Consumer awareness, ethnocentrism, attitude and purchase behaviour toward imported poultry products : a Zimbabwean perspective.

Abstract

The global poultry meat industry has become very competitive as a result of increased international trade of poultry products for the past few decades while consumer behaviour studies focussing on international markets have received considerable attention. However, none of these studies have focussed on how consumer awareness predicts consumer attitude and purchase behaviour toward imported products. More so, the existing empirical evidence does not reveal how consumer ethnocentrism predicts the actual purchase behaviour of consumers. The present study, therefore, sought to answer the questions as follows: - (i) does consumer awareness predict consumer attitude and purchase behaviour toward imported poultry products? (ii) does consumer attitude predict consumer purchase behaviour towards imported poultry products? (iii) does consumer ethnocentrism predict consumer attitude and purchase behaviour toward imported poultry products? (iv) which are the critical decision factors considered by consumers when purchasing imported poultry products? A cross-section of 305 consumers was taken from Harare and Bulawayo in Zimbabwe. The respondents were intercepted while shopping in major supermarkets. A mixed method approach was used to collect data through an interviewer administered questionnaire. Descriptive statistical analysis, exploratory factor analysis and hypothesis testing were done on quantitative data. Qualitative data were analysed at three levels, namely thematic, content and discourse analyses. The study established that consumer awareness positively predicts consumer attitude towards imported poultry products. No significant relationship was found between consumer awareness and consumer purchase behaviour towards imported poultry products. Consumer ethnocentrism was found to inversely predict consumer attitude while no significant relationship was found between consumer ethnocentrism and consumer purchase behaviour towards imported poultry products. Lastly, the established that the factors considered by consumers when purchasing imported poultry products are price, quality, genetically modified food status, product labelling, country of origin, packaging, production methods and branding. It is therefore recommended that both marketers and policy makers take into account the present findings when designing strategies on the marketing of imported poultry products.