Analysis of Consumer Awareness,  Purchase Experience,  and Purchase Intention Factors of Functional Foods

Sun-Hyung Min; Sang Hyeon Lee

doi:10.22698/jales.20230013

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Research Article

Journal of Agricultural, Life and Environmental Sciences. 30 June 2023. 162-179
https://doi.org/10.22698/jales.20230013

Analysis of Consumer Awareness, Purchase Experience, and Purchase Intention Factors of Functional Foods

Sun-Hyung Min¹

Sang Hyeon Lee²^*

¹Research Associate, Korea Rural Economic Institute, Naju-si, Jeollanam-do 58217, Korea

²Associate Professor, Food and Resource Economics, Korea University, Seoul 02841, Korea

^{*Corresponding Author}

ABSTRACT

This study analyzed Korean consumers’ behavior towards functional foods, focusing on recognition, purchase experience, and intention. We discovered that consumers that were health-conscious, higher-income, and those anxious about COVID-19 were more likely to recognize and buy functional foods. We observed that positive correlation existed between recognition and purchase experience, and it was stronger in health-concerned consumers and those with ill family members. Age influenced consumers’ preferences, i.e., younger consumers favored vitamins and fermented products whereas older consumers preferred ginseng-based foods. Positive purchasing experiences and marketing strategies, such as product sampling, were found to be crucial in boosting purchase intentions. Bulk purchases and personalized subscriptions were trending among consumers in their 30s. Our study shows the importance of gaining and maintaining consumer trust for sustained market growth.

Keywords

Consumer behavior

Functional foods

Health concerns

Marketing strategies

Purchase intention

MAIN

Introduction
Materials and Methods
Data Description
Results
Perception of Functional Foods
Experience of Functional Food Usage
Intention to Purchase Functional Foods
Discussion and Conclusion

Introduction

Recently, “new growth foods,” which are processed foods with expected future growth, have been rapidly increasing in consumption and attracting the attention of consumers. Due to both internal and external environmental changes and intensified international competition in the food industry, the need to nurture the new growth food industry, which will lead the next-generation growth, is increasing. In response to the post-COVID-19 era, the food industry is diversifying its business to find new growth engines (Lee and Kim, 2021). The government has designated five promising industries with high growth potential and social and economic importance, including 1) medi-food, elderly-friendly food, alternative food, pet food, etc., 2) functional food, 3) convenience food, 4) eco-friendly food, and 5) export food. The government has presented plans to establish infrastructure for fostering the industry, such as expanding private investment, developing specialized personnel, improving regulations, and supporting research and development.

To nurture new growth food industry stably, it is necessary to analyze the related consumer perceptions and preferences to induce demand expansion for new growth foods such as functional foods. As the food industry is showing a significant interest in consumer factors such as perception, usage experience, and purchase patterns for functional food consumption, it is necessary to analyze the consumption status of functional foods. This study aims to analyze the consumption status of functional foods, including consumer perceptions, usage experiences, purchase intentions, and other factors related to consumption patterns, among consumers of new growth foods. By identifying factors that need to be considered when developing, releasing, and promoting functional foods in the future, this study will contribute to expanding the demand for functional foods.

Functional food is one of the most popular product categories among consumers, as it provides health benefits and preventive effects. In particular, as interest in health increases, the functional food market is rapidly growing (Yoo, 2009). However, choosing appropriate products in the functional food market is difficult for consumers because various product categories are being released, and some of them over-advertise the health benefits. Furthermore, with the recent increase in interest in health due to COVID-19, factors that influence consumers’ purchasing decisions in the functional food market have become even more critical (Lee and Kim, 2021; Park and Heo, 2022). Therefore, to develop competitive products in the functional food market, it is essential to understand consumers’ purchasing behavior and preferences. However, most previous studies have been limited to analyzing specific product categories, so this study aimed to derive more comprehensive results across various product categories in the functional food market. Previous research has investigated various factors related to consumer behavior in the functional food market. However, research on factors related to consumer awareness and future purchase intentions in the functional food market is still lacking.

Therefore, this study aims to analyze consumer awareness, purchasing experience, and purchase decision factors in the functional food market and contribute to developing competitive products in this market. In addition, this study analyzed factors that not only influence consumer awareness but also impact purchasing experience and future purchase intentions. The results of this study can serve as important data for companies to understand consumer behavior and preferences in the domestic functional food market.

Materials and Methods

This study is based on the Processed Food Consumer Survey conducted by Korea Rural Economics Institute (KREI) in 2022, and aims to identify factors influencing awareness, usage, and future purchasing intentions of functional. The study includes awareness, usage experience, and purchase intentions for functional foods as dependent variables in the research model. Purchase intentions were divided into negative, neutral, and positive categories for efficiency, with “none” and “decrease” categorized as negative, “similar” as neutral, and “increase” as positive. This survey, which is a government-approved designated statistics pursuant to Article 17 of the Statistics Act, thoroughly captures consumer attitudes towards processed food. It conducts a household survey targeting 2,000 primary food purchasers (a Statistics Korea-approved survey) and a household ledger survey among 500 of those households (over four weeks). It also carries out an online survey of 2,000 general consumers (KREI, 2022). Although this survey has been conducted since 2011, the 2022 survey was the first to incorporate detailed questions about functional foods. The 2022 survey was conducted from June 30 to September 6, 2022, targeting primary food purchasers aged 19 to 74 years. This study utilized the results of the online survey.

To extract policy implications, this study analyzed factors that affect consumer attitudes, including not only demographic variables such as gender, age, income, marital status, and education level, but also health interest, presence of children and elderly people in the household, obesity, anxiety due to COVID-19, willingness to expand environmentally friendly packaging purchases, and disease status. When analyzing the usage experience of functional foods among household members, it is necessary to consider the influence of awareness of functional foods, in addition to demographic variables. According to Yang et al. (2020), the consumption of newly developed foods was higher with higher awareness. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the impact of functional food awareness on usage experience by reflecting functional food awareness in the research model. When analyzing the purchase intention of functional foods among household members, it is necessary to consider the influence of functional food awareness and usage experience, in addition to demographic variables. Product awareness can be a factor influencing purchasing intentions (Adawiyah et al., 2021), and consumers with high awareness of food safety tend to purchase safer processed foods (Kim, 2007). Reflecting these previous studies, this study includes functional food awareness as an explanatory variable in the research model to investigate its impact on functional food purchase intentions. Additionally, usage experience of the product can influence repurchasing intentions (Ju and Lim, 2017), and a higher frequency of consuming convenience foods can increase the possibility of purchasing such foods (Hong et al., 2020; Hong and Lee, 2021). This study used STATA 17 and employed binary and ordinal logistic regression models to identify the factors that affect the recognition, usage experience, and purchase intention of functional foods.

In terms of the analysis model for usage experience, the response data for the use of functional foods were categorized into two categories: absent or present. The binary logistic regression model, which can be applied as a dependent variable for this variable, was used for the analysis (Jung and Jang, 2011; Yoon and Park, 2000). Therefore, this study applied the binary logistic regression model to analyze the impact of demographic and socio-economic variables of consumer households on the usage experience of functional foods.

Here, $y *$ is an unobservable latent variable representing the experience of using functional foods, and $X_{i}$ is a vector of explanatory variables that influence the experience. $y *$ is treated as a dummy variable, taking the value 1 if it is greater than 0 and 0 otherwise (Lee and Kim, 2008).

(1)

y * = \sum_{k = 1}^{K} β_{k} X_{k} + ϵ

From the equation above, the probability of selection can be defined by the logarithmic function of the cumulative distribution of $F (ϵ)$ the error term 𝜖 in Equation (2) (Lee and Kim, 2008).

(2)

P (y = 1) = P (\sum_{k = 1}^{K} β_{k} X_{k} + ϵ > 0) = P (ϵ > - \sum_{k = 1}^{K} β_{k} X_{k}) = 1 - F (- \sum_{k = 1}^{K} β_{k} X_{k}) = F (\sum_{k = 1}^{K} β_{k} X_{k})

The binomial logit model assumes a dependent variable that follows a binomial distribution $B (n_{i}, p_{i})$ as follows (Jung and Jang, 2011):

(3)

\log (\frac{p_{i}}{1 - p_{i}}) = β_{0} + β_{1} X_{i 1} + β_{2} X_{i 2} + . . . + β_{p} X_{i p}

The above equation can be expressed again as equation (4), where $y$ is a binary variable that takes a value of 1 if the consumer $i$ has experience using functional foods and 0 otherwise. $F ()$ represents the logistic cumulative distribution function (Yang, 2015).

(4)

P (Y = 1 | X) = \frac{\exp (X_{i}' β)}{1 + \exp (X_{i}' β)} = \frac{1}{1 + \exp (- X_{i}' β)} = F (X' β)

It is necessary to calculate the marginal effect separately for interpretation using the estimated coefficients from the binomial logit model, rather than interpreting them directly. The logit model is a nonlinear model, and the marginal effect that measures the change in the explanatory variable for a unit change in the explanatory variable is expressed in a different form than a typical linear model, as shown in equation (5) (Yang, 2015).

(5)

\frac{\partial E (Y | X)}{\partial x_{i}} = F (X' β) [1 - F (X' β)] β_{i}

Therefore, this study conducted a logit analysis to confirm the experience of using functional foods according to the characteristics of consumers and analyzed the marginal effects of the factors.

The response data on the purchase intention of functional foods for consumers is categorized into three categories: negative, neutral, and positive, while the response data on the awareness of functional foods is categorized into three categories: no knowledge, heard of but not sure, and well aware. As the purchase intention and awareness of functional foods are assumed to have a ranking order, this study estimated the purchase intention and awareness of functional foods for consumers using a ordered logistic model.

The research model of this study was constructed based on Min and Choi (2012) work, tailored to fit the content of this study. In the ordered logistic model, it is assumed that there are latent variables that cannot be directly observed, which can be expressed as a linear function of the following explanatory variables.

(6)

y_{j} * = \sum_{k = 1}^{K} β_{k} X_{k} + ϵ

The latent variable provides a criterion for selecting the observable dependent variable (Jeon and Ahn, 2016).

(7)

y_{i} = 1, δ_{0} \leq y_{i} * \leq δ_{1} (Negative) y_{i} = 2, δ_{2} \leq y_{i} * \leq δ_{2} (Neutral) y_{i} = 3, δ_{3} \leq y_{i} * \leq δ_{3} (Positive)

The cutoff point here $δ_{j}$ is a parameter that should be estimated within the model. For example, if the dependent variable, which is the purchase intention of functional foods, has four possible choices, the cutoff point that should be estimated is three. The probability of a consumer $i$ choosing a certain option $j$ in the ordered logistic model is as follows:

(8)

\Pr (y_{i} = j) = \Pr (δ_{j - 1} < y_{i} * \leq δ_{j}) = \Pr (δ_{j - 1} < α + x_{i} β + ϵ_{i} \leq δ_{j}) = \Pr (δ_{j - 1} - (α + x_{i} β) < ϵ_{i} \leq δ_{j} - (α + x_{i} β)) = F (δ_{j} - (α + x_{i} β)) - F (δ_{j - 1} - (α + x_{i} β))

where $F ()$ is the logistic cumulative distribution function of the error term $ϵ_{i}$ (Min and Choi, 2012). Since $δ_{j}$ and the intercept 𝛼 cannot be estimated separately, 𝛼 is assumed to be zero and only the $δ_{j}$ is estimated (Kim et al., 2018; Min and Choi, 2012).

The estimated coefficient $\hat{β}$ of the equation does not represent the marginal effect of the explanatory variable. The probability effect of the explanatory variable on the selection probability is as follows, where $f ()$ is the probability density function of $F ()$ .

(9)

\frac{\partial \Pr (y_{i} = j)}{\partial x_{i}} = \frac{\partial F (δ_{j} - x_{i} β)}{\partial x_{i}} - \frac{\partial F (δ_{j - 1} - x_{i} β)}{\partial x_{i}}

A positive estimated coefficient implies that the probability of belonging to the lowest category (= no option) decreases and the probability of belonging to the highest category (= increase) increases (Kim et al., 2018; Min and Choi, 2012).

Therefore, this study analyzed the marginal effect of the factors by conducting ordered logistic analysis to examine the awareness and purchase intention of functional foods among consumers according to their characteristics.

Data Description

In Table 1, the variable of awareness was evaluated on a 3-point Likert scale, with 1 indicating “no knowledge at all” and 3 indicating “well-informed”. The degree of awareness regarding functional foods was found to have an average of 2.29. The utilization experiences of functional foods such as vitamins and minerals, amino acids and proteins, fatty acids, ginseng, and probiotics were reported with averages of 0.83, 0.43, 0.64, 0.61, and 0.8, respectively. Among them, the usage of vitamins and minerals and probiotics were relatively higher, while the usage of amino acids and proteins was the lowest. The intention to purchase functional foods next year was evaluated on a 3-point scale, with 1 indicating a “negative” attitude, 2 indicating a “neutral” attitude, and 3 indicating a “positive” attitude. The willingness to purchase vitamins and minerals, amino acids and proteins, fatty acids, ginseng, and probiotics as functional foods was reported with averages of 2.02, 1.66, 1.85, 1.71, and 2.07, respectively. Generally, the intention to purchase functional foods next year was higher than this year, with the highest willingness to purchase being vitamins and minerals.

Table 1.

Basic statistics (dependent variables)

Category	Variable Name	Variable Description	Number of Observations	Mean	Standard Deviation	Minimum Value	Maximum Value
Awareness	Functional Foods	No knowledge=1, Heard of it but not familiar=2, Familiar=3	2,000	2.2895	0.6308	1	3
Experience	Vitamins and Minerals	None=0, Present=1	2,000	0.8300	0.3757	0	1
	Amino Acids and Proteins	None=0, Present=1	2,000	0.4260	0.4946	0	1
	Fatty Acids	None=0, Present=1	2,000	0.6355	0.4814	0	1
	Ginseng	None=0, Present=1	2,000	0.6085	0.4882	0	1
	Probiotics	None=0, Present=1	2,000	0.8035	0.3975	0	1
Purchase Intention	Vitamins and Minerals	1=Negative, 2=Neutral, 3=Positive	2,000	2.0170	0.6057	1	3
	Amino Acids and Proteins	1=Negative, 2=Neutral, 3=Positive	2,000	1.6590	0.7759	1	3
	Fatty Acids	1=Negative, 2=Neutral, 3=Positive	2,000	1.8490	0.7193	1	3
	Ginseng	1=Negative, 2=Neutral, 3=Positive	2,000	1.7090	0.7277	1	3
	Probiotics	1=Negative, 2=Neutral, 3=Positive	2,000	2.0645	0.6932	1	3

The Table 2 describes the socio-economic characteristics of the respondents. Firstly, the average gender of the survey respondents was 0.49, indicating slightly more males participated in the online survey of general consumers aged 20 to 74 years. The mean age of the respondents was 44.94 years. The average monthly income was 5.18 million won, and a slightly higher percentage of respondents were married. 50% of the respondents were primary purchasers, and 8.9% had children under the age of six in their households, while 21.1% had elderly individuals over the age of 65 in their households. Furthermore, 82.6% of respondents had a college degree or higher, while 17.4% had a high school degree or lower, and 27% of respondents were obese. Generally, there was a high level of interest in health and eco-friendly products, but relatively low levels of anxiety due to COVID-19. 47% of the respondents reported having a disease.

Table 2.

Basic Statistics (independent variables)

Category	Variable Name	Variable Description	Number of Observations	Mean	Standard Deviation	Minimum Value	Maximum Value
Respondent characteristics	Gender	Male=0; Female:1	2,000	0.4935	0.5001	0	1
	Age	Continuous variables	2,000	44.936	13.5257	20	74
	Income	0~990,000 won=0.5; 1,000,000－1,990,000 won=1.5; ..,9,000,000－9,900,000 won=9.5; 10,000,000 won－ = 10.5	2,000	5.177	2.6564	0.5	10.5
	Marital status	Married:1; Single:0	2,000	0.58	0.4937	0	1
	Primary buyer in the household	Primary buyer of groceries in the household=1; Otherwise=0	2,000	0.5	0.5001	0	1
	Presence of children in the household	Presence of children under 6 years old in the household: Yes=1; No=0	2,000	0.089	0.2848	0	1
	Presence of elderly in the household	Presence of elderly (65 years and above) in the household: Yes=1; No=0	2,000	0.211	0.4081	0	1
	Education level	Education level: College graduate or higher=1; Others:0	2,000	0.826	0.3792	0	1
	Level of health concern	Not at all=1, Not much=2, Average=3, Quite a lot=4, Very much=5	2,000	3.8795	0.6966	1	5
	Obesity status	Obese (BMI>=25): 1; Others:0	2,000	0.2745	0.4464	0	1
	Anxiety due to COVID-19	Very low=1, Low=2, Moderate=3, High=4, Very high=5	2,000	3.3735	0.8564	1	5
	Intention to increase purchase of eco-friendly packaging materials	Intention to purchase: Yes=1; No=0	2,000	0.873	0.3331	0	1
	Presence of illness	Presence of illness: Yes=1; No=0	2,000	0.4665	0.4990	0	1

Results

Perception of Functional Foods

To identify the factors that influence the perception of functional foods, a ordered regression model was analyzed, and the results are presented in Table 3. The analysis revealed that males and those with higher income were more likely to be aware of functional foods. Furthermore, those who had family members with illnesses and were primary food purchasers in the household were also more likely to be aware of functional foods. Additionally, individuals with higher health concerns and higher anxiety levels about COVID-19 were found to have a higher probability of being aware of functional foods.

Table 3.

Factors affecting awareness of functional foods

Variables	Coefficients	Marginal Effects
Variables	Coefficients	Negative	Neutral	Positive
Gender	-0.2019*	0.0171*	0.0278*	-0.0449*
Gender	(0.1070)	(0.0091)	(0.0147)	(0.0237)
Age	-0.0025	0.0002	0.0003	-0.0006
Age	(0.0048)	(0.0004)	(0.0007)	(0.0011)
Income	0.0666***	-0.0056***	-0.0092***	0.0148***
Income	(0.0181)	(0.0016)	(0.0025)	(0.0040)
Marital status	0.1306	-0.0111	-0.0180	0.0290
Marital status	(0.1226)	(0.0104)	(0.0169)	(0.0272)
Primary buyer in the household	0.3275***	-0.0277***	-0.0451***	0.0728***
Primary buyer in the household	(0.1006)	(0.0087)	(0.0138)	(0.0222)
Presence of children in the household	0.1972	-0.0167	-0.0272	0.0438
Presence of children in the household	(0.1667)	(0.0141)	(0.0229)	(0.0370)
Presence of elderly in the household	0.0597	-0.0051	-0.0082	0.0133
Presence of elderly in the household	(0.1214)	(0.0103)	(0.0167)	(0.0270)
Education level	-0.1381	0.0117	0.0190	-0.0307
Education level	(0.1223)	(0.0104)	(0.0168)	(0.0272)
Level of health concern	0.4875***	-0.0413***	-0.0671***	0.1084***
Level of health concern	(0.0681)	(0.0062)	(0.0093)	(0.0146)
Obesity status	-0.0120	0.0010	0.0016	-0.0027
Obesity status	(0.0132)	(0.0011)	(0.0018)	(0.0029)
Anxiety due to COVID-19	0.1093**	-0.0092**	-0.0150**	0.0243**
Anxiety due to COVID-19	(0.0539)	(0.0046)	(0.0074)	(0.0119)
Intention to increase purchase of eco-friendly packaging materials	0.1694	-0.0143	-0.0233	0.0377
	(0.1350)	(0.0114)	(0.0186)	(0.0300)
Presence of illness	0.3566***	-0.0302***	-0.0491***	0.0793***
Presence of illness	(0.0924)	(0.0080)	(0.0127)	(0.0203)
N	2,000
Log Likelihood	-1793.8159
chi-square	144.33***

Note : Single, double and triple asterisks (*) denote significance at 10%, 5% and 1% levels, respectively.

Experience of Functional Food Usage

The results of analyzing the factors that affect the experience of using functional foods using a logistic regression model are shown in Tables 4 and 5.

Table 4.

Factors affecting experience of using functional foods I

Purchase Experience	Vitamins and Minerals		Amino Acids and Proteins		Fatty Acids
Purchase Experience	Coefficients	Marginal Effects	Coefficients	Marginal Effects	Coefficients	Marginal Effects
Gender	0.2036	0.0264	-0.0330	-0.0074	0.1763	0.0379
Gender	(0.1469)	(0.0190)	(0.1142)	(0.0256)	(0.1159)	(0.0249)
Age	-0.0118*	-0.0015*	-0.0024	-0.0005	0.0014	0.0003
Age	(0.0067)	(0.0009)	(0.0051)	(0.0011)	(0.0052)	(0.0011)
Income	0.0665**	0.0086**	0.0239	0.0054	0.0596***	0.0128***
Income	(0.0266)	(0.0034)	(0.0194)	(0.0043)	(0.0201)	(0.0043)
Marital status	0.2610	0.0338	-0.0291	-0.0065	0.3136**	0.0675**
Marital status	(0.1713)	(0.0222)	(0.1305)	(0.0293)	(0.1335)	(0.0286)
Primary buyer in the household	0.0863	0.0112	0.2621**	0.0588**	0.1391	0.0299
Primary buyer in the household	(0.1415)	(0.0183)	(0.1071)	(0.0239)	(0.1093)	(0.0235)
Presence of children in the household	0.4190	0.0543	-0.1951	-0.0437	-0.3430*	-0.0738*
Presence of children in the household	(0.2795)	(0.0362)	(0.1808)	(0.0405)	(0.1800)	(0.0386)
Presence of elderly in the household	-0.2320	-0.0300	-0.0883	-0.0198	0.0934	0.0201
Presence of elderly in the household	(0.1652)	(0.0214)	(0.1305)	(0.0292)	(0.1346)	(0.0290)
Education level	0.1443	0.0187	-0.0626	-0.0140	-0.0273	-0.0059
Education level	(0.1650)	(0.0214)	(0.1315)	(0.0295)	(0.1346)	(0.0290)
Level of health concern	0.3611***	0.0467***	0.5106***	0.1145***	0.3885***	0.0836***
Level of health concern	(0.0955)	(0.0123)	(0.0743)	(0.0159)	(0.0750)	(0.0157)
Obesity status	-0.0004	-0.0001	-0.0291**	-0.0065**	-0.0004	-0.0001
Obesity status	(0.0185)	(0.0024)	(0.0143)	(0.0032)	(0.0144)	(0.0031)
Anxiety due to COVID-19	0.1960**	0.0254**	-0.0432	-0.0097	0.0322	0.0069
Anxiety due to COVID-19	(0.0762)	(0.0098)	(0.0573)	(0.0128)	(0.0588)	(0.0126)
Intention to increase purchase of eco-friendly packaging materials	0.3525**	0.0456**	-0.1650	-0.0370	0.0048	0.0010
	(0.1668)	(0.0215)	(0.1458)	(0.0326)	(0.1446)	(0.0311)
Presence of illness	0.6428***	0.0832***	0.3339***	0.0749***	0.3882***	0.0836***
Presence of illness	(0.1364)	(0.0175)	(0.0992)	(0.0220)	(0.1019)	(0.0216)
Awareness of functional foods	0.5511***	0.0713***	0.5703***	0.1278***	0.3692***	0.0794***
Awareness of functional foods	(0.1009)	(0.0129)	(0.0792)	(0.0169)	(0.0788)	(0.0166)
Constant	-2.3608***		-2.8279***		-2.7121***
Constant	(0.6886)		(0.5423)		(0.5481)
N	2,000		2,000		2,000
Log Likelihood	-833.69782		-1278.2314		-1239.4114
chi-square	156.15***		172.16***		145.03***

Note : Single, double and triple asterisks (*) denote significance at 10%, 5% and 1% levels, respectively.

Table 5.

Factors affecting experience of using functional foods II

Usage experience	Ginseng		Probiotics
Usage experience	Coefficients	Marginal Effects	Coefficients	Marginal Effects
Gender	-0.1444	-0.0306	0.8100***	0.1163***
Gender	(0.1169)	(0.0247)	(0.1411)	(0.0198)
Age	0.0278***	0.0059***	-0.0113*	-0.0016*
Age	(0.0053)	(0.0011)	(0.0064)	(0.0009)
Income	0.0761***	0.0161***	0.0699***	0.0100***
Income	(0.0203)	(0.0042)	(0.0254)	(0.0036)
Marital status	0.1646	0.0349	0.5023***	0.0721***
Marital status	(0.1328)	(0.0281)	(0.1653)	(0.0236)
Primary buyer in the household	0.1007	0.0213	0.0538	0.0077
Primary buyer in the household	(0.1103)	(0.0234)	(0.1330)	(0.0191)
Presence of children in the household	0.0747	0.0158	0.0123	0.0018
Presence of children in the household	(0.1825)	(0.0387)	(0.2351)	(0.0337)
Presence of elderly in the household	0.3188**	0.0676**	0.1319	0.0189
Presence of elderly in the household	(0.1383)	(0.0292)	(0.1618)	(0.0232)
Education level	0.1446	0.0307	0.2098	0.0301
Education level	(0.1359)	(0.0288)	(0.1578)	(0.0226)
Level of health concern	0.3820***	0.0810***	0.2878***	0.0413***
Level of health concern	(0.0752)	(0.0156)	(0.0909)	(0.0130)
Obesity status	-0.0479***	-0.0102***	-0.0118	-0.0017
Obesity status	(0.0146)	(0.0031)	(0.0174)	(0.0025)
Anxiety due to COVID-19	-0.0190	-0.0040	-0.0145	-0.0021
Anxiety due to COVID-19	(0.0590)	(0.0125)	(0.0716)	(0.0103)
Intention to increase purchase of eco-friendly packaging materials	0.3660**	0.0776**	0.5337***	0.0766***
	(0.1456)	(0.0307)	(0.1575)	(0.0224)
Presence of illness	0.2193**	0.0465**	0.4132***	0.0593***
Presence of illness	(0.1027)	(0.0217)	(0.1273)	(0.0182)
Awareness of functional foods	0.3337***	0.0707***	0.5026***	0.0721***
Awareness of functional foods	(0.0792)	(0.0165)	(0.0961)	(0.0136)
Constant	-2.9040***		-1.7995***
Constant	(0.5510)		(0.6539)
N	2,000		2,000
Log Likelihood	-1224.0751		-904.33076
chi-square	229.51***		173.39***

Note : Single, double and triple asterisks (*) denote significance at 10%, 5% and 1% levels, respectively.

An analysis was conducted to identify the factors influencing the experience of using vitamins and minerals. The results indicated that households with lower age, higher income, greater intention to purchase eco-friendly packaging, heightened health concerns, presence of diseases, anxiety due to COVID-19, and knowledge of functional foods are more likely to use vitamins and minerals. Similarly, the analysis of the factors affecting the experience of using amino acids and proteins revealed that households with the food purchaser being the primary member and without obesity have a higher likelihood of using amino acids and proteins. Furthermore, households with greater health concerns, diseases, and higher awareness of functional foods are more likely to use amino acids and proteins. Lastly, the analysis of the factors affecting the experience of using fatty acids indicated that households with higher income, being married, and no infants in the household have a higher likelihood of using fatty acids. Additionally, households with greater health concerns, diseases, and higher awareness of functional foods are more likely to use fatty acids.

The analysis of factors that influence the usage of ginseng products revealed that households with higher age, income, and elderly members have a greater tendency to use ginseng products. Additionally, households with a higher awareness of health, without obesity, and an interest in eco-friendly packaging are also more likely to use ginseng products. Moreover, households with diseases and knowledge of functional foods were identified as having a higher likelihood of using ginseng products.

In terms of fermented microbial products, the analysis found that women, younger age, higher income, and married status were more likely to use them. Moreover, households with a greater awareness of health, an intention to purchase eco-friendly packaging, diseases, and knowledge of functional foods were also found to have a higher likelihood of using probiotic products.

Intention to Purchase Functional Foods

An analysis was conducted to identify the factors influencing the intention to purchase functional foods. Specifically, a rank-ordered model was applied to analyze the factors affecting the intention to purchase vitamin and mineral products, and the results are shown in Table 6. The analysis revealed that younger age was positively associated with a higher intention to purchase these products. Additionally, households with greater health concerns, an intention to purchase eco-friendly packaging, and diseases were found to have a higher intention to purchase. Moreover, having knowledge of functional foods and previous experience using vitamin and mineral products were positively related to a higher intention to purchase these products next year.

Table 6.

Factors influencing intention to purchase vitamins and minerals

Variables	Coefficients	Marginal Effects
Variables	Coefficients	Negative	Neutral	Positive
Gender	0.0161	-0.0018	-0.0004	0.0023
Gender	(0.1154)	(0.0130)	(0.0032)	(0.0162)
Age	-0.0178***	0.0020***	0.0005***	-0.0025***
Age	(0.0052)	(0.0006)	(0.0002)	(0.0007)
Income	0.0273	-0.0031	-0.0008	0.0038
Income	(0.0196)	(0.0022)	(0.0006)	(0.0028)
Marital status	0.1755	-0.0198	-0.0049	0.0247
Marital status	(0.1316)	(0.0149)	(0.0039)	(0.0185)
Primary buyer in the household	-0.0456	0.0051	0.0013	-0.0064
Primary buyer in the household	(0.1080)	(0.0122)	(0.0030)	(0.0152)
Presence of children in the household	-0.1572	0.0177	0.0044	-0.0221
Presence of children in the household	(0.1794)	(0.0202)	(0.0051)	(0.0252)
Presence of elderly in the household	0.1874	-0.0211	-0.0052	0.0264
Presence of elderly in the household	(0.1316)	(0.0149)	(0.0039)	(0.0185)
Education level	-0.1642	0.0185	0.0046	-0.0231
Education level	(0.1338)	(0.0151)	(0.0039)	(0.0188)
Level of health concern	0.3133***	-0.0353***	-0.0087***	0.0441***
Level of health concern	(0.0747)	(0.0085)	(0.0030)	(0.0105)
Obesity status	-0.0103	0.0012	0.0003	-0.0015
Obesity status	(0.0144)	(0.0016)	(0.0004)	(0.0020)
Anxiety due to COVID-19	0.0343	-0.0039	-0.0010	0.0048
Anxiety due to COVID-19	(0.0583)	(0.0066)	(0.0016)	(0.0082)
Intention to increase purchase of eco-friendly packaging materials	0.4855***	-0.0548***	-0.0135***	0.0683***
	(0.1529)	(0.0173)	(0.0054)	(0.0215)
Presence of illness	0.2407**	-0.0272**	-0.0067**	0.0339**
Presence of illness	(0.1010)	(0.0114)	(0.0032)	(0.0142)
Awareness of functional foods	0.2003**	-0.0226**	-0.0056**	0.0282**
Awareness of functional foods	(0.0788)	(0.0089)	(0.0026)	(0.0111)
Experience of using Vitamins and Minerals	2.6293***	-0.2966***	-0.0733***	0.3699***
Experience of using Vitamins and Minerals	(0.1563)	(0.0124)	(0.0206)	(0.0252)
N	2,000
Log Likelihood	-1590.7126
chi-square	463.90***

Note : Single, double and triple asterisks (*) denote significance at 10%, 5% and 1% levels, respectively.

The factors influencing the purchase intention of amino acid and protein products were analyzed and the results are presented in Table 7. The analysis of purchase intention for the products according to health concerns revealed that the higher the level of health concern, the higher the purchase intention for the products. In addition, individuals who were not obese and had higher anxiety due to COVID-19 were found to have a higher purchase intention for the products. Furthermore, individuals who had diseases, knowledge of functional foods, and experience with amino acid and protein products were found to have a higher purchase intention.

Table 7.

Factors influencing intention to purchase amino acids and proteins

Variables	Coefficients	Marginal Effects
Variables	Coefficients	Negative	Neutral	Positive
Gender	0.0081	-0.0013	0.0004	0.0009
Gender	(0.1155)	(0.0187)	(0.0055)	(0.0132)
Age	-0.0000	0.0000	0.0000	0.0000
Age	(0.0052)	(0.0008)	(0.0002)	(0.0006)
Income	-0.0034	0.0005	-0.0002	-0.0004
Income	(0.0200)	(0.0032)	(0.0010)	(0.0023)
Marital status	-0.0567	0.0092	-0.0027	-0.0065
Marital status	(0.1325)	(0.0214)	(0.0063)	(0.0151)
Primary buyer in the household	0.1076	-0.0174	0.0051	0.0123
Primary buyer in the household	(0.1095)	(0.0177)	(0.0053)	(0.0125)
Presence of children in the household	0.0695	-0.0112	0.0033	0.0079
Presence of children in the household	(0.1847)	(0.0299)	(0.0088)	(0.0210)
Presence of elderly in the household	-0.0390	0.0063	-0.0019	-0.0044
Presence of elderly in the household	(0.1328)	(0.0215)	(0.0063)	(0.0151)
Education level	-0.0909	0.0147	-0.0043	-0.0104
Education level	(0.1340)	(0.0217)	(0.0064)	(0.0153)
Level of health concern	0.1973***	-0.0319**	0.0094**	0.0225***
Level of health concern	(0.0762)	(0.0123)	(0.0038)	(0.0087)
Obesity status	-0.0285*	0.0046*	-0.0014*	-0.0032*
Obesity status	(0.0148)	(0.0024)	(0.0007)	(0.0017)
Anxiety due to COVID-19	0.1149*	-0.0186*	0.0055*	0.0131*
Anxiety due to COVID-19	(0.0587)	(0.0095)	(0.0029)	(0.0067)
Intention to increase purchase of eco-friendly packaging materials	0.1563	-0.0253	0.0075	0.0178
	(0.1516)	(0.0245)	(0.0073)	(0.0173)
Presence of illness	0.2088**	-0.0337**	0.0100**	0.0238**
Presence of illness	(0.1010)	(0.0163)	(0.0049)	(0.0115)
Awareness of functional foods	0.1520*	-0.0246*	0.0073*	0.0173*
Awareness of functional foods	(0.0812)	(0.0131)	(0.0039)	(0.0093)
Experience of using Amino Acids and Proteins	2.5468***	-0.4116***	0.1215***	0.2901***
Experience of using Amino Acids and Proteins	(0.1100)	(0.0067)	(0.0087)	(0.0128)
N	2,000
Log Likelihood	-1618.8743
chi-square	794.97***

Note : Single, double and triple asterisks (*) denote significance at 10%, 5% and 1% levels, respectively.

The factors influencing the purchase intention of fatty acid products were analyzed, and the results are presented in Table 8. The analysis of purchase intention for the products based on health interest revealed that the higher the interest in health, the greater the intention to purchase the product. Furthermore, the intention to purchase next year was positively correlated with the willingness to purchase environmentally friendly packaging, the presence of diseases, and the experience of using fatty acid products.

Table 8.

Factors influencing intention to purchase Fatty Acids

Variables	Coefficients	Marginal Effects
Variables	Coefficients	Negative	Neutral	Positive
Gender	0.1759	-0.0285	0.0054	0.0231
Gender	(0.1106)	(0.0179)	(0.0036)	(0.0145)
Age	-0.0025	0.0004	-0.0001	-0.0003
Age	(0.0049)	(0.0008)	(0.0002)	(0.0006)
Income	0.0123	-0.0020	0.0004	0.0016
Income	(0.0186)	(0.0030)	(0.0006)	(0.0024)
Marital status	-0.1900	0.0308	-0.0058	-0.0249
Marital status	(0.1256)	(0.0203)	(0.0040)	(0.0165)
Primary buyer in the household	0.1247	-0.0202	0.0038	0.0164
Primary buyer in the household	(0.1038)	(0.0168)	(0.0033)	(0.0136)
Presence of children in the household	0.0919	-0.0149	0.0028	0.0121
Presence of children in the household	(0.1746)	(0.0283)	(0.0054)	(0.0229)
Presence of elderly in the household	-0.1106	0.0179	-0.0034	-0.0145
Presence of elderly in the household	(0.1243)	(0.0201)	(0.0039)	(0.0163)
Education level	-0.0887	0.0144	-0.0027	-0.0116
Education level	(0.1273)	(0.0206)	(0.0039)	(0.0167)
Level of health concern	0.2578***	-0.0417***	0.0079***	0.0338***
Level of health concern	(0.0715)	(0.0116)	(0.0027)	(0.0094)
Obesity status	0.0099	-0.0016	0.0003	0.0013
Obesity status	(0.0135)	(0.0022)	(0.0004)	(0.0018)
Anxiety due to COVID-19	0.0370	-0.0060	0.0011	0.0049
Anxiety due to COVID-19	(0.0555)	(0.0090)	(0.0017)	(0.0073)
Intention to increase purchase of eco-friendly packaging materials	0.3920***	-0.0634***	0.0120**	0.0515***
	(0.1443)	(0.0233)	(0.0050)	(0.0189)
Presence of illness	0.2167**	-0.0351**	0.0066**	0.0284**
Presence of illness	(0.0958)	(0.0155)	(0.0032)	(0.0126)
Awareness of functional foods	0.0974	-0.0158	0.0030	0.0128
Awareness of functional foods	(0.0755)	(0.0122)	(0.0024)	(0.0099)
Experience of using Fatty Acids	2.4718***	-0.4000***	0.0757***	0.3244***
Experience of using Fatty Acids	(0.1168)	(0.0090)	(0.0129)	(0.0175)
N	2,000
Log Likelihood	-1754.5246
chi-square	662.34***

Note : Single, double and triple asterisks (*) denote significance at 10%, 5% and 1% levels, respectively.

The results of model applied to identify factors influencing the purchase intention of ginseng products are presented in Table 9. The analysis of purchase intention for the products based on the presence of elderly household members showed that households with elderly members have a higher intention to purchase the products. Additionally, married individuals with a high interest in health, familiarity with functional foods, and previous experience using ginseng products demonstrated a positive intention to purchase the products next year.

Table 9.

Factors influencing intention to purchase ginseng products

Variables	Coefficients	Marginal Effects
Variables	Coefficients	Negative	Neutral	Positive
Gender	-0.0322	0.0049	-0.0012	-0.0037
Gender	(0.1173)	(0.0179)	(0.0045)	(0.0134)
Age	-0.0018	0.0003	-0.0001	-0.0002
Age	(0.0052)	(0.0008)	(0.0002)	(0.0006)
Income	0.0238	-0.0036	0.0009	0.0027
Income	(0.0196)	(0.0030)	(0.0008)	(0.0022)
Marital status	0.2242*	-0.0342*	0.0085	0.0257*
Marital status	(0.1332)	(0.0203)	(0.0052)	(0.0153)
Primary buyer in the household	0.0837	-0.0128	0.0032	0.0096
Primary buyer in the household	(0.1090)	(0.0166)	(0.0042)	(0.0125)
Presence of children in the household	0.0306	-0.0047	0.0012	0.0035
Presence of children in the household	(0.1803)	(0.0275)	(0.0068)	(0.0207)
Presence of elderly in the household	0.3072**	-0.0469**	0.0117**	0.0352**
Presence of elderly in the household	(0.1279)	(0.0195)	(0.0053)	(0.0146)
Education level	0.1164	-0.0178	0.0044	0.0133
Education level	(0.1362)	(0.0208)	(0.0052)	(0.0156)
Level of health concern	0.2863***	-0.0437***	0.0109***	0.0328***
Level of health concern	(0.0754)	(0.0115)	(0.0034)	(0.0086)
Obesity status	0.0121	-0.0019	0.0005	0.0014
Obesity status	(0.0145)	(0.0022)	(0.0006)	(0.0017)
Anxiety due to COVID-19	0.0476	-0.0073	0.0018	0.0055
Anxiety due to COVID-19	(0.0585)	(0.0089)	(0.0022)	(0.0067)
Intention to increase purchase of eco-friendly packaging materials	-0.0016	0.0002	-0.0001	-0.0002
	(0.1541)	(0.0235)	(0.0058)	(0.0177)
Presence of illness	0.1528	-0.0233	0.0058	0.0175
Presence of illness	(0.1003)	(0.0153)	(0.0039)	(0.0115)
Awareness of functional foods	0.2022**	-0.0308**	0.0077**	0.0232**
Awareness of functional foods	(0.0797)	(0.0121)	(0.0033)	(0.0091)
Experience of using Ginseng	2.8874***	-0.4404***	0.1095***	0.3309***
Experience of using Ginseng	(0.1300)	(0.0081)	(0.0155)	(0.0186)
N	2,000
Log Likelihood	-1613.6045
chi-square	855.64***

Note : Single, double and triple asterisks (*) denote significance at 10%, 5% and 1% levels, respectively.

The factors influencing the purchase intention of fermented microbial products were investigated and the results are presented in Table 10. Our analysis revealed that women showed a higher purchase intention than men. Furthermore, a greater interest in health and a willingness to buy eco-friendly packaging materials were positively associated with purchase intention, as were households with a history of illness. Additionally, familiarity with functional foods and previous experience using probiotic products were also found to be positively related to purchase intention.

Table 10.

Factors influencing intention to purchase probiotics products

Variables	Coefficients	Marginal Effects
Variables	Coefficients	Negative	Neutral	Positive
Gender	0.2713**	-0.0307**	-0.0166**	0.0473**
Gender	(0.1114)	(0.0127)	(0.0069)	(0.0194)
Age	-0.0036	0.0004	0.0002	-0.0006
Age	(0.0049)	(0.0006)	(0.0003)	(0.0009)
Income	0.0147	-0.0017	-0.0009	0.0026
Income	(0.0185)	(0.0021)	(0.0011)	(0.0032)
Marital status	0.0641	-0.0073	-0.0039	0.0112
Marital status	(0.1268)	(0.0144)	(0.0077)	(0.0221)
Primary buyer in the household	-0.0433	0.0049	0.0026	-0.0075
Primary buyer in the household	(0.1035)	(0.0117)	(0.0063)	(0.0180)
Presence of children in the household	0.0180	-0.0020	-0.0011	0.0031
Presence of children in the household	(0.1712)	(0.0194)	(0.0105)	(0.0298)
Presence of elderly in the household	0.0039	-0.0004	-0.0002	0.0007
Presence of elderly in the household	(0.1252)	(0.0142)	(0.0076)	(0.0218)
Education level	0.1210	-0.0137	-0.0074	0.0211
Education level	(0.1275)	(0.0144)	(0.0078)	(0.0222)
Level of health concern	0.3324***	-0.0376***	-0.0203***	0.0579***
Level of health concern	(0.0708)	(0.0081)	(0.0046)	(0.0122)
Obesity status	-0.0019	0.0002	0.0001	-0.0003
Obesity status	(0.0136)	(0.0015)	(0.0008)	(0.0024)
Anxiety due to COVID-19	0.0020	-0.0002	-0.0001	0.0003
Anxiety due to COVID-19	(0.0555)	(0.0063)	(0.0034)	(0.0097)
Intention to increase purchase of eco-friendly packaging materials	0.2957**	-0.0335**	-0.0181**	0.0515**
	(0.1461)	(0.0166)	(0.0091)	(0.0254)
Presence of illness	0.2596***	-0.0294***	-0.0159***	0.0452***
Presence of illness	(0.0952)	(0.0108)	(0.0059)	(0.0165)
Awareness of functional foods	0.2237***	-0.0253***	-0.0137***	0.0390***
Awareness of functional foods	(0.0755)	(0.0086)	(0.0048)	(0.0131)
Experience of using Probiotics	2.9839***	-0.3378***	-0.1822***	0.5200***
Experience of using Probiotics	(0.1523)	(0.0102)	(0.0255)	(0.0284)
N	2,000
Log Likelihood	-1726.2697
chi-square	644.22***

Note : Single, double and triple asterisks (*) denote significance at 10%, 5% and 1% levels, respectively.

Discussion and Conclusion

A comprehensive analysis of the awareness of functional foods indicates that they are mostly associated with health promotion, and thus consumers who are highly interested in their health or those who have health concerns are more aware of them. Additionally, since functional foods are typically more expensive than regular products, consumers with higher incomes are more likely to be interested in them. Furthermore, the results show that consumers who are highly anxious about COVID-19 are more aware of functional foods, suggesting that risk-averse consumers are more interested in them.

An analysis of usage experience reveals a strong correlation between awareness and usage experience. Furthermore, households with a high interest in health or those with family members with diseases tend to have more usage experience with functional foods. There are also differences in the usage experience of different product categories according to age, with younger consumers having more usage experience with vitamins, minerals, and fermented foods, while older consumers have higher usage experience with ginseng products.

Regarding future purchase intentions of functional foods, it is analyzed that usage experience has a very significant impact on positive purchasing behavior. Therefore, expanding usage experience is crucial for the growth of the functional food market. Marketing strategies such as active tasting events and sample product giveaways may be necessary to achieve this.

In a comprehensive analysis of purchase intentions for functional foods, households with diseases, except for ginseng products, show a higher willingness to purchase all functional food products. Furthermore, overall positive purchase intentions for functional foods are associated with higher awareness and usage experience of each product category.

Functional foods have different preferred product categories according to age and online/offline channels. Therefore, marketing strategies that consider these differences are crucial. This study may not account for the rapidly evolving trends in functional food consumption due to its cross-sectional design. Future research should adopt a longitudinal approach to better understand changing consumer behaviors and trends. Additionally, the influence of digital marketing on consumer behavior towards functional foods is an underexplored area warranting further investigation.

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Journal of Agricultural, Life and Environmental Sciences ISSN:2233-8322(Print) 2508-870X(Online) 농업생명환경연구

Preview

Analysis of Consumer Awareness, Purchase Experience, and Purchase Intention Factors of Functional Foods

ABSTRACT

MAIN

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Table 1.

Basic statistics (dependent variables)

Table 2.

Basic Statistics (independent variables)

Table 3.

Factors affecting awareness of functional foods

Table 4.

Factors affecting experience of using functional foods I

Table 5.

Factors affecting experience of using functional foods II

Table 6.

Factors influencing intention to purchase vitamins and minerals

Table 7.

Factors influencing intention to purchase amino acids and proteins

Table 8.

Factors influencing intention to purchase Fatty Acids

Table 9.

Factors influencing intention to purchase ginseng products

Table 10.

Factors influencing intention to purchase probiotics products

References