presented to all respondents regarding their attitudes and buying behavior related to organic food. The descriptive results are shown in Tables I and II. As can be seen in the table, over 90 percent of the respondents were concerned about overuse of pesticides, and nearly half of the respondents stated that they were extremely concerned about pesticides. It is obvious that there is a high level of awareness about the issue of pesticide overuse. Interestingly, however, nearly two-thirds of the respondents expressed extremely low confidence that products labeled as organic were truly organically produced, and thus did not seek organic products. The co-existence of a high level of concern about pesticides and a low level of trust in the truthfulness of organic food labeling reveals the awkward situation of organic-product marketers in Taiwan. For many respondents, the widespread use of pesticides has eroded their confidence that products labeled as organic are truly pesticide-free. The problem could be with the farming practices of supposedly organic farmers, or with labeling. In regard to attitudes agriculture, an overwhelming majority (90 percent) of the respondents agreed with the necessity of developing organic agriculture. Less than half of the respondents show willingness to pay higher price for organic produce. It would seem, then, that for Taiwanese consumers to be willing to pay a premium for organic products, they would require proof that the products were truly organic. The authenticity of being organic plays a pivotal role in the decision-making process among consumers. The finding that around half of the respondents have purchased organically produced food within the six-month period was surprising. It is very likely attributable to false claims of the authenticity of organic products in the market. Only 2.2 percent of the respondents could be deemed loyal buyers who bought organic products almost every week. Inconsistency food 1005 Attitudinal variables Extreme Fair Rare Not at all No opinion/ Don t know Pesticide concerns 435 (47.6) 319 (34.9) 74 (8.2) 41 (4.5) 44 (4.8) Trust in organic products 74 (8.1) 182 (19.9) 356 (39.0) 236 (25.8) 65 (7.2) Perception of the necessity of organic agriculture 469 (51.4) 332 (36.4) 19 (2.1) 2 (.2) 91 (10.0) Willingness to pay a premium 71 (7.8) 353 (38.7) 208 (22.8) 232 (25.4) 49 (5.4) Notes: n ¼ 913; Figures in parentheses are percentages with row total of 100 percent Table I. Consumers attitudes agriculture/food in Taiwan Attitudinal variables Almost every week At times Rarely Never Don t know Buying behavior 20 (2.2) 188 (20.6) 236 (25.8) 438 (48.0) 31 (3.4) Notes: n ¼ 913; Figures in parentheses are percentages with row total of 100 percent Table II. Consumers buying behavior agriculture/food in Taiwan

11 BFJ 114, The results of the survey reveal the possible existence of some contradiction in attitudes held by most of the respondents. On the one hand, most respondents were concerned by pesticide residue and hopeful for the development of organic agriculture. On the other hand, they demonstrated a lack of trust in products marketed as organic. The inconsistencies between these attitudinal dimensions deserve further investigation. Inconsistency among attitudinal dimensions A comparison of Spearman rank-order simple correlations and pair-wise partial correlations controlling for all the other attitudinal variables was conducted to obtain net relationships among attitudinal variables. It is hypothesized that all attitudinal variables are positively related to each other. As shown in Table III, simple correlation coefficients revealed that most of the attitudinal pairs of variables exhibit significantly positive relationships except the relationship between perceived pesticide concerns and trust in organic food, which had an insignificant negative relationship. In an elaborated model analysis, however, when all the other variables were statistically controlled, the partial correlation revealed the relationship between trust and concerns over pesticides changed into a significantly negative relationship. This showed that the seemingly unrelated bi-variate relationship between trust and pesticide concerns existed once other attitudinal variables were taken into account. It implies that those who show stronger anxiety over pesticide use tend to have lower trust in organic products. This finding is consistent with the findings from Tables I and II, in which about 48 percent of the respondents were extremely concerned about pesticides, but only about 8 percent of them had extreme trust in organic products. This finding, echoing that of Dreezens et al. (2005), is indicative that extension education and a certification system for organic agriculture in Taiwan haven t persuaded the general population of consumers to trust organic products. The inconsistency between pesticide concern and trust, as a whole, seems to exist and needs to be taken care of in further statistical analysis. Discriminant analysis of willingness to pay a premium and purchasing behavior To handle the attitudinal inconsistency, multiple discriminant analysis, where the effects of the socio-demographic variables were statistically controlled, was conducted to analyze the effects of attitudinal factors on respondents WTP and purchasing behavior for organic products. The five categories of WTP were re-classified into two. The responses strongly agree, agree were recoded into yes, while no opinion, disagree, and strongly disagree were recoded into no. The four groups of buying Pesticide concern Trust Necessity Table III. Spearman simple and partial correlations among attitudinal variables Pesticide concern * * Trust * Necessity * * Notes: Left of the diagonal are bi-variable Spearman rank correlations; Right of the diagonal (in italics) are partial correlations controlling for all the other attitudinal and socio-demographic variables; n ¼ 913, * p, 0.05

12 behavior were collapsed into two for application of binary discriminant analysis. The purchase category included the purchasing frequency responses of almost every week, at times, and rarely. The non-purchase category included the never responses. Adding interaction terms, in statistical analysis, to deal with moderating effect of attitudinal variables on purchasing intention of organic produce has been used in previous study (Kim and Chung, 2011). Since the two attitudinal variables, pesticide concern and trust, show inconsistency in previous correlation analysis, an interaction term by multiplication of the two variables was introduced to examine their possible joint effect. Trust of organic food was employed as a moderating variable to explore its interaction with consumers pesticide concern. Two discriminant functions, with WTP and purchase as dependent variables and with socio- demographic and attitudinal variables as independent variables, were conducted. Socio-demographic variables were recoded into dummy variables with respective reference categories. As indicated in Table IV, both functions were proved to own fair model fit as indicated by the Wilk s l statistics, canonical coefficients, and predictive accuracy. A profile analysis was conducted to present how the independent variables discriminate against the two dependent variables. In the WTP model, the findings revealed that Taiwanese respondents gender, educational attainment, occupation, age, all attitudinal variables and the interaction terms showed significant discriminant power. Referring to Table V, respondents who were female, who were public-sector employees or entrepreneurs, who had college education levels, those whose age was 40-49, and those who thought organic agriculture is necessary more often tended to exhibit intention to pay a premium for organic product. When buying behavior was taken as dependent variable, WTP was put as an independent variable in the function. Again, gender, educational attainment, occupation, age, WTP, and all attitudinal variables with interaction terms were significantly discriminated. It was found that respondents who were female, who had higher occupation prestige, who had college education levels, who were between years of age, who possessed optimistic opinion toward the necessity of organic farming, and those who were willing to pay a premium were significantly inclined to purchasing organic products. These findings confirm that all attitudinal variables, and the attidudinal inconsistency implied by interaction term, are good discriminant variables for WTP and buying behavior for organic food. The higher the consumers perception of necessity of organic agriculture, the more likely they will pay a premium and buy organic product. Although their trust in organic agriculture and concern over pesticide possess positive influence on both WTP and purchase, the interpretation of these two attitudinal variables should be more cautious due to the existence of inconsistency. It is now in order to specify and analyzed by the interaction between trust and pesticide concern. Inconsistency food 1007 Moderating effects of attitudinal inconsistency on WTP and buying behavior To examine the moderating effect of consumer s trust of organic produce with their pesticide concern on WTP and buying behavior, interaction terms were employed in forming the original discriminant functions in the following format: D ¼ a þ w 1 X1 þ w 2 X 2 þ w 3 X 3 þ...þ w k X k þ w kþ1 Trust * Pesticide Concern

13 BFJ 114, Table IV. Discriminant analysis of willingness to pay a premium and purchase Dependent variable Willingness to pay a premium Purchase Discriminant variable Discriminant loading Wilk s l F Discriminant loading Wilk s l F Pesticide concerns *** * Trust ** ** Necessity *** * Gender (refer: male) Female * *** Age (refer: under 29) Aged Aged * * Aged 50 or above Educational attainment (refer: Under High School) High School College or above * *** Occupation (refer: others) Public employees * ** Hi-level Managers/Pros ** White Collar Workers Entrepreneurs * ** Dining habits (refer: frequently dine out) Always dine at home Occasionally dine at home Interaction: Pesticide Concern * Trust *** *** WTP ** Model fit Wilk s l ¼ 0.882, x 2 ¼ *** Wilk s l ¼ 0.635, x 2 ¼ *** Canonical coefficient Percent predicted correctly 70.4% 77.5% Notes: n ¼ 913; * p, 0.05; ** p, 0.01; *** p, 0.001; parenthesized are categories for reference group

14 Willingness to pay a premium Purchase Yes No Yes No Pesticide concerns 3.46 (0.73) a 2.88 (0.93) 3.40 (0.77) 3.23 (0.87) Trust 2.18 (0.93) 1.89 (0.80) 2.22 (0.95) 1.99 (0.85) Necessity 3.61 (0.52) 3.29 (0.63) 3.59 (0.52) 3.48 (0.59) Gender: Male 15.4% 20.3% 12.8% 20.8% Female 84.6% 79.7% 87.2% 79.2% Age: Under % 6.1% 6.4% 7.4% Aged % 21.1% 22.5% 21.9% Aged % 25.9% 39.8% 29.8% Aged 50 or above 32.2% 46.9% 31.4% 40.9% Educational attainment: Under High School 26.3% 35.3% 21.3% 36.6% High school 40.7% 41.7% 41.8% 40.1% College or above 32.9% 22.8% 36.9% 23.3% Occupation: Others 37.1% 55.1% 30.1% 53.9% Public employees 13.6% 6.9% 15.3% 8.3% Hi-level managers/pros 15.4% 10.6% 17.9% 10.2% White Collar Workers 16.0% 18.8% 19.2% 14.0% Entrepreneurs 17.9% 8.7% 17.5% 13.5% Dining habits Frequently dine out 5.7% 9.5% 3.4% 10.3% Always dine at home 72.5% 75.0% 74.7% 71.5% Occasionally dine at home 21.3% 15.1% 21.7% 17.6% Notes: a arithmetic means with standard deviation parenthesized; percentages of variable categories are summed up into 100 by column Inconsistency food 1009 Table V. Profile analysis of consumers willingness to pay a premium and purchase Where D is the discriminant score of either WTP or buying behavior; a is the intercept; w s are the weights of the discriminant variables or called discriminant coefficients; k stands for the number of independent variables. To explore thenet relationship between the dependent variable and the two interaction-relevant independent variables, the original dicriminant function was to be reduced. In the following simplified interaction function, consisting of merely the intercept and one independent variable, Trust was treated as a moderator interacting with Pesticide Concern. The values of all the other independent variables, with the exception of the variables forming the interaction terms, were replaced by their respective arithmetic means. Then the constants and weights were calculated across various levels of Trust variable to reveal its moderating effects. The simplified function is shown below, where i is the level of Trust, and j stands for the dependent variable numbers. D ij ¼ a ij þ w ij ðpesticide ConcernÞ The fluctuating discriminant weights presented in Table VI shows that Taiwanese consumers pesticide concern indeed increase their intention to pay a premium for organic food. But the positive effect decreases as their trust over organic agriculture

15 BFJ 114, increases. The ordinal interaction mode, presented by the values and sign changes of the discriminant coefficients, implies that as long as consumers pesticide worry indeed trigger their WTP, those who possess lower faith in organic agriculture tend to have stronger willingness to pay higher price for real organic food than those with higher trust. Once one possesses sufficient trust in organic farming, the influence of pesticide concern over WTP becomes less significant. It is noteworthy that, in contrast to that of WTP, consumers pesticide concern had different effect on their purchase behavior once their trust in organic agriculture was taken into account. The interaction relationship turned out to be a dis-ordinal type that consumers pesticide concern presented negative impact on buying behavior for those who expressed lower trust agriculture; whereas the impact turned into positive as their trust in organic agriculture increased. It is inferred that once Taiwanese consumers possessed lower faith in organic farming, the more anxious they felt toward pesticide overuse, the less likely they will buy organic food. When consumers had higher trust levels, their pesticide concern led them to be more likely to purchase organically grown products. The moderating role of consumers trust over organic agriculture, in both interaction models, proved that trust is a very crucial factor in predicting their buying intension and behavior. Conclusion and discussion Summary and discussion The inconsistency of consumers attitudes agriculture/food and its influence on their buying intention and behavior has been rarely explored in prior studies. In this Taiwan consumers survey, the inconsistency appears by the fact that the overwhelming majority of respondents was concerned about pesticides, yet were at the same time extremely skeptical of organic products. Among 416 respondents showing extreme anxiety toward pesticide use, only 8.2 percent strongly believe there are real organic products. In contrast, 22.2 percent, of those who rarely care about pesticides, Taiwanese consumers, in this sense, exhibit some disparities in their attitudes products. It implies that people s high risk perception toward conventional farming can not be automatically translated into their support of organic agriculture. This conclusion challenges the common proposition that consumers weary of agricultural chemicals are inclined to be loyal buyers of organic produce. Marketers in the organic food industry should note this phenomenon to plan effective advertising strategies. Although the theoretical framework of this study is based on the Theory of Planned Behavior, it specifically addressed to the issues of possible inconsistency among Table VI. Interaction analysis of consumers willingness to pay a premium and purchase Willingness to pay a premium Purchase Moderator Independent variable: pesticide concern Trust Intercept a ij Discriminant coefficient w ij Intercept a ij Discriminant coefficient w ij Not at all A little Fairly Very much

16 attitudinal components, which was rarely investigated. The application of discriminant analysis with a moderating term in handling the association among the attitudinal inconsistency, buying intention, and behavior food is a useful approach. The statistically significant joint effect of concern about pesticides and trust in organic agriculture justifies these two ambivalent predictors of WTP and organic food purchase in this study. It could be argued that even though most people worry about the overuse of pesticides in Taiwan, the majority of them do not necessarily want to pay a premium or pursue organic food, mainly due to lack of trust in the truthfulness of the organic label. Only when consumers have stronger faith in organic agriculture, their worry about pesticide will promote organic food purchase. Trust in both organic agricultural practices and trust in product labeling is essentially the key factor in determining consumers buying behavior in Taiwan. Lack of trust is responsible for the inconsistency between respondents attitudes and behaviors food. This conclusion, however, should be treated with caution when generalizing to other countries before further cross-national or cross-cultural studies are conducted. Inconsistency food 1011 Policy implications In the past, those wishing to develop organic industries in Taiwan utilized a strategy of highlighting the dangers of pesticides in order to raise consumer concerns and hopefully to encourage them to buy organic products. In light of the findings from this study, this strategy should be fairly modified. Consumers did not necessarily purchase organic products based on their worries about pesticides in the food that they eat. Although part of the reason is the high price of organic products, the more important reason is skepticism over the truthfulness of organic farming. The fundamental barrier for extension education of organic agriculture is a lack of trust in products labeled as organic and low confidence in the prospects of organic agriculture. Chen (2007) conducted a consumer study in Taiwan and reported that Taiwanese consumers face difficulty in identifying organic foods certificates and labels due to too many certification agencies. Her findings might explain this problem to some extent from another perspective. To enhance consumer trust in Taiwan, not only must a more effective organic certification system and less confusing labels be implemented, but farming practices must also be transparent. This conclusion is also suggested by a consumer study in Thailand (Roitner-Schobesberger et al., 2008). There remains much to be done by organic-food stakeholders, including farmers and supply-chain members, to establish consumer trust in organic products. Limitations and future research One limitation of this study is that the validation of the measures of attitudinal dimensions could be improved, as there was only one item or variable for each of the attitudinal dimensions. This is partly attributed to the fact that data were collected through a telephone survey, which restricts the number of items that can be included in the questionnaire. Future studies could use qualitative methods to identify proper indicators for attitudinal dimensions and purchasing behavior. In particular, measurement of trust could be better understood and refined, first through qualitative study and then by examination in quantitative studies. Based on the indicators created, either mail surveys or personal interviews could be conducted to

17 BFJ 114,7 give better measures for attitudes and behavior and to better understand their relationship. As attitudes and behavior change over time, it may also be worthwhile to create panel designs, which allow the same group of respondents to be studied over an extended period References Ajzen, I. (2001), Nature and operation of attitudes, Annual Review of Psychology, Vol. 52, pp Allen, P. and Kovach, M. (2000), The capitalist composition of organic: the potential of markets in fulfilling the promise of organic agriculture, Agriculture and Human Values, Vol. 17 No. 3, pp Baldinger, A.L. and Rubinson, J. (1996), Brand loyalty: the link between attitude and behavior, Journal of Advertising Research, Vol. 36 No. 6, November/December, pp Batte, M.T., Hooker, N.H., Haab, T.C. and Beaverson, J. (2007), Putting their money where their mouths are: consumer willingness to pay for multi-ingredient, processed organic food products, Food Policy, Vol. 32 No. 2, pp Berger, I.E. and Mitchell, A.A. (1989), The effect of advertising on attitude accessibility, attitude confidence, and the attitude-behavior relationship, The Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 16, December, pp Boccaletti, S. and Nardella, M. (2000), Consumer willingness to pay for pesticide-free fresh fruit and vegetables in Italy, International Food and Agribusiness Management Review, Vol. 3 No. 3, pp Brom, F.W.A. (2000), Food consumer concerns and trust: food ethics for a globalizing market, Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics, Vol. 12 No. 2, pp Carrigan, M. and Attalla, A. (2001), The myth of the ethical consumer do ethics matter in purchase behavior?, Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 18 No. 7, pp Chen, M. (2007), Consumer attitudes and purchase intentions in relation to organic foods in Taiwan: moderating effects of food-related personality traits, Food Quality and Preference, Vol. 18 No. 7, pp Chryssochoidis, G. (2000), Repercussions of consumer confusion for late introduced differentiated products, European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 34 Nos 5/6, pp Davies, A., Titterington, A.J. and Cochrane, C. (1995), Who buys organic food? A profile of the purchasers of organic food in Northern Ireland, British Food Journal, Vol. 97 No. 10, pp Diamantopoulos, A., Schlegelmilch, B.B., Sinkovics, R.R. and Bohlen, G.M. (2003), Can socio-demographics still play a role in profiling green consumers? A review of the evidence and an empirical investigation, Journal of Business Research, Vol. 56 No. 4, pp Dittus, K.L. and Hillers, V.N. (1996), Attitudes about the nutritional benefits and pesticide-exposure risks from fruit and vegetable consumption, Family and Consumer Sciences Research Journal, Vol. 24 No. 4, pp Dreezens, E., Martijn, C., Tenbult, P., Kok, A. and de Vries, N.K. (2005), Food and values: an examination of values underlying attitudes toward genetically modified- and organically grown food products, Appetite, Vol. 44 No. 1, pp Fotopoulos, C. and Krystallis, A. (2002), Purchasing motives and profile of the Greek organic consumer: a countrywide survey, British Food Journal, Vol. 104 No. 9, pp