Throughout the process of this research project, there were a handful of parties that supported my efforts on this final year project. Therefore, I would like to take this opportunity to thank a handful of people for their support during the production of this last year's project. Finally, I would like to dedicate this work to my family, for their loving support and constant push from the beginning to the end of this research project.
The title of this final year project is 'Purchase Intention towards Plant-Based Food in Malaysia'. The main purpose of this study is to identify the factors influencing consumers' purchase intention towards plant-based food in Malaysia. The main objective of this study is to identify the factors influencing purchase intention towards plant-based food in Malaysia.
The findings of this study indicate that attitude, environmental concerns and health awareness have a significant relationship with the purchase intention towards plant-based foods in Malaysia.
RESEARCH OVERVIEW
- Introduction
- Research Background
- Research Problem
- Research Objectives
- General Objective
- Specific Objectives
- Research Questions
- Specific Questions
- Significance of Study
- Chapter Layout
- Chapter 1: Research Overview
- Chapter 2: Literature Review
- Chapter 3: Methodology
- Chapter 4: Data Analysis
- Chapter 5: Discussion, Conclusion and Implications
Plant-based food has made a significant presence in the global Food and Beverage (F&B) industry, especially in Malaysia. Consumers are aware of the environmental and health impacts associated with plant-based food (Teo & Kong, 2021). To examine the relationship between consumer knowledge and purchase intention towards plant-based food in Malaysia.
Is there any relationship between attitude and purchase intention towards plant-based food in Malaysia. The purpose of this study is to explore the factors influencing consumers' intention to purchase plant-based food in Malaysia. The study can assist business practitioners in forming an insight into plant-based food purchasing behavior in Malaysia.
Thus, the strategies developed can attract and retain more plant-based food consumers in Malaysia (Rana & Paul, 2017).
LITERATURE REVIEW
- Introduction
- Underlying Theory
- Theory of Planned Behaviour
- Review of Variables
- Purchase Intention towards Plant-based food in Malaysia
- Consumers’ Knowledge
- Attitude
- Subjective Norms
- Perceived Behavioural Control
- Environmental Concerns
- Health Consciousness
- Research Model
- Hypotheses Development
- Consumers’ Knowledge
- Attitude
- Subjective Norms
- Perceived Behavioural Control
- Environmental Concerns
- Health Consciousness
- Conclusion
The TPB model has remained one of the prominent conceptual frameworks in predicting an individual's intention to perform a particular behavior (Olsen, Sijtsema & Hall, 2010; Bagozzi, Baumgartner & Yi, 1989). The individual's intention to participate in the behavior is therefore influenced by three elements, i.e. attitude, subjective norms and perceived control of the behavior (Ajzen, 2002). According to Ajzen (1991), perceived behavioral control is an individual's perception of his abilities to perform the behavior.
Perceived behavioral control takes into account the degree of difficulty an individual faces when performing a behavior (Ajzen, 1985). Moreover, perceived behavioral control is the degree of an individual's perception of the availability of opportunities and resources such as money, time, etc. (Ajzen, 1991). An individual may have a lower intention to perform a behavior due to the lack of resources and opportunities (Zhou et al., 2013).
Maichum, Parichatnon and Peng (2016) found that an individual's concern for the environment significantly affects their intention to purchase green products.
METHODOLOGY
- Introduction
- Research Design
- Quantitative Research
- Data Collection Method
- Primary Data
- Sampling Design
- Target Respondents
- Sampling Technique
- Sample Size
- Research Instruments
- Questionnaire Design
- Pre-Test
- Pilot Test
- Construct Measurement
- Scale Measurement
- Origin of Construct
- Data Processing
- Data Checking
- Data Editing
- Data Coding
- Data Cleaning
- Data Analysis
- Descriptive Analysis
- Reliability Analysis
- Inferential Analysis
- Conclusion
For this study, descriptive research was applied to describe the demographics of people living in Malaysia. Furthermore, the target respondents for this study were consumers who had heard of plant-based food, which was a qualifying question of the study. A pilot test was conducted to determine the internal consistency of the instruments in the questionnaire (Chua, 2012).
Cronbach's alpha (α) test was performed to determine the internal consistency of the items in the questionnaire. Cronbach's alpha (α) was used to examine the internal consistency of the items in this study. In this study, Pearson's correlation coefficient was used to determine the robustness of the relationship between all variables.
An overview of the research and sampling design, data collection methods and the data analysis tools used in this study was done.
DATA ANALYSIS
- Introduction
- Descriptive Analysis
- Awareness towards Plant-based Food in Malaysia
- Respondent Demographic
- General Information of the Respondents
- Reliability Analysis
- Reliability Analysis
- Inferential Analysis
- Pearson Correlation Coefficient
- Multiple Regression Analysis
- Conclusion
It was found that a majority of the respondents knew about plant-based foods, which was 84.01% of the total number of respondents. Of the 319 samples, 227 samples (84.70%) were considered valid, with 51 respondents not meeting the study requirements and 41 respondents categorized as ambiguous. As for the current location of the respondents, most of the respondents were in Selangor, at 48.90%.
The majority of respondents did buy plant-based food because it offered them general health benefits, which was 57.53%. The second largest group did buy plant-based food because it is better for the environment (37.67%). The third largest group buys plant-based foods because they have experienced that they feel better when they consume them (28.08%).
The remaining respondents have shopping experience with plant-based food because they like the taste better (23.29%), they tried something new (8.22%), they were intolerant or sensitive to certain foods (7.53%), to vegetarian purposes (3.42). %) and "others" (2.74%). Most of the respondents did not buy plant-based food because they never thought of buying it, which amounted to 72.84%. The second largest group of respondents did not buy plant-based food because they thought it was too expensive (44.44%).
Furthermore, some respondents had no experience of buying plant-based food because they prefer to eat real food (32.10%). The rest of the respondents had no experience shopping for plant-based food because they don't like the taste of others' (2.47%) and perceived too many ingredients they couldn't pronounce (1.23%). Thus, it is stated that 73.1% of the variance in plant food purchase intention in Malaysia can be explained by the independent variables of this study.
In addition, the coefficient (β) showed that "environmental concerns" was the strongest predictor of the dependent variable (β = 0.507). This was consistent with one of the past studies, which showed that environmental concerns had the strongest influence on an individual's purchase intention (Kim & . Chung, 2011).
DISCUSSION, CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS
Introduction
Summary of Statistical Analysis
- Descriptive Analysis
- Reliability Analysis
- Inferential Analysis
- Pearson Correlation Coefficient
- Multiple Regression Analysis
Of the 146 respondents, the majority of respondents bought plant-based food because it provided them with overall health benefits, which was 84 respondents (57.53%). Of the 81 respondents, the largest group of respondents have not purchased plant-based foods as they have never considered purchasing them, which consisted of 59 respondents, (72.84%). The Pearson correlation coefficient value in this study was significant at the 0.01 level, two-tailed, and there was a positive relationship.
Thus, the increased environmental concerns of the respondents had led to a significant increase in their purchase intention towards plant-based foods in Malaysia. Thus, only 73.1% of the variance of purchase intention towards plant-based food in Malaysia can be explained by consumers' knowledge, attitude, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, environmental concerns and health consciousness. Furthermore, environmental concerns were the strongest predictor of purchase intention towards plant-based foods in Malaysia (β = 0.507).
Thus, plant food purchase intention in Malaysia would increase by 0.041 units when consumer knowledge increases by 1 unit. The intention to purchase plant-based food in Malaysia would increase by 0.266 units if the respondents' attitude increases by 1 unit. Plant-based food purchase intention in Malaysia increased by 0.076 units when respondents' subjective norms increased by 1 unit.
Discussion of Major Findings
Ha1: There is a relationship between consumer knowledge and purchase intention regarding plant-based foods in Malaysia. There is no relationship between consumer knowledge and purchase intention regarding plant-based foods in Malaysia. Ha2: There is a relationship between attitude and purchase intention towards plant-based food in Malaysia.
Consumers' preference for plant-based foods has resulted in a greater intention to purchase plant-based foods. Ha3: There is a relationship between subjective norms and plant-based food purchase intention in Malaysia. Based on the findings in Malaysia, there is no relationship between subjective norms and intention to purchase plant-based foods.
Such plant-based food shopping behavior is not a social norm among consumers in Malaysia (Wong, Hsu & Chen, 2018). Ha4: There is a relationship between perceived behavioral control and plant-based food purchase intention in Malaysia. In Malaysia, there is no relationship between perceived behavioral control and consumer intention to purchase plant-based foods.
Ha5: There is a relationship between environmental considerations and purchase intention for plant-based foods in Malaysia. Based on the findings, there is a relationship between environmental considerations and purchase intention for plant-based foods in Malaysia. Ha6: There is a relationship between health awareness and purchase intention for plant-based foods in Malaysia.
In Malaysia, there is a relationship between health awareness and intention to purchase plant-based foods. In addition, consumers in Malaysia who care about their health have a more positive perception of plant-based foods and therefore have a higher intention to purchase plant-based foods.
Managerial Implications
Limitations of the Study
Recommendation for Future Research
Conclusion
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Global greenhouse gas emissions from animal-based foods are twice that of plant-based foods. willingness to pay for seafood with a green and organic label. Most of my friends, whose opinions on nutrition matter to me, think I should buy plant-based. Plant-based food is more environmentally friendly. I am very concerned about the damage caused.
