CC BY
21
Научни трудове на Съюза на учените в България-Пловдив Серия A. Обществени науки, изкуство и култура том IV, ISSN 1311-9400 (Print); ISSN 2534-9368 (On-line), 2017, Scientific works of the Union of Scientists in Bulgaria-Plovdiv, seriesA. Public sciences, art and :ulture, Vol. IV, ISSN 1311-9400 (Print); ISSN 2534-9368 (On-line), 2017.
DE TERMIN ANTS OF ATTITUDE AND BUYING INTENTIONOF ORGANIC MILK IN REPUANIC OF MACEDONIA Martina Kochishka*, Julija Petrevska, Aneta JTankulovslaa Mentor: Assoc. Prof. Katerina Bojkovska, PhD University "Sit. Kliment Ohridski" - Bitola, Faculty of biotechnical sciences
- Bitola, Repu blic of Mac edonia
Abstract: The consumption of organic milk is increasing rapidly. However, the behaviour of organic milk consumers is still not enough investigated. The purpose of this study was to determine variables which influence the attitude towards organic milk consumption, as well as variables which influence the buying intention of organic milk in Republic of Macedonia. Thereat, factors such as positive opinion toward organic milk and food related lifestyle, as well as level of trust in organic food label, objective knowledge and gender of respondents showed to have a significant influence on organic milk buying intention. More precisely, a significant and positive influence on buying intention of organic milk was observed considering the belief in positive aspects of organic milk, subjective knowledge, objective knowledge, and attitude towards buying organic milk. According to the results of this study recommendations for marketing practice and especially for communication policy might be created. Communication directed to female population should use classic advertising based on functional information, while the one directed to male population should use more emotional advertising. By using classic advertising education of consumers should be performed in order to promote benefits of organic milk in regards to conventional milk. Key words: organic milk, attitude toward buying, buying intention. Introduction
The organic milk is milk produced from cows fed exclusively with natural food that are kept healthy without the use of common medical products (i Lynchehaun Hill, 2002). That way of production compared to conventional milk production has a significant advantage. The organic milk has a larger percentage of polyunsaturated and omega-3 fatty acids, and a greater share of the CLA, lower omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids (Ellis et all 2006; Baltusnikiene et all, 2008; ... Prandini et all., 2009; Popovic Vranjes et all, 2010). The advantage of the organic milk is recognized by the consumers and the consumption of organic milk is significantly growing. As a popular environmentally friendly product, the organic milk is a major topic. To understand the organic milk consumers' behavior it is necessary to investigate the background of the buyers behavior i.e. the psychological constructs that are important in making buying decisions. It is mainly important to investigate the facts that affect the attitudes and the purchase intention given that attitudes indirectly, and the purchase intention directly affect the behavior of buying. The available literature has noted the influence of different facts and attitudes towards the organic food and the purchasing intention. Knowledge positively influences both objectively and subjectively towards the attitudes for ecological food products. According to Thagersen (2007), the most powerful influence on the attitudes towards organic food and products has the confidence associated with the health and taste of these products (Aertsens et al., 2011). Chen (2009) came to the results that show an important mediating role of the lifestyle in explaining attitudes towards organic food. The author points out that the healthy lifestyle of the individual should result in positive attitudes towards organic food. 112
The differences in attitudes because of education, place of living / growing, the economic status, the presence of children in the family, according to our knowledge, are not empirically confirmed. In the previous empirical researches was confirmed that the intention to buy organic food influence the attitudes (Radman 2005; Tarkiainen, Sundqvist, 2005), the subjective knowledge (Chryssochoidis, 2000, Grazia De Magistris, 2007) and the trust in organic food (Ahmad , Juhdi, 2008).
Objectives of the research
The aim of this research is to determine which variables influence the attitudes and behavior of the consumers of organic milk and on the intention to buy organic milk. Tthe impact of socio-demographic variables for the attitude towards organic milk was also researched. Materials and methods of research
The study was conducted by the method of personal examination of a sample of 200 consumers of organic food products from Republic of Macedonia. The choice of the sample is carried out in two steps. There were selected two types of stores where you can buy organic milk, supermarkets and specialized shops for organic products.
The statements related to diet, for further processing are subjected to cluster analysis. There were received two clusters - a group of subjects who differ depending on the concerns about the impact of diet on their health, who are called strong and weak health conscious food consumers. The variable trust for the organic milk is calculated as the average of two statements related to the trust of organic milk. In the same way were used three statements concerning the attitudes towards buying organic milk, to calculate new variables "attitude for buying organic milk." To study the influence of the independent variables on the dependent variables simple regression analysis and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used.
All the analyzes were carried out on different level of significance 5%. The statistic processing was performed by static software package SPSS. Results and Discussion
Sample description
The sample taken for this research has more female respondents (65%). Most of the respondents were in the age group 26-35 years (50.5%). The majority of the respondents grew up in the city (61%). The economic status of the families of most respondents is average (40%). Most of the respondents had completed higher or colledge education (54%). Only 15.5% of the respondents live in families with children under 6 years old.
Behavior when buying
According to the results of 41% (82) consumers of organic food products in the last 10 purchases of milk at least once bought organic milk, and 59% (118) of them did not. As a place of buying ecological milk, the most of the examined answered that it is the supermarket (81.7%). The remaining answered that they buy the organic milk in specialized shops for organic food (8.17%), and there are also respondents who buy organic milk in the shops of DM (1,22%).
Test results of the relationship between the variables of the model
It was confirmed a significant positive impact of confidence in the organic milk (healthier and tastes better than the conventional) as the attitude towards buying organic milk (B = 0,437, p = 0.000) (Table 1). The respondents who had a higher degree of confidence in the domestic and the EU eco-label had significantly more positive attitude towards buying organic milk than people with lower levels of confidence in the organic label (B = 0.273, p = 0.000; B = 0,152, p = 0.006) (Table 1). The study did not reveal a significant influence of the subjective knowledge on the opinion for buying organic milk.
The respondents who know that organic products do not contain synthetic chemicals have more positive attitude towards buying organic milk than the respondents who do not know it (4.22 and 3.90, p = 0.020). The respondents who know that there are no differences in the nutritional composition between the organic and the conventional milk have a negative attitude towards buying organic milk than those who do not know (3.97 and 4.24, p = 0.017), (Table 2). The third
statement that measured the objective knowledge1 has no influence on the attitude towards organic milk.
The diet significantly affects the ratio of buying organic milk, which confirms the hypothesis about the relationship between the health care and the position of the organic milk (4.22 and 3.90, p = 0.020) (Table 2). From a socio-demographic features, only the respondents' sex has significant influence on the attitude of buying organic milk. The female population has more positive attitude than men (4.23 and 3.98, p = 0.030) (Table 3), which is consistent with the results of the previous studies of ecological food products.
The intention of buy organic milk is significantly influenced by superior factors. The respondents with strong positive assurance for organic milk expressed stronger intention for purchasing (B = 0.375, p = 0.000), as well as respondents who knew more about organic milk (B = 0,290, p = 0.000) (Table 3).
Table 1. Impact of the independent variables on the attitude to buy organic milk
Undependable Non-standard ratios Standard ratio beta t Sig.
variables B Standard mistake
Trust in the eco milk 0,437 0,051 0,521 8,600 0,000
Trust in the 0,273 0,057 0,352 4,835 0,000
domestic eco label
Trust in the EU eco 0,152 0,055 0,194 2,789 0,006
label
Source: Own research Table 2. Impact of the independent variables on the attitude to buy organic milk
Undependable variables Categories of independent variables Average values of the attitude F Sig.
Diet among the respondents Well health aware buyers 4,22 5,526 0,020
Poor health aware buyers 3,90
Objective knowledge (1) The respondents know that the eco products do not have synthetic chemicals 4,19 5,581 0,019
The respondents do not know that the eco products do not have synthetic chemicals 3,80
Objective knowledge (2) The respondents know that the eco and the conventional milk contain the same nutritive ingredients 3,97 5,765 0,017
The respondents do not know that the eco and the conventional milk contain the same nutritive ingredients 4,24
Sex Male 3,98 4,788 0,030
Female 4,23
Source: Own research Table 3. Impact of the independent variables on the attitude to buy organic milk
Undependable Non-standard ratios
variables B Standard mistake Standard ratio beta t Sig.
Trust in the taste and
the health benefits 0,375 0,084 0,302 4,452 0,000
Subjective knowledge for the 0,290 0,068 0,289 4,252 0,000
eco milk
Attitude towards
buying eco milk 0,295 0,103 0,199 2,856 0,005
Source: Own research
1 Do not exist significant nifferences in the amount ofmilk producee by cows in organic and conventional 114
Out of the three statements that measure the knowledge of ecological products and organic milk, only one significantly influenced the intention of buying. Specifically, the respondents who knew that there are significant differences in the amount of milk produced by cows in organic and conventional production have stronger intention for purchasing than those respondents who do not know (2,40 and 1,81, p = 0.016) (Table 4) .
Table 4. Impact of the independent variables on the attitude to buy organic milk
Undependable variables Categories of independent variables Average values F Sig.
Objective knowledge The respondents knew that there are significant differences in the amount of milk produced by cows in organic and conventional production 2.40 5.895 0.016
The respondents did not know that there are significant differences in the amount of milk produced by cows in organic and conventional production 1.81
Source: Own research
Conclusion
In this paper the variables that influence the attitudes towards organic milk, i.e. the variables that affect the intention to buy organic milk are confirmed. To the attitude for buying organic milk significant influence have: the opinion for organic milk, the respondents' food lifestyles, the level of confidence in the domestic as well as in the EU Eco label, the objective knowledge and the sex of the respondents. Significant and positive impact on the intention to purchase organic milk is noticed, given the confidence for organic milk, the subjective knowledge, the objective knowledge and the attitudes about buying organic milk. According to the results of this research, it is possible to make recommendations for marketing practice. Women have a more expressive awareness about the relationship of the diet to health, positive attitude for organic milk and show greater intention to purchase compared to the male population. Communication among women should be used as a conventional advertising that is based on functional information, while that which is aimed at the male population should be used as emotional advertising. It is confirmed that consumers who have confidence in the eco packaging have more positive attitude towards organic milk. In future, the eco labels should be promoted and they should be clearly displayed on the packaging of the products. Consumers who are already familiar with the benefits of organic milk had a more positive attitude to its purchase and vice versa. Therefore, alongside with the classical advertising the education of consumers should be used in order to promote the advantages of organic milk compared to the conventional.
Bibliography
1.Aertsens, J., Mondelaers, K., Verbeke, W., Buysse, J., Van Huylenbroeck, G. (2011): The influence of subjective and knowledge on attitudes and consumption of organic food, British Food Journal 113 (11), 1353-1378. doi: 10.1108/00070701111179988.
2.Chen, M.F. (2009): Attitude toward organic foods among Taiwanese as related to health consciousness, environmental attitudes, and the mediating effects of a healthy lifestyle, British Food Journal 111 (2), 165178. doi: 10.1108/00070700910931986.
3.Gracia, A., De Magistris, T. (2007): Organic food product purchase behaviour: a pilot study for urban consumers in the south Italy, Spanish Journal of Agricultural Research 5, 439-451. doi: 10.5424/sjar/2007054-5356.
4.Prandini, A., Sigolo, S., Piva, G. (2009): Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) and fatty acid composition of milk, curd and Grana Padano cheese in conventional and organic farming systems, Journal of Dairy Research 76, 278-282. doi: 10.1017/S0022029909004099.
5.Thogersen, J. (2007): Consumer decision-making with regard to organic food products, in Vaz, M.T.D.N., Vaz, P., Nijkamp, P. and Rastoin, J.L. (Eds ), Traditional Food Production Facing Sustainability: A European Challenge, Ashgate, Aldershot.
