What motivates Indian consumers’ to buy organic food in an emerging market?

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 97-113 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heerah Jose ◽  
Vijay Kuriakose ◽  
Moli P. Koshy

Purpose Indian consumers are showing an increased demand for organic food products; however, little is known about their intention to buy organic foods. The purpose of this paper is to understand how fear towards conventional food products motivates an individual to buy organic food products and whether trust and perceived price as contextual factors are able to enhance the buying intention. Design/methodology/approach A total of 275 valid responses were collected using a self-administrated structured questionnaire, representative of Indian consumers. An ordinary least square regression analysis was used to analyse the effect of trust and perceived price in influencing the relationship between consumers’ fear and intention to buy organic food products. Findings The moderating role of trust and perceived price in enhancing the direct relation between fear and intention was established. In addition, cluster analysis results revealed that married women with children are showing a greater interest in buying organic food products. Practical implications The findings of the study are of high importance to all stakeholders in organic food products, as selecting marketing practices which target consumers’ concern is an indispensable part of finding a niche for organic food products. Originality/value The findings suggest that even though consumers are fearful towards conventional food products, they displayed negative intention to buy organic food products when their trust towards the third party is low, thus confirming the importance of trust as a buffering agent.

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Supriya Katti ◽  
Naval Verma ◽  
B.V. Phani ◽  
Chinmoy Ghosh

PurposeThis study identifies the factors responsible for obtaining price premium on privately placed equity in a developing market.Design/methodology/approachWe examine a unique data set of a special case of private placement of equity, Qualified Institutional Placement (QIP) in India purchased at a premium. The study analyzed 188 equity issues offered between September 2006 and December 2014. On average, we find that QIP issues received a price premium of 4.38%. The study employed binary probit and ordinary least square regression models to analyze the probability and magnitude of the premium.FindingsThe study attributes the price premium of QIP to certification effect through group affiliation, signaling through promoters' ownership and monitoring effect through existing institutional investors. These factors influence the probability of premium for QIP issues. However, group affiliation and institutional ownership do not significantly influence the magnitude of the premium.Originality/valueThe private placement of equity is usually offered at a discount. Our findings contribute to the existing literature by evaluating the premium obtained on private placement as a unique scenario in emerging market supported through certification hypothesis, monitoring hypothesis and signaling.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Heerah Jose ◽  
Vijay Kuriakose

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to understand, among the emotional, practical and logical factors, which factor is more critical while consumers buy organic food products, mostly fruits and vegetables.Design/methodology/approachA self-administered questionnaire survey approach was used to provide a deeper insight into the reasons for consumers to buy organic fruits and vegetables (OF&V). A total of 632 valid questionnaires were obtained, yielding a response rate of 79%.FindingsHealth is a functional/practical factor which consumer expect as a result of consuming organic food products; however, fear towards conventional food products (emotional) is the triggering factor which motivates consumers to buy OF&V. The logical factor such as environmental motive was found insignificant in the current study, Thereby supporting the value theory which posited emotion greater than practical and which in turn greater than logical. However, barriers for consumers to buy OF&V are perceived price and willingness to take effort. Thus by focusing upon fear reducing strategy such as, implementing certification and labelling on OF&V would be a promising strategy.Originality/valueTo the authors' knowledge, no previous studies exist in the organic consumer behaviour research which used the value theory proposed by Mattson (1991) and the study was able to propose that beyond the practical and logical factors, emotional factor has important role while consumer think of buying OF&V.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Geeta Singh ◽  
Kaushik Bhattacharjee ◽  
Satish Kumar

PurposeThe purpose if this paper is to examine the turn-of-the-month effect in the equity market of three major emerging countries – Brazil, India and China – from January 2000 to December 2017.Design/methodology/approachOrdinary least square regression analysis is used to examine the presence of the turn-of-the-month effect and to test the efficiency of the emerging stock markets. The characteristics of the returns during the turn-of-the-month days are compared with that of the non-turn-of-the-month trading days.FindingsThe average returns during turn-of-the-month days for all the considered emerging market indices are significantly higher than the non-turn-of-the-month days for the full sample. For the subsample analysis, the average returns for Brazil and India for pre-GFC period are higher on the turn-of-the-month days than on the non-turn-of-the-month days. However, the effect disappears in China during the GFC period. During the crisis period, the results show that the turn-of-the-month effect disappears in Brazil and India, whereas for China, the effect is significant. For the post-GFC period, the-turn-of-the-month effect reappears for all the countries.Practical implicationsThe results have important implications for both traders and investors. The authors’ results indicate that the market participants can time the stock markets of these countries by taking long positions especially during the times when the turn-of-the-month effect is highly significant.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first to study the turn-of-the-month effect, in the key emerging countries such as Brazil, China and India. Second, the authors divide the sample into three subperiods based on the 2008 GFC such as pre-GFC, GFC and post-GFC to understand the dynamic behavior of turn-of-the-month effect over time. Most importantly, the authors control for the day-of-the-week effect while examining the turn-of-the-month effect.


2016 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 136-150 ◽  
Author(s):  
Satish Kumar ◽  
Rajesh Pathak

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the presence of the day-of-the-week (DOW) and January effect in the Indian currency market for selected currency pairs; USD-(Indian rupee) INR, EUR-INR, GBP-INR and JPY-INR, from January, 1999 to December, 2014. Design/methodology/approach – Ordinary least square regression analysis is used to examine the presence of DOW and January effect to test the efficiency of the Indian currency market. The sample period is later divided into two sub-periods, that is, pre- and post-2008 to capture the behavior of returns before and after the 2008 financial crisis. Further, the authors also use the non-parametric technique, the Kruskal-Wallis test, to provide robustness check for the results. Findings – The results indicate that the returns during Monday to Wednesday are positive and higher than the returns on Thursday and Friday which show negative returns. The returns during January are found to be higher than the returns during rest of the year. Further, all currencies exhibit significant DOW and January effects in pre-crisis period, however, post-crisis; these effects disappear for all currencies indicating that the markets have become more efficient in the later time. The findings can be further attributed to the increased intervention in the forex markets by the Reserve Bank of India after the crisis. Practical implications – The results have important implications for both traders and investors. The findings suggest that the investors might not be able to earn excess profits by timing their positions in some particular currencies taking the advantage of DOW or January effect which in turn indicates that the currency markets have become more efficient with time. The results are in conformity with those reported for the developed markets. The results might be appealing to the practitioners as well in a way that they can consider the state of financial market for financial decision making. Originality/value – The authors provide the first study to examine the calendar anomalies (DOW and January effect) across a range of emerging currencies using 16 years of data from January, 1999 to December, 2014. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no study has yet examined these calendar anomalies in the currency markets using data which covers two important periods, pre-2008 and post-2008.


2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 453-468 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amit Kumar ◽  
Swarup Kumar Dutta

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to understand how firms affiliated to business groups (BGs) are able to improve their innovation capability (IC) when engaged in coopetition (collaboration between competing firms). This study aims to explore the relationship between coopetitive relationship strength (CRS), the extent of tacit knowledge transfer (TKT) and IC as well as examine the moderating effect of both BG affiliation and coopetitive experience. Design/methodology/approach The paper examines inter-firm relationships within the empirical context of Indian manufacturing and service firms, by adopting (ordinary least square) regression analysis to test the various hypotheses. The central thesis is that the TKT in coopetition constitutes an important driver to the IC. Findings The paper provides some evidence that inter-firm CRS influences the extent of TKT, and the extent of TKT affects firm IC. The results support that firms in coopetition gain more if their coopetitive partner has a BG affiliation. In absence of a BG affiliation of any of the coopetitive partners, the buildup of TKT reduces as CRS is increased. Research limitations/implications Additional large-sample of data may attempt to validate relationships. The study, however, did not consider all enablers that are critical for TKT. Despite these limitations, analysis provides important and novel perspectives. Practical implications The paper contributes to develop executives’ practices in understanding potential benefits of coopetitive relationship. The implications of this research are important for managers seeking understanding of the management of coopetition. Originality/value The paper makes a modest attempt to investigate the various scenarios of the presence or absence of the moderation of BGs and its impact on CRS in the buildup of TKT. This is the first attempt to link coopetition to the TKT in the BG literature. This study also contributes to our understanding of coopetition in a non-western context.


Author(s):  
Xin Lin ◽  
Shu-Chen Chang ◽  
Tung-Hsiang Chou ◽  
Shih-Chih Chen ◽  
Athapol Ruangkanjanases

Establishing a blockchain food traceability system (BFTS) is increasingly important and urgent to resolve the contradiction between consumers’ intention regarding safe food selections and the spread of polluted foods. Using the advantages of blockchain, such as immutability, decentralization, openness, and anonymity, we can build trusted food traceability systems based on these important characteristics. With reliable information, traceability from production to sales can effectively improve food safety. In this research, multiple models, namely, the information success model (ISS) and the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) are formed into a conceptual integrated framework to study the intentions’ influenced factors of BFTS technology for Chinese consumers to help ensure food safety and the quality of Chinese organic food products. A face-to-face questionnaire survey with 300 valid responses was analyzed by Partial Least Square from the Chinese consumers focusing on the organic food products. This study found that the attitude and perceived behavioral control qualities significantly and positively affect the usage intention in adopting BFTS, while the subjective norms are positively but not significantly correlation with the usage intention in using BFTS. The above results will inform suggestions for productors and academics along with implications to promote BFTS’ usage intention.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hongjiang Xu ◽  
Sakthi Mahenthiran

Purpose This study aims to develop a scale to measure the cloud provider’s performance and it investigates the factors that impact that performance from the users’ perspective. Design/methodology/approach This paper proposes a research framework, develops hypotheses and conducts a survey to test the framework. Findings The results from both ordinary least square regression and structural equation modeling analyzes indicate that information technology complexity negatively and significantly affects users’ perception of the cloud computing providers’ performance. Additionally, the trust in the supervisor significantly enhances the otherwise insignificant positive relationship between providers’ cybersecurity capability and users’ perception of their providers’ performance. Originality/value The research makes important contributions to the cloud computing literature, as it measures users’ perception of the cloud computing provider’s performance and links it with cybersecurity, technical complexity and incorporates both the trust in the client firm’s supervisor and the strength of cybersecurity offered by cloud computing provider.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shyue Chuan Chong ◽  
Chin Chai Yeow ◽  
Choon Wei Low ◽  
Pei Yew Mah ◽  
Diep Thanh Tung

Purpose Halal products were a norm in the Muslim countries; however, halal food products were not only being consumed by Muslims nowadays. People are concerned about their daily needs, especially their food and spend in this modern society. Customers nowadays are more educated, and all the information can be easily accessed by just a click. Previous literature found that customers are looking for quality products and products that are safer to be consumed. Design/methodology/approach The purpose of this study investigates non-Muslim customers’ intention in consuming halal food products in Klang Valley, Malaysia. Using 321 non-Muslim responses from Klang Valley, partial least square regression was used to examine the factors influencing the customer’s purchase intention on halal products. Findings The results show that product quality, product price, product availability and product safety significantly influence the purchase intention of urban non-Muslim on halal food products. The result implies that product quality is the most significant factor compared with other variables. Originality/value The data and results may contribute to the relevant authority to form a proper plan to improve Malaysia’s halal food items.


2008 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 158-175 ◽  
Author(s):  
Efthimia Tsakiridou ◽  
Christina Boutsouki ◽  
Yorgos Zotos ◽  
Kostantinos Mattas

PurposeThe aim of this paper is to identify consumers' attitudes and behaviour towards organic products in Greece.Design/methodology/approachThis paper draws on a non‐probability quota sample of 660 respondents to explore the attitudes and behaviour of Greek consumers towards organic food products.FindingsGreek consumers seem to be informed about environmental and health issues. They seek information about the nutritional value of food and demand more products free from chemical residues. The results show that most consumers associate organic consumption mainly with fruit and vegetables. Although demographics seem to affect attitudes towards organics, their value in explaining actual behaviour is minimal.Research limitations/implicationsIt is recognized that the data gathered in this study focus on the metropolitan area of Thessaloniki, Greece. The specific area though, is considered to be representative of the total Greek population. The results confirm that health, concern for the environment, animal welfare and support of the local economy are drivers of organic consumption. However, there is an indication that the importance of motives and barriers may vary for different product categories and perhaps future research should focus on product segmentation.Practical implicationsAlthough certain similarities in consumers' attitudes towards organic food products have been identified, this paper records the variation in behaviour towards organics among the various consumer groups examined in Greece, and highlights the gap between attitudes and actual behaviour. Given the complexity of consumer decision making, future research should explore the other value trade‐offs that consumers make.Originality/valueThis paper attempts to provide evidence on the relatively under researched area of organics attitudes and behaviour in Greece.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hardius Usman ◽  
Chairy Chairy ◽  
Nucke Widowati Kusumo Projo

Purpose The purpose of this study are: to study the difference between halal awareness and halal certified awareness, and the relationship between the two variables; to study the differences in knowledge about halal and halal certified, as well as their relationship with halal awareness and halal certified awareness; and to build and test research models regarding factors that affect certified halal awareness. Design/methodology/approach The target population is Muslims who live in Indonesia and are 18 years old or more. The self-administered survey method is carried out based on a purposive sampling technique. The authors collect data from 428 Muslim respondents in Indonesia through an online survey. This study applies the partial least square–structural equation model to examine causal relationships and test hypotheses. Findings This study reveals several results: halal awareness is a different concept from halal-certified awareness; knowledge of halal is a different concept from knowledge of halal certificates; awareness is an outcome of knowledge, but knowledge is not an outcome of awareness; halal awareness has a significant effect on halal-certified awareness; knowledge about halal certificates has a significant effect on halal-certified awareness, but knowledge about halal does not have a significant effect; knowledge of halal certificates is not influenced by knowledge of halal and halal awareness; and exposure and religious commitment have a significant role in increasing knowledge and awareness. Originality/value Research that explores the difference between halal awareness and halal certified awareness, and Muslim knowledge about halal and halal certified, especially in the context of halal-certified food, is still very limited in the literature provided, if not unavailable. Furthermore, this study also builds and tests research models regarding the factors that affect certified halal awareness, which is limited or may not have been found in the literature.


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