Dairy purchase behaviors: Increasing understanding of Chinese consumers using a consumer involvement segmentation approach
ABSTRACT: Understanding consumers' purchase behaviors is fundamental to the success of the dairy industry. With its economic importance, the Chinese market is critical to dairy producers in most countries around the world. However, understanding consumers in this market is particularly challeng...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2023-12-01
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| Series: | Journal of Dairy Science |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022030223004538 |
| _version_ | 1797390614541631488 |
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| author | H. Yin S.E. Fang M. Mirosa T. Kearney |
| author_facet | H. Yin S.E. Fang M. Mirosa T. Kearney |
| author_sort | H. Yin |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | ABSTRACT: Understanding consumers' purchase behaviors is fundamental to the success of the dairy industry. With its economic importance, the Chinese market is critical to dairy producers in most countries around the world. However, understanding consumers in this market is particularly challenging, as these consumers often have a different relationship with dairy products than consumers elsewhere in the world, given the country's historical dairy-related scandals. This special relationship can be characterized by what consumer behavior researchers call “high involvement,” indicating that Chinese dairy consumers often attempt to reduce the level of risk associated with buying dairy products. Surprisingly, although this relationship affects several important aspects of purchase behavior, examination of the concept of involvement in the dairy sector has not been widely considered. Of note, there is no understanding of how Chinese consumers vary in their involvement levels and their implications on their dairy purchase behaviors. Nor have there been involvement-based insights provided on how dairy companies can position their marketing strategy to suit the needs of these consumers better. Thus, this study proposes a new approach to understanding Chinese consumer dairy decisions by introducing “consumer involvement” as a segmentation tool through which individuals' behaviors can be predicated according to their involvement profile. Based on an online survey administered in Shanghai using 1,073 dairy consumers, principal component analysis confirmed involvement with dairy is a multidimensional construct with the following 4 factors: pleasure value, symbolic value, risk importance, and risk probability. A 2-step cluster analysis identified 4 consumer clusters based on their involvement profile: face-concerned dairy lover, carefree dairy consumer, cautious dairy lover, and confused dairy consumer. According to a one-way ANOVA test and cross-tabulation with χ2 test, these consumer segments behave differently in relation to the extensiveness of decision making, cue utilization, trust of information sources, and consumption behavior. The outcomes in this paper further explain why efforts to restore consumer trust for dairy products do not work among some consumers, as individuals may exhibit diverse attitudes toward such information due to their heterogeneous involvement levels. The study also provides suggestions for market practitioners and organizations to develop effective target market strategies and policies according to different consumer clusters. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T23:13:29Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-7438a159111c4b9495c20c7d52f71382 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 0022-0302 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-08T23:13:29Z |
| publishDate | 2023-12-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Dairy Science |
| spelling | doaj.art-7438a159111c4b9495c20c7d52f713822023-12-15T07:21:51ZengElsevierJournal of Dairy Science0022-03022023-12-011061285238537Dairy purchase behaviors: Increasing understanding of Chinese consumers using a consumer involvement segmentation approachH. Yin0S.E. Fang1M. Mirosa2T. Kearney3International Business School Suzhou, Xi'an Jiaotong Liverpool University, Suzhou, China, 215000International Business School Suzhou, Xi'an Jiaotong Liverpool University, Suzhou, China, 215000; Corresponding authorDepartment of Food Science, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand, 9001University of Liverpool Management School, Liverpool, United Kingdom, 999020ABSTRACT: Understanding consumers' purchase behaviors is fundamental to the success of the dairy industry. With its economic importance, the Chinese market is critical to dairy producers in most countries around the world. However, understanding consumers in this market is particularly challenging, as these consumers often have a different relationship with dairy products than consumers elsewhere in the world, given the country's historical dairy-related scandals. This special relationship can be characterized by what consumer behavior researchers call “high involvement,” indicating that Chinese dairy consumers often attempt to reduce the level of risk associated with buying dairy products. Surprisingly, although this relationship affects several important aspects of purchase behavior, examination of the concept of involvement in the dairy sector has not been widely considered. Of note, there is no understanding of how Chinese consumers vary in their involvement levels and their implications on their dairy purchase behaviors. Nor have there been involvement-based insights provided on how dairy companies can position their marketing strategy to suit the needs of these consumers better. Thus, this study proposes a new approach to understanding Chinese consumer dairy decisions by introducing “consumer involvement” as a segmentation tool through which individuals' behaviors can be predicated according to their involvement profile. Based on an online survey administered in Shanghai using 1,073 dairy consumers, principal component analysis confirmed involvement with dairy is a multidimensional construct with the following 4 factors: pleasure value, symbolic value, risk importance, and risk probability. A 2-step cluster analysis identified 4 consumer clusters based on their involvement profile: face-concerned dairy lover, carefree dairy consumer, cautious dairy lover, and confused dairy consumer. According to a one-way ANOVA test and cross-tabulation with χ2 test, these consumer segments behave differently in relation to the extensiveness of decision making, cue utilization, trust of information sources, and consumption behavior. The outcomes in this paper further explain why efforts to restore consumer trust for dairy products do not work among some consumers, as individuals may exhibit diverse attitudes toward such information due to their heterogeneous involvement levels. The study also provides suggestions for market practitioners and organizations to develop effective target market strategies and policies according to different consumer clusters.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022030223004538Chinese dairy consumersperceived riskconsumer involvementsegmentationbehavior consequences |
| spellingShingle | H. Yin S.E. Fang M. Mirosa T. Kearney Dairy purchase behaviors: Increasing understanding of Chinese consumers using a consumer involvement segmentation approach Journal of Dairy Science Chinese dairy consumers perceived risk consumer involvement segmentation behavior consequences |
| title | Dairy purchase behaviors: Increasing understanding of Chinese consumers using a consumer involvement segmentation approach |
| title_full | Dairy purchase behaviors: Increasing understanding of Chinese consumers using a consumer involvement segmentation approach |
| title_fullStr | Dairy purchase behaviors: Increasing understanding of Chinese consumers using a consumer involvement segmentation approach |
| title_full_unstemmed | Dairy purchase behaviors: Increasing understanding of Chinese consumers using a consumer involvement segmentation approach |
| title_short | Dairy purchase behaviors: Increasing understanding of Chinese consumers using a consumer involvement segmentation approach |
| title_sort | dairy purchase behaviors increasing understanding of chinese consumers using a consumer involvement segmentation approach |
| topic | Chinese dairy consumers perceived risk consumer involvement segmentation behavior consequences |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022030223004538 |
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