The Impact of Increasing Health Awareness on Consumer Buying Behaviour - Research Proposal Example

The Impact of Increasing Health Awareness on Consumer Buying Behaviour Research Question: Has greater health awareness brought about a change in customer preferences in their choice of food and food products? The objectives in attempting to provide an answer to this research question would be to ascertain the impact of increased health awareness on the health behaviour of consumers and the manner in which this reflects in their preferences in their choice of food and food products. The study would also look at the result of these changes in customer buying behaviour on the food products being made available to consumers. Relevance of the Study: This study is relevant from several perspectives. It has relevance to gauge the effectiveness of the use of advertisements and the various media forms like, the print media, television and radio in creating health awareness among the people to bring about healthy living habits. It has relevance in ascertaining the actual preference of consumers with regard to food and food products. It has relevance to the various business segments of the food industry in providing information on the changing customer wants that need to be satisfied. Finally it has relevance to the food policy makers as it provides them information on the future changes required in the agricultural crops and products that are used as raw material in the food industry. Hence the study has relevance both in terms of the present as well as the future. Methodology: The study would consist of two parts. The first would involve a critical literary research of existing literature on the subject. The Internet databases of EBSCO, MedScape and Google would be utilised as sources for the required literature. In addition the local libraries would also be used to provide the required literature. Literature on the subject prior to 1990 will be excluded and preference would be given for literature published in the last ten years. This would enable a separate point of reference for the independent research that is planned The second part of the study would involve an independent research study again consisting of two parts. Ten supermarkets would be chosen from the neighbourhood and nearby vicinity. Twenty-five customers each of these ten markets would be surveyed to ascertain changes in purchasing preferences of food and food products, through the means of a well-prepared questionnaire. Customers below the age of thirty would be excluded. The identities of the customers would be protected by the use of codes on the questionnaire. In this manner the study would consist of two hundred and fifty subjects. The changes in stocking patterns of food and food products by the chosen ten super markets over the last five years would be ascertained by the use of well prepare questionnaires and through interviews conducted with the managers of these ten selected supermarkets. The identity of the super markets would again be protected by the use of codes in the questionnaires. The coding details of for the customers, as well as the supermarkets would be available to the research team and the concerned faculty members. The data from both the sets of questionnaires would be collated and statistically analysed using Chi square and T-Test methods to arrive at the findings of the study and whether the stocking patterns of food and food products in these supermarkets really reflect the food and food product preferences of the consumers. Finally, an attempt will be made to ascertain whether the independent research study findings are in keeping with the literature review points of reference. The reason for choice of these methods for the research study is because it offers direct contact with the individuals chosen for the study in a cost effective manner. It also allows for a comparison of the preferences of the consumers with the stocking patterns of the supermarkets. This study could have been done over the telephone, but the seriousness of purpose would be missing in a survey over the telephone, which may lead to answers being provided by the consumers and the supermarket managers, without due thought. The study is limited to the literature that has been sourced from the selected databases and the local libraries, thus reducing the scope of its relevance. The study has its limitations in that it is confined to a narrow geographic area. This would make the study lack the reliability in national and international terms and across the wider ethnic segments found all over the world. Planned Structure: The planned structure of the research study involves a critical literature study of relevant literature and an independent study. The research study would look into the theoretic framework that supports the possible change in health behaviour of individuals by the availability of information and then move on to the impact that these changes in health awareness have in on the individual preferences with respect to food and food products. An independent research would be undertaken to validate the literature review on the impact of individual preferences with regard to food and food products, as a result of heightened health awareness. The study would also look at the stocking patterns of the supermarkets to ascertain whether the impact of the changed individual preferences in food and food products is really reflected in the inventory of the super markets. Literature Review: It is customer behaviour that enables the understanding of the impact of health awareness on purchase decisions. Customer behaviour in short may be considered as the combination of mental, emotional and physical activities that are involved in the selection, purchasing, utilising and disposal of products and services that any consumer finds would satiate the needs and wants of the individual. (Statt, A.D., 1997). Customer behaviour is a complex process that involves several steps. The first step consists of the development of a want or need that has to be satisfied. The next step consists of the pre-purchase planning and the making of the purchase decision. The third step is the physical act of the purchase and the final step is the post purchase behaviour which includes satisfaction in the product or service and that leads to a repurchase decision. Food is a basic need that needs to be satisfied on a regular basis. It is the second step that becomes significant in evaluating the impact of health awareness on customer preferences and that is the purchase decision. There are several individual and social factors that go into the purchase decision. The taste of the individual is an example of the individual factors that act on the purchase decision in the case of a product like food. An individual from a vegetarian community would only choose vegetarian products as a result of social compulsions that act on the purchase decision. It is to influence the purchase decision that advertisements are utilised by the business enterprises in an attempt to promote their products and therefore the purchase decision is affected by the influence of information and the perception of the utility of that information from the point of view of the individual. (Foxall, R.G., & Goldsmith, E.R., 1994). Awareness has an affect on the behaviour of an individual and in an attempt to use this aspect to develop health behaviour in individuals there has been a recent development in the field of psychology called health psychology. Health psychology has come out with several models that attempt to predict the manner in which individuals react when exposed to information on health and the utilisation of these models to bring about better outcomes in the attempt to develop healthy behaviour in individuals. The Health Belief Model is one such model of health psychology. The Health Benefit Model predicts individual reaction to a stimulus of health information on the basis of barriers or costs and benefits and the perceived severity and personal susceptibility to the threat that is implied in the health information. The barriers to healthy action may arise from the extra cost that may be part of healthy and nutritional foods and individual tastes that the individual finds difficult to give up. The benefits may include better health and extended life span. The perceived severity may include severe health conditions that lead to morbidity or mortality. The perceived susceptibility is the viewing of the individual on the possibility of the health threat being a reality to the individual. The health model indicates that just mere awareness may not bring about action from all individuals in change in food preference. It would impact on some, but greater depth of information as well as individual perceptions would have an effect on the food preferences of individuals. (Forshaw, M., 2002). Empirical investigations in the 1970s suggested that awareness of the nutritional value of food did not have any effect on the food preferences of consumers. (Foxall, R.G., & Goldsmith, E.R., 1994). The health belief model suggests that unless the perceived threat is large enough to create enough benefit for the individual there is possibility that there would be a failure for the necessary cue for action towards better health behaviour. Awareness of nutritional value by itself is unlikely to bring about change in food preference, as the perceived threat is of low intensity. In the recent past it is the impact of food choices on conditions like obesity, blood pressure and diabetes that awareness has been created and as these conditions could be life threatening the perceived threat is of a considerable higher degree. The awareness that is now being created elevates the risk level through choice of food and food habits that have a negative effect on health of the individual. (Consumer Food Safety Behavior: Modeling Behavior Change). The awareness being created informs customers that change in food preferences could be beneficial for those already having living style conditions like blood pressure, obesity and diabetes and also prevent the onset of such life style conditions. (Barclay, L. 2006). Information to create awareness is not just restricted to the negative effects that some food and food products have, but is extended to the benefits that other food and food products on the health of an individual, as a result of announcements of research results on such findings. (Barclay, L., 2006). There are indications from research in the field of medicine as well as other fields that the impact of this flood of information that heightens threat perceptions on one side and benefit perceptions of the consumers on the other hand has caused a change in the food preferences of consumers. There are indications that the threat of obesity has caused greater acceptance of low carbohydrate and high protein food and food products among consumers. (Blanck, M.H., et al, 2006). The main inhibiting factor to changes in preferences for food and food products that are health beneficial remains the taste of the individual. Consumers are showing greater preference flavourful, fresh, ethnic and regional foods in an attempt to avoid foods that are unhealthy, but at the same time do not compromise on taste issues. (Wolfe, K., 2000). Research from the field of medicine suggests that the changes in food preferences are have a positive impact on the health condition and life span of individuals and these beneficial findings provide added motivation for consumers to change their food preferences. (Zatonski, A.W., & Willett, W., 2005). The future trends in food preferences of consumers indicate that there would be greater shift to food and food products that are seen as beneficial to health and prevent life style conditions. Concerns and demands of consumers are often the driving forces for policies and it is likely to be the same in the case of the government food policy. (Mohan, M.A., 2002). Project Management Plan: The time period for the research is thirty days starting from the May 1, 2006 and ending on May 30, 2006. The first ten days will be devoted to the sourcing of literature and completion of the critical literature review. The next fifteen days would be utilised for the independent research study consisting of eliciting the opinion of two hundred fifty subjects and ten managers of the supermarkets. The final five days would be used to collate the data received from the independent research study and apply the chosen statistical methods to arrive at the findings of the study. This period would also be utilised to arrive at the conclusion of the study based on the findings. The field research team would consist of two volunteers to conduct the interviews. The same two volunteers would be responsible or the collating of the data. Assistance of statistics professionals would be utilised for the application of the chosen statistical methods and the analysis of the statistical results. Literary References Barclay, L. (2006). Calorie Restriction May Improve Biomarkers of Longevity. Medscape Medical News. Retrieved April 12, 2006, Web site: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/529044. Blanck, M.H., et al. (2006). Use of Low-Carbohydrate, High-Protein Diets Among Americans: Correlates, Duration, and Weight Loss. Retrieved April 12, 2006, Web site: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/528758. Barclay, L. (2006). Soy Intake May Be Associated With a Small Reduction in Breast Cancer Risk. Medscape Medical News. Retrieved April 12, 2006, Web site: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/529146. Consumer Food Safety Behavior: Modeling Behavior Change. Economic Research Service. United States Department of Agriculture. Retrieved April 12, 2006, Web site: http://www.ers.usda.gov/briefing/consumerfoodsafety/modelingbehavior.htm. Foxall, R.G., & Goldsmith, E.R. (1994). CONSUMER PSYCHOLOGY FOR MARKETING. Routledge. London. Pp. 24-31. Forshaw, M. (2002). ESSENTIAL HEALTH PSYCHOLOGY. Oxford University Press Inc., New York. Pp. 1-30. Mohan, M.A. (2002). Food industry faces tides of change. PACKAGING DIGEST. Retrieved April 12, 2006, Web site: http://www.packagingdigest.com/articles/200201/42.php. Statt, A.D. (1997). Understanding the Consumer. A Psychological Approach. Macmillan Press LTD. London. Pp. 3-6. Wolfe, K. (2000). CONSUMER PREFERENCES FOR LOW-FAT AND NO-FAT FOOD. College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences. University of Georgia. Retrieved April 12, 2006, Web site: http://www.agecon.uga.edu/~caed/lowfat.pdf. Zatonski, A.W., & Willett, W. (2005). Changes in dietary fat and declining coronary heart disease in Poland: population based study. British Medical Journal, 331, 187-188. Read More