Antecedents of consumer’s choice of fresh apples in vietnam

Thus, this study investigated antecedents ofconsumer’s choice of fresh apples to explore how the Vietnamese consumers choosethe origin of Envy apples between the USA and New Zealand whic

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI

VIETNAM JAPAN UNIVERSITY

-o0o -NGUYEN THI THUONG

ANTECEDENTS OF CONSUMER’S CHOICE

OF FRESH APPLES IN VIETNAM

MASTER THESIS BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

VIETNAM JAPAN UNIVERSITY

-o0o -NGUYEN THI THUONG

ANTECEDENTS OF CONSUMER’S CHOICE

OF FRESH APPLES IN VIETNAM

MAJOR: BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

CODE: 8340101.01.

RESEARCH SUPERVISORS:

PROF DR KURATA HISASHI

DR DO XUAN TRUONG

Hanoi, 2021

ABSTRACT

Nowadays the living standard in Vietnam has increased, consumers’ behaviors towardfood have shifted to high-quality food to protect their health Since the Vietnamesemarket provides imported fresh apples from different countries of origin, theconsumers have to face a matter to decide which types of country-originated applesthat they should choose for their own and family consumption To be able to gaincompetitive advantages in the market, it is very important for the marketers/ retailers

to understand the apple consumers well Thus, this study investigated antecedents ofconsumer’s choice of fresh apples to explore how the Vietnamese consumers choosethe origin of Envy apples between the USA and New Zealand which are the twobiggest exporters of apples in Vietnam The reason for choosing Envy apples isbecause this type of apple is very common and the most favorable by the buyers, theycan be imported from only the two aforementioned countries of origin Besidesdescriptive analysis, this study applied exploratory factor analysis (EFA) to reduce thenumber of theoretical factors Next, to test the hypotheses, a binary logistic model wasused to investigate what specific factors affect Vietnamese consumers’ choice of NewZealand’s Envy apples compared to the U.S’s Envy apples The result of the studyshowed that the factors of Health consciousness and Food safety concern havestatistically significantly positive influence on the consumer’s choice of NewZealand’s Envy apples; in contrast, the other factors including Promotion, Income andCountry of origin image have negative impacts on their choice Therefore, whenconsumers pay more attention to promotion, country image and their income, they

more likely choose the USA’s apples The results can be used as recommendations forthe marketing managers/ retailers to understand more about the consumer behaviors inthe agricultural industry in order to have an effective marketing strategy and forecastthe apple demand to meet the consumers’ needs and wants By applying the findingsinto practices, that also helps improve the performance of the apple market inVietnam.

Keywords: Consumer’s behavior, consumer’s choice, food safety concern, price,perceived quality, perceived value, health consciousness, promotion, country of originimage

a third –intake student of VJU She introduced me to the school After getting greatsupport from VJU staff, I decided to join the MBA program

Over the last 2 years, VJU has been my second home with great teachers, assistants,and classmates It is an unforgettable memory of my school life Every time, when Ihave struggled with any hard subject, I receive huge support from classmates andlecturers We stand side by side to achieve our goals

My master thesis could have never completed without support from whom I wouldlike to sincerely thank to:

First of all, I am deeply thankful to my professor supervisors Prof Dr KurataHishashi, Dr Do Xuan Truong; advisors Prof Yoshiki Matsui and Prof Dr MotonariTanabu for their expert guidance, understanding, and encouragement throughout mystudy and research All Professors have instructed me step by step giving me valuableand meaningful advice and inspired critical ideas for my thesis.

I also want to express my sincere thanks to the IPO staff of Yokohama NationalUniversity who always helped me during four-month internship and the thesis journey.Last but not least, I would like to especially thank Japan International CooperationAgency (JICA), Doctor Yoshifumi Hino, JICA expert cum and other VJU’s MBAprogram teachers who devotedly provided insight and expertise that greatly advisedand assisted me during the master program I cannot say more thanks to the MBAprogram’s Assistants who gave me extremely efficient support to complete thisexperience I also thank my classmates of VJU’s MBA program for their invaluableassistance in helping me during the data collection process and others

LIST OF TABLES

Page

Table 4 2: The result of Rotated Component Matrix 25

Table 4 5 Estimated logit model for consumer’s choice of Envy apples 30

LIST OF FIGURES

PageFigure 1.1: Vietnam’s apple consumption per capita from 2011 – 2017 (unit: kg) 2Figure 2.1: Phillip kotler and keller (2015) model of consumer behavior 7Figure 2.2: Kotler and keller (2012) - consumer buying decision-making process 7Figure 2.3: The research framework (created by the author) 15

Figure 4 1: Revised model after efa (created by the author) 28Figure 4 2: The model after analysis (created by the author) 32

LIST OF ABBREVIATITION

COO: Country of origin

COI: Country of origin image

CI: Country image

GDP: Gross Domestic Product

EFA: Exploratory factor analysis

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the study

Vietnam is an emerging market in the East Asia region, with a total population of 96.5million, 68 percent of the population between the ages of 15-64 (The World Bank inVietnam, 2020) Vietnam has a low unemployment rate of about two percent The annualGross Domestic Product (GDP) growth over the last five years is over six percent.According to (The World Bank in Vietnam, 2021) Vietnam’s GDP reached $261 billionwith a growth rate of seven percent, GDP per capita is $ 2,740 in 2019 Due to Covid-19crisis, the 2020 GDP grew by only 2.9 percent in decades, although it was considered asone of the few best countries in the world The nation’s economy is set to grow about 6.6percent in 2021, to recover export-oriented manufacturing and robust the demandnationwide With rising income and living standards, Vietnamese consumers areincreasingly concerned with the quality of their food, and tend to choose pesticide-free andhigh quality food Fruits imported from foreign countries are commonly seen in Vietnam,although they are not cheap

According to a study conducted by the Vietnam Academy of Agriculture in 2017, anaverage household living in the two biggest cities Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City spendsabout 8-9% of their monthly food expenditure on fruits As (The USDA ForeignAgricultural Service, 2020) reported that fresh fruits were imported in Vietnamincreasingly from 2016 to 2019 with the value of USD 1,371 and 2,493 million,respectively Among many types of fresh fruit imports, the imported fresh apples are one

of the most preferred fruits among Vietnamese citizens The imported apples in Vietnamhave increased rapidly with a value of USD 66.54 million in 2017 compared to USD 51.61million in 2016 The apple consumption per capita in Vietnam has risen over the years.According to the (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2017), itincreased from 0.82 kg (2012) to 1.65 kg in 2017 The average apple import price wascounted up to $897 per ton in 2019 The nation has especially imported apples withnoticeably high prices ($1,608 per ton) The quantity of apples consumption is estimated

increasingly over the next few years due to Free Trade Agreements which Vietnamesegovernment has opened to many foreign businesses from all over the world and also theconsumer’s preference increases.

Figure 1.1: Vietnam’s apple consumption per capita from 2011 – 2017 (unit: kg)

Source “Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

According to (Export Genius, 2018) Vietnam is importing fresh apples from 18 foreigncountries including USA, New Zealand, China, France, Canada, Japan, Poland, SouthKorea, Belgium, and Malaysia etc The top three import sources of Vietnam supplied over84% value of the apple fruit Vietnam imports apple fruit from the United States and NewZealand worth 42.01% and 24.57% share value in 2017

Nowadays the living standard in Vietnam has increased, consumers’ behaviors towardfood have shifted to high-quality food to protect their health Since the Vietnamese marketprovides imported fresh apples from many different countries of origin, the consumershave to face a matter to decide which types of country-originated apples that they shouldchoose for their own and family consumption To be able to gain the competitiveadvantages in the potential market of imported apples, it is very important for the

marketers/ retailers to understand the apple consumers well By understanding theimportant role of marketing in food consumptions, some researchers studied aboutantecedents of consumer’s purchase behaviors of fresh apples (Astuti et al., 2015; Ceschi

et al., 2018, 2018; Gineikiene et al., 2016; Goossens et al., 2019; Ly & Trung, 2016).Especially, some studies have revealed that origin is related to consumers’ food choice(Götze & Brunner, 2019) However, consumers’ behaviors change in given contexts andindividuals’ characteristics The purchases of consumers are influenced by various factorsincluding the buyers’ internal and external effects (Ramya & Ali, 2016) There areinconsistencies among different categories of factors like socio-demographic, consumerpsychographics Thus, this study aims to investigate antecedents of consumer’s choice offresh apples to explore how the Vietnamese consumers choose the origin of Envy applesbetween the USA and New Zealand, which are the two biggest exporters of apples inVietnam Envy apples are very common and the most favorable by the buyers, this applecan be imported from only the two aforementioned countries of origin This study outcome

is to provide insights into the ways marketers / retailers: (1) to forecast the demand ofcountry of origin – related fresh apples to meet the consumers’ needs and wants; (2) toapply into marketing strategies; (3) and to help improve performance of the fresh applesmarket in Vietnam

1.2 Purposes of study

Based on the background study, the purpose of this research is to study the consumer’sbehaviors in context of choosing imported Envy apples between the U.S and New Zealand.The result of the study is used as recommendations to support the marketers/retailers tounderstand more about Vietnamese consumers in order to have a marketing strategyeffectively in the agricultural business

1.3 Research questions

In this study, there are two research questions including:

(1) What specific factors affect Vietnamese consumers’ choice of New Zealand’s Envyapples compared to the U.S’s Envy apples?

(2) What is the strongest determinant among categorical predictors that influences thespecific behavior of certain consumer groups in Vietnam?

The reason for choosing Envy apples is discussed in detail in part 1.4

1.4 Scope of the study

This study is targeted as research regarding consumer behaviors of marketing perspective

to investigate the antecedents of consumers’ choice of fresh apples in Vietnam TheVietnamese market provides many distinct types of apples in terms of brands and countries

of origin According to (ASIAFRUIT, 2019), apples are one of the five key categories –apples, grapes, kiwifruit, pears and oranges – which represent 96 per cent of the totalimported fruit section in Vietnam From the research of (T&G Global and Opp, 2019), itindicated that shoppers have a high purchase intention and are willing to pay more forEnvy apples than other types of apples Furthermore, Vinmart is one of the biggestconvenience chains in Vietnam and also the most preferred by Vietnamese consumers.Especially, in Vietnam, the Envy apples are imported from the USA and New Zealand.Therefore, this study, Envy apples imported from the two aforementioned countries areconducted as alternative choice

Hanoi and Ho- Chi- Minh were chosen to target the participants of the survey These arethe biggest cities in Vietnam with high living standards The respondent ages range from

18 to 45 years old because they are responsible for shopping food for their families

1.5 Methodology of the study

In the scope of this study, the participants are domestic consumers To achieve the researchobjectives, the study used quantitative research method Data was collected by onlinesurvey, then analyzed by descriptive statistics, factor analysis, and binary logisticregression model

1.6 Structure of the report

This report includes five main chapters:

- Chapter 1 introduces information consisting of the background of the study, theresearch objectives, the scope, the methodology and the structure of the report in general.

- Chapter 2 provides the theoretical background and summarizes the prior researches

of consumer behaviors in food markets It also explains the hypotheses and theoreticalmodel of the study

- Chapter 3 explains methodology, the research design, as well as the data collection’sprocess in detail

- Chapter 4 indicates the results of data analysis This part takes account ofdescriptive analysis, factor analysis, especially the binary logistic regression model isexploited to test the hypotheses to find out the antecedents of Vietnamese consumer’schoice of fresh apples imported for the USA and New Zealand

- Chapter 5 comprises of the conclusions of the findings, recommendations for theretailers to apply into practices of agricultural business, and some limitations that thefuture research can develop for further studies

- References part contains all the acknowledged studies and resources

- The part of the appendix shows the list of questionnaires in both Vietnamese andEnglish versions The Vietnamese copy was delivered to the respondents to collect thedata

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter provides a theoretical necessity mainly focused on consumers’ purchasingbehaviors The part also reviews and analyses the relationships between predictive factorsincluding food safety concern, health consciousness, price, perceived quality, country – of– origin image, and promotion with consumer’s purchase behaviors The chapter includesthree sections:

- The first section discusses the concept, model and buying – decision makingprocess of the consumers

- The second section explains the definition of key predictors and how they affectconsumers in terms of food consumption

- Finally, the last section shows the conceptual model and hypotheses

2.1 Theoretical necessity

2.1.1 Concept of Consumer behavior

Consumer behavior is that consumers demonstrate in finding, purchasing, using, andevaluating products and services that they expect to satisfy their individual needs (Bettman

et al., 1998) According to (Hantula & Wells, 2014), the choice behaviour is considered as

a part of consumer behaviours

In marketing perspectives, the researchers would like to study on consumer behavior withthe aim of identifying individual characteristics, needs, preferences, shopping habits,specific identification of the type of their consumer The marketers should be able to knowthese consumer’s questions including “what to buy, why to buy, how to buy, where to buy,

when to buy, how much to buy” to build a suitable marketing strategy, to motivateconsumers to buy products and services.

2.1.2 Consumer behavior model

When consumers purchase food, they are influenced by many factors including extrinsicand intrinsic features of products While some aspects of products, the consumers can getrelated to physical and functional features of a particular product, for example, taste,appearance, amora Many other features that are not physical parts can be understood asextrinsic attributes such as price, label, and origin In many studies, the researchers foundthat consumers use both extrinsic and intrinsic attributes to decide whether they buy theproducts or services Especially, in food industry, when the buyers can not taste the food,they have to use other external cues to their purchase

Figure 2.1: Phillip Kotler and Keller (2015) Model of Consumer Behavior

Kotler and Keller (2015) systematized the factors that lead to consumer purchasingdecisions The consumer behavior model shows that marketing factors include product,price, distribution, promotion and other factors such as economics, politics, technology,culture impact the buyers’ purchasing decision of product choice, brand choice, dealerchoice and others However, by reviewing previous studies, the author understood that theconsumer purchase behaviour could be explored by separate or combined factors in givencontexts or situations

2.1.3 Consumer buying decision-making process

To lead to the act of buying, consumers go through five stages, according to (Kotler &Keller, 2015)

Figure 3.2: Kotler and Keller (2012) - Consumer buying decision-making process

Stage 1: Need recognition

The consumer’s buying decision-making process starts when the consumers feel thedifference between the actual situation and the desired state, then they form the demand.The cause of this demand formation is that consumers are subjected to stimuli from within

or from outside Therefore the enterprises must pay attention to find out: the circumstances

in which the demand arises, what are the needs, what makes the demand appear, thedemand is directed to which goods / services to satisfy On the other hand, businesses alsoneed to find suitable marketing stimuli that can elicit demand, promote demand to becomemotivation (desire) of potential consumers

Stage 2: Search for information

As soon as the demand appeared, the consumer was to find out more information to satisfythe demand The purpose of seeking more information is to better understand products /brands, supply activities of businesses in relation to customers’ choices and reduce risks inshopping and consumption The level of information seeking is different for eachindividual’s needs that pay more attention to information related to the need, or to consultthat products/ services The searchers also find the information by many different ways andsources

Information sources: Depending on the nature of goods and services, customers can chooseone or several sources of information before making a decision to buy or not to buy for

example other individuals’ references (friends, neighbors, colleagues, acquaintance…);commercial information (advertising, through vendors, exhibitions); general information(mass media, research organizations ).

Stage 3: Evaluation of options

After searching for enough information about the products / services of what they need;the consumers form a set of choice, each with typical characteristics are different Theyevaluate options to choose the one that consumers think are the most optimal and mostsuitable for them

Stage 4: Purchase decision

After evaluating the options, the consumers form a buying intention However, from thebuying intention to actual purchase, the buyers are often influenced by a number of othereffects that can change their mind

Stage 5: Post-purchase evaluation

Post-buying behavior is the collection of consumers’ emotions, attitudes and actions whenthey consume the products/ services Post-purchase rating is directly related to the level ofcustomer satisfaction after using the company’s products / services After purchasing andusing the products/ services, they will either be satisfied or dissatisfied with the productdepending on the degree of difference between the consumer’s expectations before buyingthe product versus the actual quality of the product

2.2 Definition and previous studies

The part reviews and analyses the relationships between predictive factors including foodsafety concern, health consciousness, price, perceived quality, country of origin image, andpromotion with consumer’s purchase behaviors

2.2.1 Food safety concern

The food safety concern can be understood as the ways by which consumers worries aboutpesticide residues in food and also about other concerns of food-related diseases.(Michaelidou & Hassan, 2008) mentioned that the consumers think of food safety withregard to chemical sprays, fertilizers, hormones and artificial additives

Because food safety is very important for everyone in order to make sure they have goodhealth while consuming any food In many countries, the Government plays an importantroles in making strict policies on food field, that guides the consumers have knowledge ofknowing about food problem Especially, in developed countries such as the USA, Europethe consumers’ preference on locally grown fruits is greater than imported ones(Gineikiene et al., 2016; Schneider & Francis, 2005) However, nowadays, in manydeveloping countries, since the living standard has increased, consumers pay moreattention into the food safety The studies of (Liguori et al., 2018; Mohan Kathuria &Singh, 2016; Neill & Holcomb, 2019; Pham et al., 2019; Terano et al., 2016; Yang et al.,

2021, 2021) showed that food safety concern has positive impact on consumer’s purchasebehaviours in food industry In Vietnam, the consumers’ demand of great quality and safefood has increased recently because of the increasing living standard, the consumers alsohave high worries about food safety The study of (Ha et al., 2019) shows that people had ahigh level of concern towards food safety; especially fresh fruits, vegetables, and meatwere evaluated to be the most unsafe The study of (Cadilhon et al., 2006) alreadymentioned about the development problem of the supply chain system of vegetablemarkets in Ho Chi Minh City in particular, Vietnam in general The competition betweensupermarket outlets and traditional traders for wholesale and retail has increased.Furthermore, the stakeholders involved have little knowledge of consumers’ purchasebehaviors regarding product safety

(Ortega & Tschirley, 2017) concluded in their paper that the currently existing literaturerelated to food safety in developing countries is still inconsistent with a prominent issue to

be solved With the rapid growth of urbanization, income, educational levels, and changes

of many other socioeconomic aspects; the issues of food safety have become increasingly

important to consumers They also suggested that the additional researches on consumerbehavior for food safety are still in need to explore and to better understand consumerpurchase behaviors Therefore, food safety concern is necessary in this study, thehypothesis is stated as below:

Hypothesis (H1): Food safety concern affects Vietnamese consumer’s choice of freshapples between the U.S and New Zealand

2.2.2 Health consciousness

Health is defined as a state of physical comfort, not simply a lack of disease Concern isrelated to the human psychological system Consumers who care about their health arethose who know well their own health status and are concerned about their health benefits

or issues when they choose daily food for example meat, fruits and vegetables (Hsu et al.,2016; Michaelidou & Hassan, 2008; Pham et al., 2019; Tran et al., 2020) They are willing

to do things to maintain good health, improve health and quality of life In these days, thestandard of living is improved, the health issue is also paid more attention by thepopulations There are many factors affecting human health such as internal and externalfactors such as air, food, For that reason, people have great worries of choosingvegetables and fruits Thus, the second hypothesis is stated as follows:

Hypothesis (H2): Health consciousness affects Vietnamese consumer’s choice of freshapples between the U.S and New Zealand

2.2.3 Price

Price is considered as an important predictor in consumers’ fresh food choices Price is thevalue of goods The price is set according to the product cost, price of a competitor or themarketing strategies For consumers, the price of a product is the amount that they have topay in order to own and use the products When deciding to buy any products or services,consumers often put prices into consideration carefully They see price as an indicator ofquality In terms of imported fresh fruits in the Vietnam market, the higher price is, thebetter quality the products offer The studies of (Abdullahi et al., 2017; Bukhari et al.,2020; Hieu, 2020; Hoa et al., 2018; Ly & Trung, 2016, 2016; Mohan Kathuria & Singh,

2016) also found that price has a positive influence on consumer purchase behaviors ofapples, especially imported apples from developed countries This means that the higherprice of apples is, the more demand increases.

Nonetheless, the consumers also consider the price factor in terms of perceived value.According to (Zeithaml, 1988) “Perceived value is a consumer’s overall assessment of theutility of a product or service based on their perceptions of what is received and what has

to be spent” Furthermore, the author argued that some consumers perceive value whenthere is a low price, others perceive value when there is a balance between quality andprice Thus, for different consumers, the perceived value of the products may be different.The current study, therefore, developed the hypothesis as below:

Hypothesis (H3): Price affects Vietnamese consumer’s choice of fresh apples between theU.S and New Zealand

2.2.4 Perceived quality

Perceived quality is the consumer’s perception of the overall quality of a product orservice to their expected requirement when comparing other products of the same type(Aaker, 1991) In this context, perceived quality is a subjective and very relative concept,its value and scope may vary depending on the subject and the type of product (NguyenThanh Long, 2002) Perceived quality has three components: (1) internal factors associatedwith physical structures, the nature of the product and the process of consumption - thesource of usefulness; (2) external factors; creating added value, not tied to physicalstructure; (3) hermaphroditic (internal and external) (Olson & Jacoby, 197; Olson, 1977).The consumers often cannot fully and accurately assess product quality Therefore, thequality that they perceive is the factor that customers use as a basis for makingconsumption decisions Consumer perceptions vary from product to product and due totheir subjective perception According to Ajzen’s intended behavioral theory (1975),behavior is the result of perception Consumers think about product quality and how theirattitude towards the product will lead to their consumption decision or not Therefore, theperceived quality of consumers is the basis for deciding whether to consume or not

Hypothesis (H4): Perceived quality affects Vietnamese consumer’s choice of fresh applesbetween the U.S and New Zealand.

2.2.5 Country of origin image

Country of origin (COO) has been widely explained by many researchers (Cordell, 1992)described COO as the effect of the group of external factors to build reputation andassurance for customers External effects include abstract elements of the product such asprice, branding, and maintenance and maintenance policies, in contrast to the internalfactors that express the product attributes such as taste, appearance, texture, or color.(Watson & Wright, 2000) mentioned that the country of origin effects are positive ornegative effects on consumer’s perceptions, purchasing decisions, or post-purchasebehavior of the product Country of origin image (COI), or Country Image (CI) studieshelp emphasize the consumer’s subconscious image of a product’s country of origin Thisallows the researchers to delve into the problem and answer the question of what reasonsconsumers make COO-based consumption choices

(Martin & Eroglu, 1993) defined country image as “the total of all descriptive, inferential,and informational beliefs one has about a particular country” Country image is commonlyused in tourism research The tourist bases on this predictor to decide whether to buyproducts/ services of a country before coming to the destination

Recently, it is used in goods marketing perspectives (Bruwer & Buller, 2012; Kumara &Canhua, 2010) found that the COO-image is one of the most significant phenomena thatimpact the evaluations of the foreign products, and on consumer’s purchasing behaviors.The studies of Amna Shahazad, 2015; Kabadayi and Lerman, 2011; and Ahmed andD’Astous, 2008) found that the COO-image did not only attract consumers, but alsoinfluence on their product choices Country image is widely researched in tourismmarketing, but it seems still not common in foreign food/goods Especially in Vietnam, astudy of (Long, 2014) used CETSCALE to determine the impact of this factor on theproduct judgment and the willingness to buy foreign products of domestic consumersincluding three products: toddler milk powder, pharmaceuticals, and fruits Country of

origin image was recommended as a new approach to exploring the Vietnamese consumerstowards imported products, in particular fruits, milk and medications Therefore, this studyintends to explore about country of origin image as one of the independent factors.

Hypothesis (H5): Country- of- origin image affects Vietnamese consumer’s choice of freshapples between the U.S and New Zealand

2.2.6 Promotion

Marketing is the business’s efforts to inform, persuade, remind and encourage itsconsumers to buy products and become its loyal customers A marketing mix consists ofsome different activities: Advertising, Public Relations, Sales Promotion, Personal Sellingand Direct Marketing Nowadays, due to high competition in the market, marketing hasobviously promoted its effects By conducting marketing strategy, businesses inform theirtarget customers about the presence of products on the market, encourage customers to buyproducts, promote the consumers’ buying decision faster When the marketing activitiesare conducted more frequently, the consumers get more opportunities to know and payattention to the product; and the ability to buy can be achievable Especially with fruits andvegetables, consumers still have the shopping habit of both traditional and online channels,

it is very necessary to contact and create conditions for customers to experiment withvarious shopping channels Marketing or promotion have been studied in many studies,and the findings has mentioned that promotion has a positive influence on consumerspurchase behaviors (Bukhari et al., 2020; Hieu, 2020; Hoa et al., 2018; Mohan Kathuria &Singh, 2016) Therefore, hypothesis H4 is stated as follows:

Hypothesis (H6): Promotion affects Vietnamese consumer’s choice of fresh applesbetween the U.S and NewZealand

2.2.7 Demographic factors

Consumer perceptions are different across the different levels of demographics such aseducation level, age group, income level and gender etc Previous research found that

consumers’ gender, education, age, income levels affect their choice of products,purchasing behaviours towards imported fruits/ food (Bukhari et al., 2020; Liguori et al.,2018; Mohan Kathuria & Singh, 2016; Ramya & Ali, 2016).

2.3 Conceptual framework and research hypotheses

The conceptual framework was developed as in the following figure based on the literaturereview

Figure 4.1: The research framework (Created by the author)Hypothesis 1 (H1): Food safety concern affects consumer’s choice of fresh applesbetween the U.S and New Zealand.

Hypothesis 2 (H2): Health consciousness affects consumer’s choice of fresh applesbetween the U.S and New Zealand

Hypothesis 3 (H3): Price affects consumer’s choice of fresh apples between the U.S andNew Zealand

Hypothesis 4 (H4): Perceived affects consumer’s choice of fresh apples between the U.Sand New Zealand

Hypothesis 5 (H5): Country of origin Image affects consumer’s choice of fresh applesbetween the U.S and New Zealand

Hypothesis 6 (H6): Promotion affects consumer’s choice of fresh apples between the U.Sand New Zealand

Hypothesis 7-3 (H7-3): Educational level affects consumer’s choice of fresh apples between the U.S and New Zealand.

Hypothesis 7-4 (H7-4): Family size affects consumer’s choice of fresh apples between the U.S and New Zealand.

Hypothesis 7-5 (H7-5): Gender affects consumer’s choice of fresh apples between the U.S and New Zealand.

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

Chapter 3 introduces the details of the study methodology including the main informationof:

- Research process provides step by step of how this study was conducted.

- Research design: this explains the construction of the scales, data samplingprocedure, and the process of survey data collection

- Data analysis process: the measure of the scales, data analysis includesdemographic profile, descriptive analysis, exploratory factor analysis (EFA), Cronbach’salpha coefficient, and Binary logistic regression to test the hypotheses

3.1 Research method

A questionnaire was used to explore the connection of research factors in the practices.Before collecting the preliminary data, the survey was checked and recommended byexpert to make sure all questions were well organized based on the structure of theframework The data was collected through online surveys

3.2 Research process

This study was conducted with four steps:

- The first step: Building the conceptual research model and hypothesis based on the

literature review Then, the questionnaire form and the measurement scales asappropriate to the research model are selected The survey questionnaires werewritten in Vietnamese by the tool of Google Docs form

- The second step conducted a pilot test by collecting 15 online responses in order to

adjust errors in survey questionnaires before disseminating them officially

- The third step implemented the official survey questionnaires by Google docs form

to collect the data The online surveys were posted on social media such asFacebook

- The fourth step analyzed descriptive statistics, factor analysis, binary logistic

regression model

3.3 Measurement scales

The construct was measured by a 5-point Likert scale where 5 is Strongly agree, 4 isAgree, 3 is Neutral, 2 is Disagree, and 1 is Strongly disagree The questionnaire includestwo main parts The first part has some questions about consumers’ choice for fresh applesand independent variables The second part is demographic characteristics (gender, age,income and level of education) The last part is an additional comment if the respondentswould like to give extra information regarding their experience of choosing of applesbetween the USA and New Zealand

The measurement scales were adopted from the previous studies shown in table …

Table 3 1: Measurement scales

Code Measurement scales of independent variables Sources

Food safety concern

FSC1

Nowadays most Envy apples in Vietnam still contain residues from

chemical sprays and fertilizers.

(Michaelidou &

Hassan, 2008) FSC2

I am very concerned about the amount of artificial additives and

preservatives in Envy apples

FSC3 The safety of fresh apples nowadays concerns me

Health consciousness

HC1 I choose Envy apples carefully to ensure good health  

(Pham et al., 2019) HC2 I think of myself as a health-conscious consumer

HC3 I think often about health issues

Country of Origin Image

CI1 The USA/New Zealand is an economically developed country

CI2 The USA/New Zealand is a technologically developed country

CI3 The USA/New Zealand is a culturally developed country

CI4 The products produced in The USA/New Zealand is reliable

Perceived quality

The Envy apples from the USA/New Zealand have higher

nutritional value compared to others

The Envy apples from the USA/New Zealand have a better taste

that matches my taste

The Envy apples from the USA/New Zealand do not contain

preservatives compared to others.

The Envy apples from the USA/New Zealand have more occasional

promotions compared to others.

(Zaeema &

Hassan, 2016)

PRO2

I am promptly informed about promotions about the Envy apples

from the USA/New Zealand compared to others.

PRO3

I receive attractive free premium items from the purchase of the

Envy apples from the USA/New Zealand compared to others.

PRO4

I can easily obtain free information through advertisement (i.e.,

magazines, newspapers, TV Channels, internet, etc)

PRO5

Word-of-mouth from family members, friends, food blogs or

referrals have influenced my purchase of Envy apples from The

USA/New Zealand

PRO6

I do receive regular information more on the Envy apples from the

USA/New Zealand through email/phone call from my preferred

retailer(s)

PRO7

Sales staff in the retail outlets are always available to advise me

about The Envy apples from the USA/New Zealand.

Source: Created by the author

3.4 Sampling and Data collection

experienced consumers and their responses were used for the data analysis

Regarding the sample size, (Green, 1991; Sileshi, 2015) recommended 𝑁 > 50 + 8𝑝 fortesting individual independent variables in multivariate regression In this research, the

quantity of predictors in the model is 10 Hence, the sample size needs at least 50 + 8*10 =

130 responses Therefore, the 140 valid responses were considered adequate for factoranalysis after eliminating unsuitable surveys (including non – Envy apple –experiencedrespondents and non-fully filled surveys)

3.4.2 Data collection

The main survey was collected in two weeks of April, 2021 Then, the final sample of 140valid responses were obtained for data analysis Envy apples from the two aforementionedcountries as choices of country of origin – related fresh apples Hanoi and Ho Chi Minhwere chosen to target the participants of the survey, because these are the biggest cities inVietnam with high living standards

3.5 Data analysis method

- The first step is to profile the respondents’ socio-demographics

- The second step applied the EFA to extract the new predictors by combining andeliminating some watched variables After that Cronbach’ coefficient alpha (Cronbach’sAlpha) were checked to assess the validity and reliability of measuring scale

- The third step summarized the factors in measurements by using the Descriptiveanalysis function of software

- The last step is to test the hypotheses to determine which specific predictorsinfluence the apple choice of consumers; Binary logistic regression model was exploited.Logistic regression model is useful for the situations in which one can predict theoutcomes of the dependent variable based on values of a set of the predictive variables, todetermine the effect size of the independent variables on the dependent variable, and rankthe relative importance of independent variables The independent variables can becontinuous and/or categorical Binary logistic regression is a form of logistic regressionmodel that can be applied when the dependent variable is a true or forced dichotomy (such

as Yes/ no, favor/ oppose, Male/ female, and so on)

The model of binary logit regression is demonstrated as in the equation below:

Logit (Y) = Log[ 1−𝑃𝑃 ]= α+β i X i + ε (1)

Where:

- Y is the choice of Envy apple: Y = “0” if the consumers choose Envy apples fromthe USA , Y = “1” if the consumers choose Envy apples from New Zealand

- P is the probability that the consumer’s apple choice of New Zealand happens 1- P

is the probability that the consumer’s apple choice of the USA happens

- X1is the consumer’s gender; : “0” is coded as male; “1” is coded as female

- X2 is the consumer’s age in years old including 3 categories “ 1 = 18-25; 2= 26 –35; 3= 36 – 45”

- X3is the consumer’s average monthly income including 4 levels: 1= under 7

millions dong; 2 = from 7 to under 15 mil.dong; 3= from 14 to under 30 mil dong;and 4 = from 30 mil.dong and above

- X4is the number of family members : “0” is coded as less than 5, : “1” is coded asfrom 5 members and above

- X5 is the consumer’s education levels including 4 categories: 1 = high school; 2 =vocational school; 3 = university/ college; 4 = post graduate

- X6 is the extracted variable of food safety concern after EFA

- X7 is the extracted variable of health consciousness after EFA

- X8 is the extracted variable of perceived value after EFA

- X9 is the extracted variable of country-of-origin image after EFA

- X10 is the extracted variable of promotion after EFA