Necessity of the research
With annual growth rate of 1.2%, Hanoi population reaches approximately 6.7 million people in 2010, the demand for food is increasing more than ever before despite the fact that land for agriculture is getting smaller due to urbanization Therefore, food consumption situation becomes more complex and hard to control
Nowadays, many cases of un-safety and in-hygiene food have been revealed and punished by food management authorities including Ministry of Health, Ministry of Industry and Trade and Ministry of Agriculture and Rural development As the result, Hanoi consumer’s satisfaction has been affected and their confidence in food safety and hygiene has been being lost
However, there are still some foods brands that take care of consumers’ health and commit to provide only safe and qualified products would be awarded consumers’ trust
In such context, I decide to choose the topic: “Influenced factors on Hanoi consumer’s satisfaction for food safety and hygiene”, to identify key factors influencing consumer’s satisfaction and to propose solutions for marketers in enhancing Hanoi consumer’s satisfaction with food industry.
Research Objectives
Study definition and theory of consumer’s satisfaction
Study factors influencing consumer’s satisfaction in Hanoi regarding food safety and hygiene
Propose some solutions for enhancing Hanoi consumer’s satisfaction regarding food safety and hygiene.
Research questions
In order to achieve the objectives of the thesis, the author of thesis will try to answer the following questions:
What is definition of consumer’s satisfaction?
What are theories of consumer’s satisfaction?
What is research model for the thesis?
Which influenced factors are selected for the research model?
Which research methodology is applied for the thesis?
Which products are selected as sample for the research?
What are solutions for enhancing Hanoi consumer’s satisfaction regarding food safety and hygiene?
Scope of the research
This thesis focuses on the most influenced factors on Hanoi consumer’s satisfaction for food safety and hygiene
For food safety and hygiene issue, food is a broad term which can be classified into import foods and domestic food; fresh food and processed food; etc In scope of this thesis, the author selects two domestic products as research objects in stead of food in general They are fish sauce Chinsu and herbal tea Dr Thanh The research is conducted in Hanoi area, which targets to those who often buy food They are officers, housewives, students, etc
Thereby, the solutions for enhancing Hanoi consumer’s satisfaction regarding food safety and hygiene will be proposed, based on the research conduction and analysis.
Research methodology
Thesis is used methodology of researching the secondary data, primary data; conducting qualitative (by interviewing respondents in Hanoi ) and quantitative by survey regarding their opinions about factors affecting their satisfaction for food safety and hygiene, focusing two selected products as research objects.
Limitations
The first limit of this thesis is the scope of work, which focuses on only two products, not covering all kind of foods in the market
The second one is the research methodology using quantitative by survey, with limited observations in the sample Due to limited time and budget, the author only conduct the survey in small scale of approximately 200 observations each survey, which target to sample of officers, students, housewives, etc 189 respondents joined Dr Thanh survey and 198 respondents joined Chinsu sauce survey Therefore, the result will be relatively precisely estimated.
Contributions of the research
This thesis presents the updated theory of consumer’s satisfaction This theory is good references for researchers, marketers, and leaders for their
On the practice side, some influencing factors on Hanoi consumer’s satisfaction their impacts to consumer’s satisfaction regarding food safety and hygiene will be discovered as a good source for marketers and leaders in order to accelerate consumer’s satisfaction regarding food safety and hygiene.
Expected results
The study expects to show the following findings:
Bring systematic knowledge and theory of consumer’s satisfaction.
Provide a thorough analysis the research result through qualitative and quantitative methodology conducted for two selected products in Hanoi regarding on food safety and hygiene.
Propose the lessons for marketers in enhancing Hanoi consumer’s satisfaction regarding food safety and hygiene.
Suggestions for future research
Further study can also be carried out to consumer’s satisfaction on food safety and hygiene in Vietnam with variety of products will be chosen for the research objects.
Research structure
In chapter 1 the nature of consumer’s satisfaction/dissatisfaction is first explored The literature dealing with the conceptualization of consumer’s satisfaction/dissatisfaction is surveyed, followed by a discussion of research investigating factors influencing consumer’s satisfaction/dissatisfaction
Based on the survey of the literature on consumer’s satisfaction/dissatisfaction, a structural model of consumer’s satisfaction and
Chinese cultural value is proposed Chapter 2 contains the main theoretical part of the work With respect to each theoretical part of the work, with respect to each theoretical dimension of Chinese cultural values, potential marketing implications are presented Each component of the model as well as related hypotheses are presented and discussed.
In chapter 3, the methods of collecting empirical data for testing the model and hypotheses are discussed in parallel with the problems related to measurements instruments Results of the pilot survey are also presented and discussed.
Chapter 4 content the analysis used in testing the model and hypotheses
The concluding part serves to summarize the research, and draw conclusions based on the research result against the hypotheses and objectives of the study It also offers implications and recommendations for further research.
Literature Review
Consumer’s satisfaction definition
Before discussing the conceptualization of consumer’s satisfaction, it is useful to consider what “satisfaction” is and how “satisfaction” differs from
“attitude” This section first considers this issue, followed by a discussion of the terms “consumer’s satisfaction” and “consumer dissatisfaction”, and concludes with the definition that is used in this research.
Consumer’s satisfaction and consumer attitude
In order to reach a satisfactory definition of consumer’s satisfaction, it is necessary to distinguish between consumer’s satisfaction and attitude
There are quite a number of definitions of the term “consumer’s satisfaction”; amongst the earliest, Howard and Sheth (1969) define consumer’s satisfaction as “the buyer’s cognitive state of being adequately or inadequately rewarded in a buying situation for the sacrifice he has undergone’ From the marketing aspect, Andreasen (1977) stated:
“Business, government, and other nonprofit organizations need measures of how well products and services (performance) are meeting client needs and wants so that they can enhance their own and/or society’s well- being The extent to which these needs and wants are met has come to be called consumer’s satisfaction/dissatisfaction…”
Though being different, these definitions implicitly contain four common elements (Day 1975):
1- The performance of the product or service as perceived by the consumer
2- The expectations of performance which the consumer has
3- The perceived costs or “sacrifices” involved in making the purchase and using the product/service.
4- The time at which the satisfaction with the product/service is assessed.
Triandis (1971), summarizing central ideas used by other attitude theorists, defined attitude as “an idea charged with emotion which predisposes a class of actions to a particular class of social situations” His definition suggests the three principle components of attitudes:
1- The cognitive component is the IDEA which a person, as an evaluator, perceives in a given context.
2- The affective component is the EMOTION which charges the idea so that a person has positive affects (like) or negative affect (dislike) toward an object.
3- The behavior component is the PREDISPOSITION TO ACTION, such as shopping at a department store, buying a shirt or hiring a car.
Pfaff (1977) suggested that consumer’s satisfaction can be denoted, in past, by all components of attitudes The cognitive component indicates the confirmation or disconfirmation of expectation and performance of the product; the affective component indicates whether the consumer is satisfied or dissatisfied with the product; and the conative component, whether to stop or arouse future purchases in post-purchase situations Therefore, satisfaction is not only an attitude; it is a richer concept than attitude
Tse (1980) suggested that satisfaction adds additional dimensions to the explanation of a consumer’s information receptivity, choice behavior and brand loyalty Taking brand loyalty as an example, he presented the interaction of attitude and satisfaction in a contingency table as in Figure 1.1.
Figure 1.1: Loyalty in different situation of satisfaction and attitude
Cell 1 represents the situation where the consumer likes the product or service and is satisfied with it In this situation, the consumer has stable loyalty and will continue using the product/service Cell 2 presents the situation where the consumer likes the product/service but is dissatisfied with it This situation may be caused by a sudden decline in the performance of the product/service Lacking confidence in the product/service, the consumer has unstable loyalty and will continue purchasing the product/service only when there is a guarantee of performance or quality Cell 3 represents the situation where the consumer does not like the product, but is still satisfied with it only because it meets certain basic demands, for example low price In this situation, the consumer has equitable loyalty, no alternative available and is receptive towards advertisements and sales promotions.
Cell 4 represents the situation where the consumer neither likes the product/service nor is satisfied with it This situation is probably caused by market imperfections such as lack of competition, and time pressure In this situation, the consumer has to continue using the product until market imperfections are relaxed Therefore, by studying attitude alone, we cannot account for more detailed differences in the consumer’s loyalty towards brands.
Consumer’s satisfaction/dissatisfaction is a complex concept
Throughout this research, it is defined as: a measurable evaluative attitude which is derived from the disconfirmation of expectations and perceived performance of the product consumed or experienced by the consumer The level of the expectations and perceived performance are determined by every aspect of the purchase-consumption process.
Theories of consumer’s satisfaction interpretations
Since 1976, the term “consumer’s satisfaction/dissatisfaction” has frequently appeared in the marketing literature However, as mentioned in the last section, no consensus on a definition of it has been reached Hunt (1977) attributed this situation to one simple reason: many researchers plunged ahead with measurement problems in consumer’s satisfaction/dissatisfaction when they had not understood the basic conceptual problems These pioneering researchers, who were involved in public-policy affairs inside and outside government in the United States, could afford only minimal effort to the measurement problems Up to now, consumer’s satisfaction/dissatisfaction has been interpreted in the following ways (see Figure 1.2).
A large amount of research has been done by consumer psychologists and marketing researchers, applying a variety of psychological theories to explain product evaluation, and to assess satisfaction in the consumer decision-making context Theories which have received a considerable amount of attention in consumer’s satisfaction literature are:
3- Contrast and assimilation 4- Opponent-process
These theories provide explanations of how the consumer behaves in different ways when his perceptions of the performance of a product are at variance with the perceived expectations of the product (Anderson 1973)
Each theory is discussed below.
Theory of cognitive dissonance Proposed by Festinger (1957), the cognitive dissonance theory begins with a consideration of two cognitive elements If one element does not follow from the other, the two elements are said to be in dissonance If the two cognitive elements are in dissonance, psychological discomfort will motivate the person to reduce dissonance and achieve consonance in several ways:
1- By changing one of the two elements 2- By lowering the importance of the cognitive elements
3- By adding new cognitive elements which will be consonant with the element in question
4- By making relevant elements irrelevant,
The two cognitive elements may be viewed as the perceived expectation towards the product before use or consumption, and the performance of the product The disconfirmation, if it occurs, will be reduced (assimilated) by the consumer, who adjusts his perception of the product to be more consistent with his expectations.
Figure 1.2: Interpretations of consumer’s satisfaction/dissatisfaction Contrast theory The contrast theory of consumer’s satisfaction predicts consumer reaction in just the opposite way Instead of reducing dissonance, the consumer will magnify the difference between expectation and the performance of the product/service If the product’s performance exceeds expectation, he will be highly satisfied, but if the product’s performance falls below expectation, he will be highly dissatisfied (Day 1977) This implies that the consumer is very sensitive to unmatched expectations and may react in an exaggerated way.
Assimilation-contrast theory This theory was introduced by Anderson
(1973) in the context of post-exposure product performance, based on Sherif and Hovland’s (1961) discussion of assimilation and contrast effect, in studies of communication effects on attitude change It has been used to explain consumer’s satisfaction by applying one or both of the two theories discussed above In the case of a moderate level of disconfirmation of expectation and performance, the consumer will behave according to the theory of cognitive dissonance That is, the consumer will try to reduce the discrepancy by adjusting his perception In the case of a high level of disconfirmation which is beyond some “latitude of acceptance”, the consumer will behave in accordance with the contrast theory, that is, will magnify the difference between expectation and performance of the product (Day 1975).
Adaptation-level theory Adaptation-level theory is another theory which is consistent with expectation and disconfirmation effects on satisfaction This theory was originated by Helsen (1964) and applied to consumer’s satisfaction by Oliver (1980b, 1981) Helsen (1964) simply put his theory as follows:
It posits that one perceives stimuli only in relation to an adapted standard The stand is a function of perceptions of the stimulus itself, the context, and psychological and physiological characteristics of the organism
Once created, the “adaptation level” served to sustain subsequent evaluations in that positive and negative deviations will remain in the general vicinity of one’s original position Only large impacts on the adaptation level will change the final tone of the subject’s evaluation For example, someone who sees lots of big cars on the road every day will have a different standard for
"big car" than someone who's surrounded by small vehicles.
Opponent-process theory This was originally a theory of motivation reformulated by Solomon and Corbit (1974) which has been adapted from the basic physiological phenomena known as homeostasis (Fletcher 1942)
Homeostasis assumes that many hedonic, affective or emotional states, being away from neutrality and exceeding a threshold level of hedonic feelings, are automatically opposed by central nervous system mechanisms which reduce the intensity of the feelings, both pleasant and aversive, to some constant level (Solomon and Corbit 1974).
Emotional events, such as criticisms or rewards, elicit two sets of processes Primary processes, which evoke emotions that are consistent with the affective tone of the event Threatening events, such as examinations, elicit processes that provoke anxiety Relaxing events, such as meditation, evoke processes that foster composure Opponent processes, which evoke emotions that counter these primary processes Threatening events elicit opponent processes that promote composure Relaxing events evoke opponent processes that provoke anxiety, and so forth.
Several properties differentiate primary and opponent processes First, most emotional events will elicit primary processes Only the more intense events will elicit opponent processes Specifically, when the intensity or magnitude of the primary processes exceeds some threshold, opponent processes are evoked Second, the primary process is elicited rapidly but also declines quickly The opponent process, in contrast, is evoked more slowly but also wanes gradually As a consequence, in response to aversive events, individuals often experience unpleasant emotions initially that gradually decline Indeed, at some point in the trajectory, the opponent processes often overrides the primary process, and a pleasant emotion is experienced called an overshoot effect Positive events can elicit the converse trajectory of emotions Third, frequent exposure to a specific event, such as examinations or meditation, does not significantly affect the magnitude or trajectory of primary processes After regular exposure to these events, however, the opponent process is evoked more rapidly and diminishes more slowly.
Equity theory An early recognition of this theory first came out of research by Stouffer and his colleagues (1949) in military administration They referred to “relative deprivation” (equity) as the reaction to an imbalance or disparity between what an individual perceives to be the actuality and what he believes should be the case, especially where his own situation is concerned This imbalance or disparity will induce an attitude of satisfaction or dissatisfaction in him This led to Homans’ concept of “distributive justice”, which refers to a condition where an individual’s investments are balanced by his rewards.
Among other psychologists (Spector 1956; Patchen 1961) who worked along similar lines, Adams (1963) was the first to adopt the term “equity” to explain his work on the amount of effort expended by production workers
Discussion of related research 25
Research investigating factors influencing consumer’s satisfaction/dissatisfaction can be classified into three groups (see Figure 1.5):
1- Product-specific factors2- Consumer-specific factors3- Situation-specific factors
Figure 1.5: Classification of consumer satisfaction/dissatisfaction research
Research into product-specific factors is a study of how products and their attributes affect consumer’s satisfaction/dissatisfaction The product factors are typically the consumer’s satisfaction/dissatisfaction with different kinds of products such as durable and non-durable products and services The attribute factors are the specific attributes which affect consumer’s satisfaction, such as functional and aesthetic attributes, and post-sales service
Functional attributes are all attributes which affect the fitness of the product/service to the task and for the consumer, for example, price and quality Aesthetic attributes are often included with functional attributes, but they belong to a different motivational set, and therefore should be treated separately These attributes are usually associated with product categories such as furniture, clothing and artwork (Levy and Czepiel 1974; Czepiel and Rosenberg 1977a) Post-sales services are usually important, and may often account for a great part of satisfaction/dissatisfaction, especially with durable products such as electrical and electronic appliances and automobiles These three kinds of attributes are most commonly studies and are apparently mandatory in any study concerned with consumer’s satisfaction/dissatisfaction.
Consumer-specific factors are the personal characteristics of the consumer which affect satisfaction These characteristics may contribute to explain why, and not how, satisfaction or dissatisfaction is derived Very often when functional attributes fail to show any relationship with satisfaction, these characteristics come into effect (Baumgarten et al 1972) This research involves five kinds of variables They are socio-economic variables, psycho- graphical variables, personality traits, personal values and cultural values.
Situation-specific factors are the ways in which purchase, consumption, communication and response situation affect satisfaction This kind of research is growing in importance in the consumer’s satisfaction literature.
It was revealed that consumer’s satisfaction varied across product categories On the one hand, consumers of cars and car repairs have been found to be the most dissatisfied category Price paid failed to turn up as an important predictor of satisfaction Furthermore, warranty service also appeared to be a serious source of dissatisfaction in the post-services category On the other hand, taste and freshness in the food category, and service calls after purchase, were regarded as the most important attributes influencing satisfaction.
Literature about the characteristics of satisfied and dissatisfied consumers is limited Most works have focused on socio-economic characteristics However, there has been a considerable divergence of findings with respect to these characteristics The only consistent relationship to emerge is the effects of age on satisfaction with products Relationships of varying strength and direction have been reported with respect to education, income, gender, social class, etc.
Work on personality traits of satisfied and dissatisfied consumers was very fragmented, with different results Personal values were also found to be an important factor influencing consumer’s satisfaction, according to the work of Vinson and his colleagues who pioneered the examination of the relationship of personal values and satisfaction.
With regard to contribute to consumer’s satisfaction and dissatisfaction area, researchers have conceptually felt the importance of some influenced factors on food safety and hygiene in influencing behavior Several conceptual models have been developed but no empirical work has been reported to date.
Research model and Hypothesis
Research model
A review of the literature pertaining to consumer’s satisfaction/dissatisfaction was presented in the last section There are probably many factors which may influence consumer’s satisfaction regarding food safety and hygiene such as culture, geography, living standards, education, income, etc…However, in the scope of the thesis, the author decide to select following five factors:
Compliance level of food safety and hygiene.
Why are these factors selected for the research?
Firstly, it was concluded that no study had investigated the full set of public media, product’s quality, product’s price, product’s label, compliance level of food safety and hygiene This thesis is therefore an attempt to fill this gap in the literature
Secondly, regarding food safety and hygiene issue, product’s quality, product’s price, product’s label are fundamental factors when assessing a food product Compliance level of food safety and hygiene mentions how consumers believe in manufactures’ compliance level regarding regulations of food safety and hygiene.
Thirdly, media factor is quite a new factor which has not yet been studied much so-far That would be a good chance to see if media factor has any influence on consumer’s satisfaction regarding food safety and hygiene
The model is presented in this chapter and its paradigm is presented in Figure 2-1 This section describes in detail each component or variable in the model The operation of the components will be discussed in next chapter
The model encompasses the following components:
5 Compliance level of food safety and hygiene.
6 Consumer’s satisfaction on food safety and hygiene
The first five components are independent variables of the model while the last component is dependent variable Causality between components in the model is indicated by arrows which show the direction of postulated influence The model assumes that there is a one-way flow of causation The solid together with the arrows show hierarchically how determinants cause or influence other determinants.
Figure 2.1: The structural model of influenced factors on consumer’s satisfaction on food safety and hygiene
Description of factors in the model
According to Wikipedia, In communication, media (singular medium) are the storage and transmission channels or tools used to store and deliver information or data It is often referred to as synonymous with mass media or news media, but may refer to a single medium used to communicate any data for any purpose
In the scope of the research, we focus on the effect of mass media on consumer’s satisfaction regarding food safety and hygiene in particular
According to Answers.com, the definition of mass media is a means of public communication reaching a large audience In modern science terms, mass media is defined as “Twentieth century newspapers, motion pictures, radio, television, and magazines, all of which have the technical capacity to deliver information to millions of people.”
In Marketing dictionary, mass media is Broad spectrum of radio and television broadcast stations and networks, newspapers, magazines, and outdoor displays designed to appeal to the general public
Different Types of Mass Media 1
Mass media are media, which can be used to communicate and interact with a large number of audiences Be it the pictorial messages of the early ages, or the high-technology media that are available today, one thing that we all agree upon, is that mass media are an inseparable part of our lives
Entertainment and media always go hand in hand, but in addition to the entertainment, mass media also remain to be an effective medium for communication, dissemination of information, advertising, marketing and in general, for expressing and sharing views, opinions and ideas Mass media is a double-edged sword which means that there are positive effects of media as well as negative influences of media Here are some of the different types of mass media:
The print media includes newspapers, magazines, brochures, newsletters, books and even leaflets and pamphlets Visual media like photography can also be mentioned under this sub-head, since photography is an important mass media, which communicates via visual representations Although, it is said that the electronic or new media have
1 replaced the print media, there exists a majority of audiences who prefer the print media for various communication purposes Public speaking and event organizing can also be considered as a form of mass media.
For many people, it is impossible to imagine a life without their television sets, be it the daily news dose or even the soap operas This mass media includes television and radio This category also includes electronic media like movies, CDs and DVDs as well as the new hottest electronic gadgets.
With the advent of new technologies like Internet, we are now enjoying the benefits of high technology mass media, which is not only faster than the old-school mass media, but also has a widespread range Mobile phones, computers and Internet are often referred to as the new-age media Internet has opened up several new opportunities for mass communication which include email, websites, blogging, Internet television and many other mass media which are booming today.
Concerning media factor, two sub-factors are taken into account are:
(a) Media coverage is wide-spread on a variety of channels; and (b) Communication messages are clear and relevant Supposedly these two sub- factors are equally important to constitute the media factor The sub-factor (a) mentions the media coverage level of the product while the sub-factor (b) pays attention to the clarity and relevance of communication messages
Later in the research the author will analyze the correlation between media effects and consumer’s satisfaction for two selected products.
Based on Wikipedia, the common element of the business definitions is that the quality of a product or service refers to the perception of the degree to which the product or service meets the customer's expectations Quality has no specific meaning unless related to a specific function and/or object
Quality is a perceptual, conditional and somewhat subjective attribute The business meanings of quality have developed over time Various interpretations are given below:
ISO 9000: "Degree to which a set of inherent characteristics fulfills requirements." 2 The standard defines requirement as need or expectation.
Six Sigma: "Number of defects per million opportunities." 3
By Subir Chowdhury: "Quality combines people power and process power." 4
Philip B Crosby: "Conformance to requirements." 5 The requirements may not fully represent customer expectations; Crosby treats this as a separate problem.
Joseph M Juran: "Fitness for use." 6 Fitness is defined by the customer.
2 TC 176/SC (2005) ISO 9000:2005, Quality management systems Fundamentals and vocabulary International Organization for Standardization.
3 Motorola University "What is Six Sigma?" Motorola, Inc Retrieved 2008-07-20.
4 Chowdhury, Subir (2005) The Ice Cream Maker: An Inspiring Tale About Making Quality The Key Ingredient in Everything You Do New York: Doubleday, Random House ISBN 978-0385514781.
5 Crosby, Philip (1979) Quality is Free New York: McGraw-Hill.ISBN 0070145121.
Noriaki Kano and others, present a two-dimensional model of quality: "must-be quality" and "attractive quality." 7 The former is near to
"fitness for use" and the latter is what the customer would love, but has not yet thought about Supporters characterize this model more succinctly as:
"Products and services that meet or exceed customers' expectations."
Robert Pirsig: "The result of care." 8
Peter Drucker: "Quality in a product or service is not what the supplier puts in It is what the customer gets out and is willing to pay for." 9
W Edwards Deming: concentrating on "the efficient production of the quality that the market expects," 10 and he linked quality and management:
"Costs go down and productivity goes up as improvement of quality is accomplished by better management of design, engineering, testing and by improvement of processes." 11
Gerald M Weinberg: "Value to some person".
Those mentioned-above definitions give us different viewpoints regarding quality term, but they all reach the agreement that “The totality of
7 Kano, Noriaki (1984-04-01) "Attractive quality and must-be quality".The Journal of the Japanese
8 Pirsig, Robert M (1974) Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance : an inquiry into values New
York, N.Y.: Morrow ISBN 0688002307 Cited by: Jones, D.R (September 1989) "Exploring quality: what Robert Pirsig's "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" can teach us about technical communication" IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication (IEEE) 32 (3): 154–158.
9 Drucker, Peter (1985) Innovation and entrepreneurship Harper & Row ISBN 9780060913601.
10 Edwards Deming, W (1986) Out of the Crisis Cambridge, Mass.: Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, Center for Advanced Engineering Study ISBN 0-911379-01-0.
11 Walton, Mary; W Edwards Deming (1988) The Deming management method Perigee pp 88 ISBN 0399550003 features and characteristics of a product or service that bears on its ability to satisfy given needs.”
Regarding foods issue, food quality is the quality characteristics of food that is acceptable to consumers This includes external factors as appearance (size, shape, color, gloss, and consistency), texture, and flavor; factors such as federal grade standards (e.g of eggs) and internal (chemical, physical, microbial).
Food safety and hygiene is enforced by the Food safety and hygiene ordinance, issued by the president in 2003 However, this ordinance is still overlapping with the ordinance of Products Quality regarding quality and food safety and hygiene issues, which creates the unharmonious, inconsistency when issuing other quality control legal documents Draft bill on food safety is under progress and proposed by Ministry of Health to replace the ordinance However, there have been many issues to discuss before it becomes law and comes into effects
Food quality is an important food manufacturing requirement, because food consumers are susceptible to any form of contamination that may occur during the manufacturing process Many consumers also rely on manufacturing and processing standards, particularly to know what ingredients are present, due to dietary, nutritional requirements (kosher, halal, vegetarian), or medical conditions (e.g., diabetes, or allergies).
Besides ingredient quality, there are also sanitation requirements It is important to ensure that the food processing environment is as clean as possible in order to produce the safest possible food for the consumer Food quality also deals with product traceability, e.g of ingredient and packaging suppliers, should a recall of the product be required It also deals with labeling issues to ensure there is correct ingredient and nutritional information.
Hypothesis of correlation among factors
This part mentions about the hypothesis of correlation between each of the five independent variables (Media, Product’s quality, Product’s price, Product’s label, Compliance level of food safety and hygiene) and the dependent variable (Consumer’s satisfaction) which mentioned in the research model above Follows are the hypotheses to be tested:
H1: Media has a positive influence on consumer’s satisfaction regarding food safety and hygiene
Thereby, the more people think media factor is important, the more they will be satisfied with this factor regarding food safety and hygiene
Media factor includes media coverage and communications messages If media coverage is wide-spread on a variety channels and its message is clear and relevant, consumers will know more about the products and get familiar with the products If media campaign can create a positive impression with consumers, they will likely trust the products and consider buying the products However, some cases in reality have shown that, overwhelming media coverage of products without building relationship with consumers will have negative effect on consumers or even annoy them
H2: Product’s quality has a positive influence on consumer’s satisfaction regarding food safety and hygiene.
This hypothesis implies that the more products’ quality is considered important in view point of consumers, the more it influences on consumer’s satisfaction for food safety and hygiene In all cases, food quality is always among top factor influencing consumer’s satisfaction, especially for food safety and hygiene Like the saying “beauty is in the eye of the beholder”, product’s quality is in the eye of the consumer It’s consumers who assess and award “certificate of quality” for the products
H3: Product’s price has a positive influence on consumer’s satisfaction regarding food safety and hygiene
This means the more important the price factor is to consumers, the more it will affect consumer’s satisfaction for food safety and hygiene If consumers do not think that price factor is important, this factor will have low influence on consumer’s satisfaction for food safety and hygiene.
H4: Label has a positive influence on consumer’s satisfaction regarding food safety and hygiene
If the label factor is considered important, it will affect consumer’s satisfaction for food safety and hygiene a lot Foods label is not only the product identification, name tags, advertising, warnings, and but other information such as ingredients, nutrition facts In addition, label factor includes image consistence and the popularity of the label itself The more comprehensive and accurate information that label provides, the more satisfied consumers are.
H5: Compliance level of food safety and hygiene has a positive influence on consumer’s satisfaction regarding food safety and hygiene
The manufacturer can say very well for them that their products are the best or very safe and hygiene because they are awarded many certificates of food safety and hygiene or they follow many quality control systems
However, the most important is how consumers trust what they say If consumers think the product manufacturer complies regulations of foods safety and hygiene more strictly, the more they will trust and be satisfied with the product This hypothesis emphasizes on the importance level of compliance level of food safety and hygiene will impact respectively on consumer’s satisfaction for food safety and hygiene.
Research Methodology
Research purpose
Research can be classified in terms of their purpose According to wiki.answers.com, normally, it can be classified into six types: Exploratory;
Speculative; Descriptive; Explanatory; Predictive; and Evaluative These types of research purpose are described more as follows
Exploratory: This type of research investigates an area or issue on which little previous work has been carried out In an organizational setting it may be used to discover whether or not a problem exists Exploratory research is useful when the research questions are vague or when there is little theory available to guide predictions At times, research may find it impossible to formulate a basic statement of the research problem
Exploratory research is used to develop a better understanding Exploratory studies are a valuable means of finding out what is happening, to seek new insight, to ask questions and to assess phenomena in a new light It is particularly useful if researcher wish to clarify the understanding of a problem There are three principle ways of conducting exploratory research: a search of the literature, talking to experts in the subject, conducting focus group interviews.
Speculative: Sometimes research is implemented strategically, where researchers take account of current situations and speculate as to their future implications For example, the introduction of a specific government policy might raise implications for practitioners involved in its implementation
Research of this nature might speculate as to what these implications might be and develop a program of inquiry that can inform future responses to these issues.
Descriptive: Descriptive work aims to gather information that illuminates relationships, patterns and links between variables An example would be an investigation of the link between impacts of influenced factors and consumer’s satisfaction on food safety and hygiene.
Generally things are described by providing measure of an event or activity For example, how satisfied are you with the product? How important these following factors to you regarding food safety and hygiene? These are the questions that can be answered by descriptive research Descriptive research designs are usually structured and specifically designed to measure the characteristics described in a research question Hypotheses, derived from the theory, usually serve to guide the process and provide a list of what needs to be measured
Explanatory: Explanatory research aims to show why relationships, patterns and links occur In other words, explanatory research is used when researcher needs to find the causes and reason behind something Explanatory research answers the questions of "why" and "how" something happened It establishes a cause and effect relationship between two variables Hence, the research explains An example might be showing a relationship between the increased presences of police patrols in certain cities versus the reduction of crimes Did increased police presence have an effect on robbery crimes in banks and convenience stores?
Predictive: The purpose of this type of research is to develop a model that predicts the likely course of events given particular intervening variables or circumstances Predictive research is involved with the forecasting (predicting) of a likelihood of something happening This research usually begins with, or leading to, finding what will happen, given that some baseline is already known This research usually involves some form of human behavior decision or condition For example if we know that teens in intercity schools, aged 13-16, are prone to high dropout rates, predictive research might assess (predict) a relationship between age or gender and not graduating from high school.
Evaluative: To evaluate the impact of something, for example a new policy, event, law, treatment regime or the introduction of a new system
Evaluation research can be defined as a type of study that uses standard social research methods for evaluative purposes, as a specific research methodology, and as an assessment process that employs special techniques unique to the evaluation of social programs It is concluded that evaluation research should be a rigorous, systematic process that involves collecting data about organizations, processes, programs, services, and/or resources
Evaluation research should enhance knowledge and decision making and lead to practical applications.
In the scope of the research, descriptive purpose is selected for the research It is applied quantitative methodology to measure the important level of the factors on consumer’s satisfaction regarding food safety and hygiene.
Research approach
To assess the relationship or the impact of influenced factors on consumer’s satisfaction regarding food safety and hygiene, the author has selected quantitative approach In which, a tool survey is conducted to collect data and taken into analysis before some conclusions is proposed.
Quantitative approach: is one in which the investigator primarily uses post positivist claims for developing knowledge (i.e cause and effect thinking, reduction to specific variables and hypotheses and questions, use of instrument and observation, and the test of theories), employs strategies of inquiry such as experiments and surveys and collects data on predetermined instruments that yield statistical data For the research, a quantitative survey will be conducted Followings are some features of a survey:
The aim is to classify features, count them, and construct statistical models in an attempt to explain what is observed.
Researcher knows clearly in advance what he/she is looking for.
All aspects of the study are carefully designed before data is collected.
Researcher uses tools, such as questionnaires or equipment to collect numerical data.
Data is in the form of numbers and statistics.
Objective � seeks precise measurement & analysis of target concepts, e.g., uses surveys, questionnaires etc.
Quantitative data is more efficient, able to test hypotheses, but may miss contextual detail.
Researcher tends to remain objectively separated from the subject matter.
Measurement index of factors
As mentioned in Chapter 2-Research model and hypotheses, the author has selected five factors which are Media; Product’s quality; Product’s price;
Product’s label; and Compliance level of food safety and hygiene For each factor, depend on its complexity or simplicity that the sub-factors are included In details, number from 1 to 5 stands for each factor, while its sub- factors are demonstrated by a, b or c Thereby, the first factor is media, which includes 1.a and 1.b sub-factors The second factor is product’s quality has no sub-factor and numbered as factor 2 The same as to the third factor product’s price which has no sub-factor and numbered as factor 3 The fourth factor of product’s label consists of three sub-factors which are 4.a, 4.b and 4.c The fifth factor of compliance level of food safety and hygiene includes two sub- factors and they are 5.a and 5.b.
The research is about influenced factors on Hanoi consumer’s satisfaction for food safety and hygiene On one hand, the researcher assesses the importance of these factors and their sub-factors on the scale of 5, which means “1” is un-important; “2” is less important; “3” is neither important nor un-important; “4” is important and “5” is very important
Table 3.1: Assessing the importance of influenced factors of consumer’s satisfaction
3- Neither importa nt nor unimpor tant
Media coverage is wide- spread on a variety of channels
1.b Communication messages are clear and relevant □ 5 □ 4 □ 3 □ 2 □ 1
2 The product has good quality □ 5 □ 4 □ 3 □ 2 □ 1
4.a Information on the label is full and reliable □ 5 □ 4 □ 3 □ 2 □ 1
4.b Label image is consistent and clear □ 5 □ 4 □ 3 □ 2 □ 1
4.c The label is well-known by the public □ 5 □ 4 □ 3 □ 2 □ 1
The product follows strictly its regulation of food safety and hygiene
The manufacturer is awarded certificates of food safety and hygiene
On the other hand, the research also assesses the satisfaction level of consumers corresponding each factor (or sub-factor) for food safety and hygiene on the scale of 5, which means “1” is not very satisfied; “2” is not satisfied; “3” is neither satisfied nor dissatisfied; “4” is satisfied and “5” is
Table 3.2: Assessing the satisfaction level of consumer’s satisfaction regarding food safety and hygiene
No Factors/Sub-factors 5-Very satisfied
Media coverage is wide-spread on a variety of channels
Communication messages are clear and relevant
2 The product has good quality □ 5 □ 4 □ 3 □ 2 □ 1
4.a Information on the label is full and reliable □ 5 □ 4 □ 3 □ 2 □ 1
4.b Label image is consistent and clear □ 5 □ 4 □ 3 □ 2 □ 1
4.c The label is well-known by the public □ 5 □ 4 □ 3 □ 2 □ 1
The product follows strictly its regulation of food safety and hygiene
The manufacturer is awarded certificates of food safety and hygiene
Considering these influenced factors or sub-factors as independent variables, and consumer’s satisfaction as dependent variable, the data analysis will present how these independent variables impact on the dependent variable.
Sample selection
The basic idea of sampling is that by selecting some of the elements in a population, researcher may draw conclusions about the entire population
There are several compelling reasons for sampling, including: lower cost, greater accuracy of result, greater speed of data collection and availability of population selection (Cooper & Schindler 2003).
Selection of the sampling method to use in a study depends on a number of related theoretical and practical issues These include considering the nature of the study, the objectives of the study and the time and budget available Traditional sampling method can be divided into two categories: probability and non- probability sampling.
Probability sampling is the most commonly associated with survey- based research where researcher needs to make inferences from the sample about a population to answer the research questions or to meet research objectives (Saunders et al., 2003).
In probability sampling, sampling elements are selected randomly and the probability of being selected is determined ahead of time by the researcher If done properly, probability sampling ensures that the sample is representative.
Non-probability sampling provides a range of alternative techniques based on researcher subjective judgment (Saunders et al., 2003) In non- probability sampling the selection of elements for the sample is not necessarily made with the aim of being statistically representative of the population Rather the researcher uses the subjective methods such as personal experience, convenience, expert judgment and so on to select the elements in the sample As a result the probability of any element of the population being chosen is not known Most non-probability sampling methods are:
Convenience sampling involves select sample members who can provide required information and who are more available to participate in the study Convenience samples enable the researcher to complete a large number of interviews cost effectively and quickly but they suffer from selection bias because of difference of target population.
Researcher’s judgment is used to select sample element and it involves for a specific purpose Group of people who have knowledge about particular problem they can be selected as sample element Sometimes it referred as a purposive sample because it involves a specific purpose Judgment sampling is more convenience and low cost involvement
Objective of quota sampling is to have proportional representation of the strata of the target population for the total sample and the certain characteristics describe the dimensions of the population (Cooper &
Schindler 2003) In quota sampling the researcher defines the strata of the target population, determines the total size and set a quota for the sample elements from each stratum The findings from the sampling cannot be generalized because of the choice of elements is not done using a probability sampling methods.
Purpose of this research is to classify the influenced factors dimensions in Hanoi consumer’s satisfaction for food safety and hygiene The author tries to select the most representative sample as possible which are officers, housewives, students, etc, who often buy food and probably have awareness of food safety and hygiene issue The survey is conducted both online and directly interview in Hanoi area.
Data collection
There are two major approaches to gather information about a situation, person, problem or phenomenon Sometimes, information required is already available and only need to be extracted However there are times when the information must be collected Based upon these broad approaches to information gathering data are categorized as: Secondary data and Primary data Secondary data are collected from secondary sources such as govt publications, personal records, census and primary data are collected through: observation, interviews and/or questionnaires
In this study, secondary data was collected mostly from internet; they are information of food safety and hygiene issues in Hanoi, ordinances or regulations regarding food safety and hygiene, information of two selected products, etc Primary data is mostly collected from the quantitative survey
Since the aim of the study is classifying influenced factors dimensions in Hanoi consumer’s satisfaction regarding food safety and hygiene, especially of two products: Chinsu sauce and herbal tea Dr Thanh A questionnaire was prepared to get ideas about Hanoi consumer’s viewpoints of influenced factors and its influential level on food safety and hygiene Each questionnaire consists of 13 questions, among those, 5 questions are to collect simplest manner to collect the most necessary information for the purpose of the research The data sought can range from habits and frequency of end- users using Dr Thanh and Chinsu sauce products, their opinions regarding some factors influencing consumer’s satisfaction regarding food safety an hygiene; as well as general background information on individuals such as location, gender, age, job and income
For the survey of Chinsu sauce product, 400 question sheets were delivered and directly interviewed online and on site Among those, 240 questionnaires were responded (account for 60% of 400 sheets) However, there are 18% of the collected question sheets invalid (short of key information) Finally, only 198 question sheets are valid and accepted for data analysis.
Regarding Dr Thanh survey, the author also delivered 400 question sheets at the beginning, but 220 sheets are collected (equal to 55% of 400 sheets) Among those, 14% of the collected sheets are invalid so only 189 sheets are considered valid for the research analysis
The questionnaire was developed based on research question and frame of reference The logical structure of questionnaire followed the order of influenced factors dimension in the frame of reference For understanding the importance of influenced factors, the author use a 5-scale (1=very unimportant, 3= neutral, 5= very important), and for Hanoi consumer’s satisfaction, the author use a 5-scale (1=very unsatisfied, 3= neutral, 5= very satisfied).
Once came up with the first draft of questionnaire, ten question sheets were handed out to the sample in the author’s company and they were asked whether the questions made sense to them and were they easy to understand
After refining questions, the well-improved questionnaire was developed.
Data analysis
After collecting all the data the process of analysis begins To summarize and rearrange the data several interrelated procedure are performed during the data analysis stage.
For quantitative data analysis, statistical tools of Microsoft excel and SPSS are used for data input and analysis The statistics results were presented by graphical form with detail description.
Validity is concerned with whether the findings are really about what they appear to be about (Saunders et al., 2003) Validity defined as the extent to which data collection method or methods accurately measure what they were intended to measure (Saunders et al., 2003) Cooper & Schindler
(2003) believe that validity refers to the extent to which a test measures what we actually wish to measure There are two major forms: external and internal validity The external validity of research findings refers to the data’s ability to be generalized across persons, settings, and times Internal validity is the ability of a research instrument to measure what is purposed to measure (Cooper & Schindler, 2003).
Numbers of different steps were taken to ensure the validity of the study:
Data was collected from the reliable sources, from respondents who often buy food and have awareness of food safety and hygiene issue The survey is conducted both online and direct interview.
Survey questions were made based on literature review and frame of reference to ensure the validity of the result;
Questionnaire has been pre-tested by the respondents before starting the survey Questionnaire was tested by at least ten persons;
Data has been collected through two weeks, within this short period of time no major event has been changed with the related topic.
According to Saunders et al., 2003, reliability refers to the degree to which data collection method or methods will yield consistent findings, similar observations would be made or conclusions reached by other researchers or there is transparency in how sense was made from the raw data Cooper & Schindler (2003) have defined reliability as many things to many people, but in most contexts the notion of consistency emerges A measure is reliable to the degree that it supplies consistent results Reliability is a necessary contributor to validity but is not a sufficient condition for validity.
Reliability can be asked by the following questions:
(1) Will the measures yield the same results on other occasions?
(2) Will similar observation be reached by other observers?
(3) Is there transparency in how sense was made from the raw data?
SPSS software offers “Reliability Analysis Statistics”: Reliability analysis allows you to study the properties of measurement scales and the items that make them up The Reliability Analysis procedure calculates a number of commonly used measures of scale reliability and also provides information about the relationships between individual items in the scale Intra-class correlation coefficients can be used to compute inter-rater reliability estimates.
Numbers of different steps were taken to ensure the reliability of the study:
Questionnaire was made complete, short and easy to understand in order that respondents could concentrate more on each question;
The theories that have been selected for the study was clearly described and research question has been formulated based on the previous theory Data has been collected based on the frame of reference that was drawn from the discussed theories The objective is to make sure that if another investigator will follow the same procedures and used the same questionnaires objects, the same conclusions would be made.
Data presentation and results
Data presentation
This chapter will present data that has been collected through quantitative survey The results of the two products in the research which are Chinsu sauce and herbal tea Dr Thanh will be parallels analyzed and presented
The purpose of the questionnaire survey was to develop empirical evidence on the quality factors of Web sites that are important to people who are familiar with the Internet and frequent Internet users The survey comprised the following questions:
Personal information (location, gender, age, jobs, income);
Respondents’ use of products (how long, how often they use the product);
Respondents’ assessment of the importance of some influenced factors on their satisfaction regarding food safety and hygiene (factors in 4 categories including media, quality, price, compliance level of food safety and hygiene);
Respondents’ satisfaction level of those factors regarding food safety and hygiene.
The questionnaire has been discussed with the instructors and a pilot study has been conducted amongst a small number of students This lead to an improved questionnaire which has been used for the research presented in this paper
Two surveys have the similar questions; the only difference between them is the product in the survey The purpose of the research is to identify how those selected factors influence Hanoi consumer’s satisfaction regarding food safety and hygiene Followings are data analysis of the two surveys.
To some extent, the observations of the two samples are somewhat overlapped; still they are quite different samples Only respondents who had tried the products in the research are counted for the survey
189 respondents in Dr Thanh survey come from 20 districts in Hanoi while 198 respondents in Chinsu sauce survey come from 23 districts in Hanoi However, most of them come from Top 5 districts: Thanh Xuan, Thanh Tri, Tu Liem, Hoang Mai and Dong Da In which, 73.7% of the sample for Dr Thanh survey are from these 5 districts, respectively, the percentage for Chinsu survey is 61.4% of the sample.
Regarding gender issue in the two surveys, 37% of the sample in Dr
Thanh survey is male, while this percent in Chinsu sauce survey is only 30%
Still, number of female taking part in the surveys is quite prominent
Most of respondents in the two surveys are from 18-40, which account for 87.2% of Dr Thanh sample and 85.8% of Chinsu sauce sample The most crowded age category falls in age range from 18-25 years-old which is close to 50% in both surveys Next is the respondent group of 26-30 which accounts for 31.5% (Chinsu sauce) and 31.8% (Dr Thanh) of the samples.
Table 4.1: Age category in the two surveys
Dr Thanh survey Chinsu sauce survey Age category
Regarding job positions of the observations in the samples, following is the descriptive statistics In both surveys, more or less than 30% of the samples are students (30.7% of the observations in Dr Thanh survey are student, this percent in Chinsu sauce survey is 28.9%; Office staff ranks the second with 29.1% (in Dr Thanh survey) and 26.4% (in Chinsu sauce survey) The third largest proportion of the observations is freelancers More details are included in the table bellowed
Table 4.2: Job positions of the samples in the two surveys
With similar structure in age categories and job positions, the proportion of the monthly income of the two samples is quite similar Over 90% of the samples have the income under 8 millions VND/month Only 2.8%-3.0% of the samples have the monthly income over 12 millions VND.
Table 4.3: Monthly income of the samples in the two surveys
Here comes the analysis of the most important part of the survey, which will be displayed one by one question.
The first two questions are to filter the right observations for the surveys All of the respondents who have heard and used Dr Thanh or Chinsu sauce will continue with the surveys.
Table 4.4: How long the respondents have used products in the two surveys
How long use products Percent Cumulative
Dr Thanh is a quite new product and 48.7% of the respondents in Dr
Thanh sample have used Dr Thanh less than 3 months since the date of interview Meanwhile, this percent in Chinsu sauce sample is only 16.7% and as much as 53.5% of the sample answer that they have used Chinsu sauce for over 1 year This implies that most of respondents in the survey like Chinsu that they keep using Chinsu As for Dr Thanh, up to 88.8% of the sample has used Dr Thanh within 1 year, only 11.2% of them used Dr Thanh over 1 year
Figure 4.2: Frequency of using products in the recent two surveys
Most of the observations in Chinsu sauce survey uses Chinsu sauce quite often 69.4% of them use Chinsu sauce everyday, 14% of them use it once or twice a week This percent in Dr Thanh survey is much less Though the survey is conducted in summer time (July), and Dr Thanh is one kind of beverage to reduce the thrust but only 10.9% of the sample in the survey drink Dr Thanh everyday 27.2% of them drink it once or twice per week
30.4% of them sometimes drink Dr Thanh for once or twice per month The rest of 31.5% of the sample hardly drink Dr Thanh
Figure 4.3: Willingness to introduce products to others
When asking respondents how willing they are to introduce the products to their friends and dear ones, the response from Chinsu sauce survey is quite positive 75.6% of the sample said that they definitely or probably introduce the product While this percent in Dr Thanh survey is 55.4% The number of respondents who said that they probably not or definitely not introduce products to others account for 9.1% in Chinsu sauce survey and account for 18.5% in Dr Thanh survey.
Analysis of influenced factors for Chinsu sauce product
Bellows analyzed factors influencing respondents on food safety and hygiene towards Chinsu sauce product
Table 4.5: Media factor in Chinsu survey
1.a Media coverage is wide-spread on a variety of channels
1.b Communication messages are clear and relevant
In Media factor, two sub factors are under survey including (1.a) The wide spread of media coverage on a variety of channels; and (1.b) The clarity and relevance of communication messages Based on the statistics, providing the importance level and the satisfaction is on 1-5 scale, the result of importance mean for these two sub factors are 4.27 and 4.23, the average importance mean of media factor is 4.25 Regarding those who think the factor is important or very important, the result shows that 83.3% of the sample rate sub-factor (1.a) is important and very important; this percent for sub-factor (1.b) is a bit higher 84.3%, so the percent for media factor is 83.8%
Some results
4.2.1 The most important factors of Hanoi consumer’s satisfaction regarding food safety and hygiene
Follows are figures demonstrating the importance level of influenced factors on consumer’s satisfaction regarding food safety and hygiene in both surveys In Dr Thanh survey, the blue column illustrates the importance mean of each influenced factor (in scale from 1 to 5 of importance) while the red column shows the percent of those who think such factor is important or very important In Chinsu survey, the importance mean column is orange and the percent of the sample think the factor is important or very important is green.
Figure 4.6: The importance of influenced factors in Dr Thanh survey
The results of both surveys shows the same order of influenced factors’ importance level though the importance mean is different between two products In details, product’s quality has the highest score for importance mean, this factor gets 4.4 points for Dr Thanh and 4.54 for Chinsu sauce
The second most influenced factor is the compliance level of food safety and hygiene which its importance means achieves 4.3 points for Dr Thanh and 4.43 points for Chinsu sauce The next influenced factor is media with importance mean of 4.24 for Dr Thanh and 4.25 for Chinsu sauce The importance mean of product’s label factor ranks the fourth at 4.06 points for
Dr Thanh and 4.17 points for Chinsu sauce The last influenced factor is product’s price with 3.94 points of its importance mean for Dr Thanh and4.05 points for Chinsu sauce.
Figure 4.7: The importance of influenced factors in Chinsu survey
In short, product’s quality is the most influenced factor to consumer’s satisfaction regarding food safety and hygiene In contrast, among five factors, product’s price is the least influenced factor when assessing consumer’s satisfaction
The second most influenced factor is the compliance level of food safety and hygiene Why not this factor is the most influenced factor but the second? This issue can be understood that, (i) Quality of a product is what consumers feel and perceive, quality of a product is not assessed by how much manufacturers speak well for themselves; (ii) Compliance level of food safety and hygiene which consists of two sub factors (5.a) The product follows strictly its regulation of food safety and hygiene and (5.b) The manufacturer is awarded certificates of food safety and hygiene shows how much consumers trust what manufacturers speak for themselves
Manufacturers can speak to the public that their products follow strictly their regulation of food safety and hygiene or they are certified by reputable quality control organizations but how much consumers trust what they say is important
The third most influenced factor is media (1.a) Media coverage is wide-spread on a variety of channels and (1.b) Communication messages are clear and relevant) This mean media has positive effect on consumer’s satisfaction regarding food safety and hygiene The more media coverage about products and as long as its message is clear and relevant, the better relationship it builds with consumers, and the more they like products
The fourth most influenced factor is product’s label (including (4.a) Information on the label is full and reliable; (4.b) Label image is consistent and clear; and (4.c) the label is well-known by the public)
4.2.2 Consumer’s satisfaction regarding food safety and hygiene by influenced factors
Different from importance of influenced factors which is familiar in order of factors towards two products Dr Thanh and Chinsu sauce, consumer’s satisfaction with these two products regarding food safety and hygiene has different order of satisfaction level So this issue of consumer’s satisfaction will be discussed by each product.
As for herbal tea Dr Thanh, among five influenced factors, only media factor has the satisfaction mean over 4.0 (which mean respondents are satisfied with this factor), the remaining of four factors have satisfaction mean under 4.0 and ranging from 3.78 points of product’s label factor down to 3.37 points of product’s price factor Three factors (product’s label, product’s quality and compliance level of food safety and hygiene) have respectively 66.7%; 60.8% and 61.8% of the sample who are satisfied or very satisfied with the product Only product’s price is the factor which gets the lowest percentage of 41.3% of the sample who are satisfied or very satisfied regarding food safety and hygiene
Figure 4.8: Respondents' satisfaction regarding food safety and hygiene by influenced factors in Dr Thanh survey
As for Chinsu sauce, although satisfaction means of all factors are lower than Dr Thanh’s, the percentage of the sample who are satisfied or very satisfied with factors are higher Product’s quality factor has the highest percentage of 78.8% of the sample who are satisfied or very satisfied Media factor has the second highest rate of satisfied consumers of the sample (at 75.8%) The rates of satisfied consumers for quality’s label factor and comliance level of food safety and hygiene factor are respective 70.9% and 64.9% Similar to Dr Thanh’s case, product’s price has the lowest rate of satisfied consumers of the sample, only 46.5% of the sample are satisfied with the price of product regarding food safety and hygiene
Figure 4.9: Respondents' satisfaction regarding food safety and hygiene by influenced factors in Chinsu survey
In order to assess how positive or negative the regression coefficients between key influenced factors and consumer’s satisfaction on food safety and hygiene are, regression analysis is conducted based on data of both survey results Thereby, consumer’s satisfaction score, known as dependent variable, is computed by the average of consumer’s satisfaction scores of all influenced factors Meanwhile, five influenced factors’ scores, known as independent, take the score of its importance level The same procedure is used for both surveys of Dr Thanh and Chinsu sauce For each survey results, the significance of each influenced factor is calculated, with confidence level of 95%, those factors with its significance (or p-value) is under 0.05, the relevant hypothesis is supported Otherwise, the hypothesis is not supported.
Figure 4.15 shows the significance of influenced factors in Chinsu survey In case of Chinsu, Hypothesis 1 and Hypothesis 5 are supported:
H1: Media has a positive influence on consumer’s satisfaction regarding food safety and hygiene This result can be explained that, for Chinsu product, the more people think media factor is important, the more they will be satisfied with this factor regarding food safety and hygiene As for manufacturers, business leaders and marketers, media should be invested to increase consumer’s awareness of the food product and incase their satisfaction regarding food safety and hygiene
H5: Compliance level of food safety and hygiene has a positive influence on consumer’s satisfaction regarding food safety and hygiene This means consumers are very concerned with compliance level of food safety and hygiene of the manufacturers No matter how well the manufacturers speak for themselves, as long as they gain trust from consumer how well they comply regulations of food safety and hygiene, their consumer will be satisfied.
Table 4.15: Significance of influenced factors in Chinsu survey
Compliance level of food safety and hygiene
Figure 4.16 shows the significance of influenced factors in Dr Thanh survey In case of Dr Thanh, Hypothesis 1 and Hypothesis 4 are supported:
H1: Media has a positive influence on consumer’s satisfaction regarding food safety and hygiene Similar to Chinsu’s case, media factor also plays a critical role in business strategy to enhance consumer’s satisfaction regarding food safety and hygiene
