CONSUMERPREFERENCE ON INTR INS IC

QUAL ITY ATTR IBUTES OF DR IED MANGO

AMONGCHINESE CONSUMERS

StudentName:DangyiqiWu

Thesisperiod:5September2016–28February2017

Chairgroup:FoodQualityandDesign

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ConsumerpreferenceonIntrinsicqualityattributesof

driedmangoamongChineseconsumers

Studentname:DangyiqiWu

Studentnumber:890927975080

Studyprogram:FoodTechnology

StudySpecialization:FoodProductDesign

Numberofcredits:36

Coursecode:FQD80436

Thesistitle:Consumerpreferenceonintrinsicqualityattributesofdriedmangoamong

Chineseconsumers

Thesisperiod:5September2016–28February2017

Supervisors:ItaSulistyawati

2ndsupervisors:BeaSteenbekkers

Professor/examiner:VincenzoFogliano,BeaSteenbekkers

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Acknowledgement

Iwould liketothankall thepeoplewhocontributed insomewaytotheworkdescribed in

thisthesis.Firstandforemost,IwouldliketothankmysupervisorsItaSulistyawatiandDrir.

Bea Steenbekkers. Thank Ita Sulistyawati for accepting me into her project group. I

appreciateallhercontributionsoftime,idea.Assistanceandsupport.AswellasDrir.Bea

Steenbekkers, she always gave very constructive advises and lead the project to a

brighteneddirection.Thankboththesupervisorsoftheirwarmencouragement,thoughtful

guidance,criticalcommentsandcorrectionofthethesis.

Aswell, Iwould like to thankmycross-nationalproject teammates,StellaAlinneshiaand

Clairsetjadiningrat.Asacross-nationalprojectteam,weworkedwelltogethertoreachthe

ultimategoalofthisthesis.Iamgratefulforalladvises,discussions,effortsandnicegroup

atmosphere.Withoutthegroup,thecross-nationalprojectcannotbedone.

Especially,Iamsogratefulforallrespondentsthatparticipatedforthesurvey.Everysingle

resultissupportedbythem.

Finally,thankallmyfamilyandfriendsforalltheirloveandencouragement.Iwillkeepcarry

onandbecomingbetterpersoninallaspects.

Wageningen,February2017

DangyiqiWu

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AdditionalSearchTerms

DriedMango,intrinsicattributes,crossnational,China,Chinese,DM,flavour,colour,texture,

sweet, sour, sweetener, extra ingredients, consumer preference, health consciousness,

healthsacrifice,healthpreoccupation

TerminologyList

DM DriedMango

Attributes A quality or feature regarded as a characteristic or inherent part of

someoneorsomething.

Perception Thewayinwhichsomethingisregarded,understood,orinterpreted.

Preference Favourshowntoonepersonorthingoveranotherorothers.

Motives Somethingthatcausesapersontoactinacertainway,doacertain

thing,etc.;incentive.

Barriers Anythingthatrestrainsorobstructsprogress,access

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Summary

Worlddemandandproductionofprocessedfruitandvegetablehasbeenincreasingforthis

pastdecade(IBISworld,2016).China,thecountryhastheworld largestpopulation,asthe

matterofcourse, it isoneof themajorcontributors for thefruitandvegetablemarket in

Asia-pacific. Tropical fruits and processed tropical fruits were mainly imported to China.

AssociationofSouth-EastAsianNations(ASEAN)pointedoutthattropicalfruitsinanyfirm

importedtoChinahasincreaseddramaticallyinthepastdecades(Tan,Guan,&Chen,2011).

Mangoaccounts39%of theworld tropical fruitproduction (FAO,2011), inwhichChina is

one of the main market (CHEN & CHEN, 2010). Therefore, mango is chosen to be the

representativestudyobjectiveinthisresearch.

Thefoodmarketwasinasaturatedsituationformorethanadecadealready(Linnemann,

2006). If a new food product want to be outstanding in the supermarket, it has to be

consumer-oriented designed to catch customers’ attention. The first stage of consumer-

drivenproductdevelopmentistounderstandingtheconsumerneedsandwishes(VanKleef,

2006).Commonlyqualitativeandquantitativeconsumerstudyarecarriedouttogetaclear

viewofconsumerneeds.Previouslythefocusgroup(qualitative)studyhadbeendoneand

inthisstudy,aquantitativestudywillbecarriedout.

Basedontheliteraturestudyandfocusgroupresults,thequantitativeresearchisdesigned.

A conjoint survey is neededwith focus on intrinsic quality attributes of driedmango and

sortingbyconjointanalysismethod.Theaimofthisstudyistoknow“whatistheconsumer

preference to intrinsic quality attributes of dried mango?”. In order to answer this key

researchquestion,threesub-questionwasdeveloped:

� Whatistheprofileofintrinsicqualityattributesofdriedmango?� Whatisthepreferenceofintrinsicqualityattributesofdriedmango?� How does the profile and preference of intrinsic quality attributes between

consumerswithdifferenthealthorientation?

An online surveywith 6 intrinsic quality attributeswas designed by Sawtooth Lighthouse

studio (Sawtooth software inc.,2017) and distributed tomainland China (appendix 1). By

more thanhundred complete survey results, itwas foundout no extra ingredients is the

mostimportantfactorcomparetootherfivequalityattributestoChineseconsumers.And

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look at the overall importance, the consumers nowadays prefer the product natural and

healthy.

As a combination results with qualitative study, an approximate dried mango product

profilewasdecided,asamilestonefortheconsumer-drivenproductdevelopmentofdried

mangoproducts.

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TABLEOFCONTENTS

1. Introduction...............................................................................................................8

1.1ResearchBackground...........................................................................................................8

1.2ResearchObjectives.............................................................................................................91.3ResearchQuestions..............................................................................................................9

1.4ResearchMethod...............................................................................................................10

1.5Structureofthestudy.........................................................................................................11

1.6Structureofthereport.......................................................................................................11

2. Literaturereview.....................................................................................................13

2.1Tropicalfruits.....................................................................................................................13

2.1.2TropicalfruitinAsia............................................................................................................13

2.1.3TropicalfruitinChina.........................................................................................................142.2Driedfruits.........................................................................................................................15

2.2.2DriedfruitinAsia................................................................................................................15

2.2.3DriedfruitinChina.............................................................................................................16

2.3Consumer-drivenproductdevelopment.............................................................................16

2.3.1Chineseconsumers.............................................................................................................17

2.3.2Thetotalfoodqualitymodel..............................................................................................17

2.3.3Preference..........................................................................................................................18

2.3.4Motives&barriers..............................................................................................................18

2.3.5Healthorientation..............................................................................................................18

3. Materialsandmethods............................................................................................19

3.1Quantitativeconsumerstudy–ConjointAnalysis...............................................................19

3.2Conjointanalysissection....................................................................................................19

3.2.1Introduction........................................................................................................................19

3.2.2Demographicandconditionalquestions............................................................................20

3.2.3Thecoresection.................................................................................................................22

3.2.3Healthorientationsection..................................................................................................26

3.2.4Closing................................................................................................................................26

3.3Distribution........................................................................................................................27

3.4Analysis..............................................................................................................................27

3.4.1Classificationofrespondents..............................................................................................27

3.4.2Calculatingrelativeimportanceandaverageutilitiesofattributes...................................28

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3.4.3Understandingtheconsumerhealthorientation...............................................................28

4. Resultsanddiscussion.............................................................................................29

4.1Sample...............................................................................................................................29

4.1.1Gender,ageandeducationlevel........................................................................................29

4.1.2DistributionofRegions.......................................................................................................30

4.1.3Frequencyofconsumption.................................................................................................31

4.2ConjointAnalysis................................................................................................................32

4.2.1Relativeimportance............................................................................................................32

4.2.2Relativeutilities..................................................................................................................35

4.3Healthorientation..............................................................................................................38

5. Conclusion...............................................................................................................43

6. Recommendation....................................................................................................44

7. Bibliography............................................................................................................45

8. Appendices..............................................................................................................48

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1. INTRODUCTION

An explanation of reason and necessity of this research project is stated in this chapter.

Researchobjectiveandresearchquestionsarebroughtuptoformaclearresearchpathof

thisproject. Inordertohaveaclearoverviewofthisstudy,thestructuralpurposewillbe

statedattheendofthischapter.

1.1RESEARCHBACKGROUND

Theglobalfruitandvegetableprocessingindustryhasseendemandincreasedoverthelast

fiveyears,reportedagrowthof2%onayeartoyearbasis(IBISworld,2016).Itispredicted

thatthemarketwillbeworth$240billionby2019.Chinaisoneofthemajorcontributors

forthefruitandvegetablemarketinAsia-Pacificduetoitsvastpopulation.ZhangandYang

(2006) indicated that fruit consumption in Chinese market has rapidly increased in past

decades.Also,thetotalfamiliaritytowardstropicalfruitshasincreasedincrediblyduetothe

fastdevelopmentinChina’seconomy.However,theenormoussizeofthecountryresultsin

different familiarities and knowledge on dried tropical fruit. A given fact indicates that

mangoaccountsfor39%oftheworldtropicalfruitproductionwithanoutputof31.7million

tons(FAO,2011)andChina isoneofthosemainmarketsofmangoconsumption(Chen&

Chen,2010).Therefore,mangoisselectedtobetherepresentativeoneforatropicalfruit

consumerstudy.Driedtropicalfruitswerethestudyobjectivementionedinpreviousfocus

groupstudy,asaconclusion,DriedMangoisnarroweddowntobetherepresentativestudy

objectiveinthisstudy.

Previously, a qualitative result was done by using focus group discussion. As for a new

product development, both qualitative and quantitative research is needed for a better

understandingoftheconsumers’perceptiontowardstheproduct.Aquantitativeresearch

providesabetterunderstandingof consumerwishesandbrings them intoactualproduct

development(VanKleef,VanTrijp,&Luning,Consumerresearchintheearlystagesofnew

productdevelopment:acriticalreviewofmethodsandtechniques.,2005). It isessentially

important to know the quality attributes that consumers use to judge and interpret the

product’squality,whichisdirectlyrelatedtotheconsumers’preference.Asmentionedina

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previous study, intrinsic quality attributes areworth to be considered for conducting this

quantitativestudy.

Thisstudyisalsoapartofaparallelcross-nationalstudyamongthreecountries.Thoseare

Indonesiaasthetropicalcountry,Chinaasthesub-tropicalcountryandtheNetherlandsas

the non-tropical country. The cross-national studywas conducteddue to the reason that

consumers from different nationalities have different demands that varies upon

demographicandculturalbackgroundimpacts(Kenneth,2006).Bycarryingoutthisstudy,it

cangiveacomprehensiveviewofconsumers’preferencestowardsdriedmango.

1.2RESEARCHOBJECTIVES

Theultimateresearchobjectiveofthisstudyistoidentifythekeyintrinsicqualityattributes

that influence Chinese consumers’ preference towards driedmango and by knowing the

intrinsicqualityattributestodevelopaconsumerdrivendriedmangoproduct.Therefore,in

ordertoachievethemainobjective,theprogressedobjectivesarelistedasbelow:

1.2.1 Determine the intrinsic quality attributes and their levels that needed for

createthefundamentalbaseoftheconjointsurvey

1.2.2 Determinethecorrectmethodneededtoanalysethesurveydata

1.3RESEARCHQUESTIONS

Toreachthemainresearchobjective,itisnecessarytoanswerthemainresearchquestion:”

What istheconsumerpreferenceto intrinsicqualityattributesofdriedmango?”. Inorder

toanswerthisresearchquestion,thefollowingsubresearchquestionswerebroughtup:

1.3.1 Whatistheprofileofintrinsicqualityattributesofdriedmango?

1.3.2 Whatisthepreferenceofintrinsicqualityattributesofdriedmango?

1.3.3 Howdoestheprofileandpreferenceofintrinsicqualityattributesbetween

consumerswithdifferenthealthorientation?

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1.4RESEARCHMETHOD

Several methods can be used to conduct consumer studies (Van Kleef, 2006). The most

common quantitative methods are conjoint analysis and factor analysis. A comparison

betweenthesetwomethodshasbeencarriedout toselect themostappropriatemethod

forthisprojecttoapply.

Table1Comparisonofresearchmethods

ConjointAnalysis FactorAnalysis

Canthemethod

answertheresearch

questions?

Canprovidebothindicative

intensity&preference(importance)

levelofmeasuredvariables

(Lacobucci,2013)

Canonlyscreenpreference

(relativeimportance)variables;

cannotprovideintensityofthe

variables(VanKleef,VanTrijp,&

Luning,Consumerresearchinthe

earlystagesofnewproduct

development:acriticalreviewof

methodsandtechniques.,2005)

Scopeofthestudy:

sensoryandhealth

relatedmotives:only

intrinsicquality

attributes

Canprovideinformationonthe

variablesofinterest

Withthedemarcation,itisnot

suitabletoapplyscreeninginthis

stage

Canthemethod

providedegreeof

freedomin

subsequentNPD

stagesofDM?

IfthedescriptionofDMcanbe

maderathergeneralandshouldnot

restricttheimaginationof

respondent,itcanprovideprofiles

ofvariablesofinterestbycertain

classification,suchasorientation,

demographicdata.

Canprovidecomparison

(preference,importance,context,

orientationetc.)amongmorethan

oneDMproduct(e.g.three

differenttypesofDM)

Durationoffillinthe

survey(max.15

mins)

Thelimitationofthismethodis

repetitive;itgenerateslonger

thinkingtime.Ifselectedattributes

Timeconstraintwilllesslikely

occur.

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arewithinacceptableamount,itwill

beabletocompletewithinthetime

limit.

Anchor/referenceof

indicativeintensity

ofvariables

Itcanbecreatedusingrelevant

references.Differentnumberof

levelscanbemadeandcomparable

amongeachother.

Notavailable

As a conclusion, for this confirmatory quantitative consumer study, Conjoint analysis

method will be applied due to the match of requirements. As a conclusion from this

comparison,theintrinsicqualityattributesanalysisofdriedmangowillbeusingtheconjoint

analysis.

1.5STRUCTUREOFTHESTUDY

Sixphaseswereestablishedinordertoreachtheobjectiveforthisstudy.Figure1(seenext

page)givesclearindicationofthestudysteps.Beforeconductingthestudy,analysisofthe

FGDresultsarenecessarytogetaclearviewofimportantfactorsthatwillpossiblyinfluence

consumers’ preference. Then followed by the identification step,which generates all the

information needed for designing the quantitative study. Then the survey for conjoint

analysisisdesigned.Afterfinishthesurveyiscompleted,theapplyingsteptakesplace.After

gatheringallthedatafromquantitativestudy,analysingstepofconjointanalysisiscarried

outfordetailedexaminationofdata.Attheend,byanalysingalldataandresults,research

findingwillbeestablished.

1.6STRUCTUREOFTHEREPORT

After this introduction chapter, a literature review chapterwill follow by providingmuch

clearanddeeper informationof thisprojectenvironment. ThenChapter3 -materialand

method will describe in detail how the quantitative study was carried out. After all

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information,resultanddiscussion,conclusionofthestudywillbestatedandattheenda

recommendationforfurtherstudywillbegiven.

Figure1Researchdesign

Analyzing FGDresult

• IdentifyingthemostimportantattributesfrompreviousqualitativestudyofFGDofDM

•IdentifyingtheconsumptioncontexttrendsfrompreviousqualitativestudyofFGDofDM

Conjoint analysis(identification)

• IdentifyingtheattributesandlevelsinDM• Determiningthebestconjointmethodtomeetuptheresearchobjectivebasedonthenumberofattributesandlevels• Determiningthetargetgroupofsurvey,samplesize,productchoicesofDM

Conjoint analysis(Design)

• Formulating thesurvey:screeningquestionsandmainquestions• Translate questions and back-translate the questions• Pilottestingthesurvey• Revising thesurvey

Conjoint analysis(Applying)

• Distributing thesurvey totherespondents• Obtaining datafromthesurvey• Inputing datafromthesurvey• Checking forappropriatenessofthedata(i.e.outliers)

Conjoint analysis(Analyzing)

• Analyzing thedatafromthesurvey usingSawtootSoftwareSSIWebVersion8310• Interpretinganddiscussingthedataandresultanalysis• Answeringtheresearchquestiontobeabletoanswer researchobjective

Researchfindings

• ObtainingthequalitydeterminantorkeyqualityattributesofDM thatinfluencepreferenceamongChinese consumerduringspecificconsumptionmoments•Conclude the result•Give further study reccommendation

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2. LITERATUREREVIEW

Inthischapter,literatureunderpinningwillexplainthecurrentsituationtowardsfruitsand

itsdriedaswellastheconsumerandconsumerdrivenproductdevelopmentthatvariesdue

tothedifferentdemand.

2.1TROPICALFRUITS

Therearetwothousandspeciesdocumentedinthetropicsasfoodandonly40%to50%are

wellknowninternationally(Blancke,2016).However,thespeciesoftropicalfruitthatarein

themarket are very limited. Gepts indicatesmost common tropical fruits in trade come

from three major areas, including Central and South America, Asia and South-east Asia

(Gepts,2008).Themostpopular tropical fruitsworldwidearepineapple,mango,avocado

and papaya (FAOSTAT, 2014),while themost popular imported tropical fruits in China is

mango,longan,durian,coconutandbanana(ZhangX.,2004)

2.1.2TROPICALFRUITINASIA

TropicalfruitscangrowinAsia,morespecificallyinAssociationofSouth-eastAsianNations

(ASEAN)countriesduetothesuitabletropicalclimateandfertilegrounds.Majorproducers

oftropicalfruitsinthisregionareIndonesia,ThailandandthePhilippines(Ahmad&Chua,

2008).Till2006,theproductionvolumeoftropicalfruitshasreached28.7milliontons,an

45.5% increaseover10years. This accounted forapproximately tenpercentof theworld

total production of tropical fruit (Ahmad & Chua, 2008). The primarily tropical fruits

producedweremango,pineappleandbananaandthesethreevarietiesoffruitrepresented

a22%shareoftheworld’stotalproduction(Ahmad&Chua,2008). Thecountriesmainly

responsibleforproducingthesethreevarietiesareThailand,thePhilippines,andIndonesia.

TheexportoftropicalfruitfromASEANcountrieshassignificantlygrownfrom1996to2005

andin2008themarketalreadyworthvalueof674.9milliondollars.Inthefollowingyears,

therehasbeenaclearincreaseinexportvolumesoftropicalfruitfromASEANcountriesto

China specifically (ITC, 2011). This ismainly due to China’s close proximity to the ASEAN

regionanditsmiddleclassgrowingappetitefortropicalfruit(ITC,2011).

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2.1.3TROPICALFRUITINCHINA

World demand and production of processed fruit and vegetable has been increasing for

thesepastdecades (IBISworld,2016). In thosepastdecades, tropical fruitsandprocessed

tropical fruitproductsweremainly imported inChina.The importof tropical fruits inany

form from the Association of South-east Asian Nations (ASEAN) to China has increased

dramatically in thepastdecades (Tan,Guan,&Chen,2011).Chineseconsumersconsume

dried fruits as daily snacks (Zhang & Yang, 2006), therefore a considerable market is

provided.

China’stropicalfruitproductionin2009exceeded20milliontons(ITC,2011).Tropicalfruit

is generally grown in the southern provinces in China due to the climate; these include

Fujian,HainanandGuangdong(ITC,2011).Thelandsurfaceareaforplantingtropicalfruits

wasapproximately2.5millionhectareswhichrepresentsaquarterofChina’stotallandarea

usedinfruitplanting(ITC,2011).IthasbeenobservedbyagriculturalspecialiststhatChina

has a further 17.5million hectares suitable for the planting of tropical fruits (ITC, 2011).

Furthermore,itisestimatedbytheChinaMarketingFruitAssociationthatapproximately10%

ofChina’stotalfruitconsumptionistropicalfruit(ITC,2011).

TheimportoftropicalfruittoChinahasseensignificantincreasesintermsvolumeoverthe

last fewyearas seen in the tablebelow,whichsummarizes the importsofmajor tropical

fruit inChina intheyears2004,2006and2009. ItcanbeobservedthatBanana,Longan,

Durian and Dragon Fruit represented the 4-principal imported tropical fruit and with

banana’sleadingandaccountingfor491.3thousandmetrictons.

Table2Chinaimportsofmajortropicalfruits(Tan,Guan,&Chen,2011)

As to where the imports originate from it can be observed from the table 3, which

representingtheimportsofmajortropicalfruitsandtheircountryoforiginintheyear2009.

ChinaforthevastmajorityofitstropicalfruitimporteditfromASEAN,with6varietiesbeing

exclusivelyimportedtoChinafromASEAN.

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Table3Chinaimportsofmajortropicalfruitsandtheirsources(Tan,Guan,&Chen,2011)

China’s export volumes of tropical fruit from the year 2001 to 2009 volumes actually

decreasedsignificantlywhen lookedatthefour-major freshtropical fruitsbanana, lychee,

longanandpineapple(Tan,Guan,&Chen,2011).

DuetoChina’spopulation,betterstandardoflivingandhigherincomeconsumerscannow

afford awider range of imported fresh tropical fruit. It is expected according to industry

specialiststhatconsumptionwillgrowthefastestinthecomingyearsfromthemiddleclass

(ITC,2011).

2.2DRIEDFRUITS

Therearevarieschallengesforexporttropicalfruittosub-tropicalornon-tropicalcountries.

Perishabilityof theproducts,uncontrollablesuppliesandstrict import regulationsofeach

countryaffect the tropical fruitsquality goes to thosemarkets (Alphonce,Temu,Almli,&

Griffith,2015).Driedfruitreducesthedifficultyofexport.Processedtropicalfruithaslonger

shelf lifeand lesspreservationconditions, inthiscasedriedtropical fruitsareexportedto

non-tropicalcountries.

2.2.2DRIEDFRUITINASIA

Theconsumptionofdriedfruit inAsiapacifichasseenvolumegrowthpercapitabetween

2009 and 2014 (Kocheri, 2015). This is aligned with the trend of consumers nowadays

lookingforconvenience,ahealthieralternative for freshfruitsandan increase in income.

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AnindustryexpertpredictstheAsia-pacificregionwillgrowthefastestintheyearstocome

(GIA,2016).

2.2.3DRIEDFRUITINCHINA

AnanalysisontheconsumptionofdriedfruitinChinahasbeendifficulttoresearch,dueto

a lack of available data. Looking at processed tropical fruits in general, there has been a

significant increase in the import volumes for the observedperiodof 2004 to 2009 (Tan,

Guan,&Chen,2011).Forexample,driedlonganhasseenasignificantincrease,in2004the

figure accounted for 55,461 thousand tons and in 2009 it had increased to 133,616

thousandtons(Tan,Guan,&Chen,2011).Thissignificantincreaseinimportofthisparticular

exampleofdriedfruitpossiblyconveysChina’sdemandforsimilarproducts(suchasdried

mango)asthemiddleclasshasmoredisposableincome.

2.3CONSUMER-DRIVENPRODUCTDEVELOPMENT

Thefoodmarketwasidentifiedinasaturationstateforawhile(Linnemann,2006).Inorder

tostandoutfromallgoods,theproductsneedtobeconsumer-orientedtosatisfyconsumer

wishes. A consumer-driven product development starts with understanding consumer

needs to complete the first stages of opportunity identification of a product (Van Kleef,

2006).

Figure4overviewofstagesofnewproductdevelopmentprocess(VanKleef,Consumerresearchintheearlystagesofnewproductdevelopment,2006)

Adeepunderstandinghelpsraisingtheratioofsuccess(VanKleef,2006).Ascanbeseenin

figure 4, in able to launch a consumer driven product, it is started with understanding

consumerneeds,whichincludingqualitativemethodandquantitativemethods.

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2.3.1CHINESECONSUMERS

Chineseconsumersperceivefruitassnack,nomatterfreshordried(Zhang&Yang,2006).

Duetothemistrust inChinesefoodindustry,anexploratorystudyfoundoutthatChinese

consumers perceive imported goods of better quality, including higher fresh level, lower

chemicalresiduesetc.(Liu,Zhang,&Zhang,2007).SincetheChineseeconomyconditionhas

increasedrapidly,thewillingnesstopurchaseimportedgoodsisaveragelyincreased.

Chinahasanenormouslandarea,mostlytheresearchdonerepresentstheresultofEastern

China, which has more than half of the population and has a well-developed economy

conditions.Awell-constructedconsumerstudythatrepresentsChina,needstoconsiderthe

regionalfactorandotherinfluencingaspects(Atsmon&Magni,2016).

2.3.2THETOTALFOODQUALITYMODEL

Figure5totalfoodqualitymodel(Grunert,2005)

Totalfoodqualitymodel(figure5)illustratedtheformationprocessofconsumerperception.

Consumerperceptioncoversboth intrinsicandextrinsicqualitycues.Thesecuesfromthe

perceptionofaproducts,whichincludemotivesandbarriers.Thisresultwillinfluencethe

finaldecisionofconsumption.Afterconsumption,iftheexperiencefulfilledtheexpectation

itwillresultinfuturepurchases(Mai&Ness,2006).

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2.3.3PREFERENCE

Thetermpreferencecanbedefinedasasetofcharacteristicsaconsumerwantstoseeina

productinordertomakeitmoredesirable(Economictime,2016).Thesetofcharacteristics

could range from the usefulness of the good to the level of satisfaction andhappiness it

provides the buyer (Economictime, 2016). The consumer has an underlying preference,

which in itself is affected by many factors such as popular trends, level of received

education and personal taste for instance (USI, 2016). It has to be emphasized that

preference isnotaffectedbymoney, the incomeoftheconsumerorpriceof theproduct

(USI, 2016). The capability of a consumer tobuy a product doesnot affect the individual

tasteintermsoflikesanddislikes(USI,2016).

2.3.4MOTIVES&BARRIERS

Motives and barriers are directly related to purchase,while the consumption experience

decidesthefuturepurchases.Motivesencourageconsumptionandbarriersdotheopposite.

Asstatedinthepreviousstudy,motivesandbarriersaredefinedasacognitiveprocessof

thinkingand reasoning for consumptionbehaviour.A listofpossiblemotivesandbarriers

wasdocumentedinthepreviousqualitativestudy.Mostlythemotivesandbarriersfactors

are related with health, sensory and some extrinsic elements (Bengs, 2012), such as

healthinessandconvenience,playanimportantroleindrivenfruitconsumption(Sijtsema,

Jesionkowska,Symoneaux,Konopacka,&Snoek,2012).

2.3.5HEALTHORIENTATION

healthinessisakeymotivethatdrivesfruitconsumption(Rozin,2006).Sijtesemaindicated

that personal health orientations also influence the choice for dried fruit. The consumer

groupswithhighlevelofhealthconsciousmightbepronetoconsumerdriedfruitthanthe

lesshealthorientatedconsumers(Sijtsema,Jesionkowska,Symoneaux,Konopacka,&Snoek,

2012).Therefore,inthisconsumerresearch,healthorientationwillbeusedasanimportant

factor.

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3. MATERIALSANDMETHODS

3.1QUANTITATIVECONSUMERSTUDY–CONJOINTANALYSIS

Apreviousfocusgroupprovidesthequalitativestudy,whichisanexplorationofconsumers’

wayof thinking (Sheldon,2016), aquantitative research isneeded toprovidea statistical

analysisofconsumers’preferencetodeterminethedesiredqualityofdriedmango.

In this study, conjoint survey was carried out to identify the preference of key intrinsic

quality attributes towards dried mango among Chinese consumers and their ‘optimum

profile’.

3.2CONJOINTANALYSISSECTION

Conjointanalysisisoneofthemostwidely-usedquantitativemarketingresearchtechnique

todeterminewhatfeaturesthatshouldhavecontainintheupcomingnewproducts.Itcan

measurethepreferenceofproducts’attributesandforecasttheacceptanceoftheproduct

inthemarket(Curry,1996).

TheconjointsurveywasdesignedbySawtoothLighthouseStudioVersion9.2.0 (Sawtooth

softwareinc.,2017)withusingACBCmethod.Thissurveyincluding5essentialsections.The

completesurveycanbefindinappendix1.

3.2.1INTRODUCTION

Atthebeginningofthesurvey,abrief introductionwasstatedtogiveaclearoverviewto

therespondentsaboutthepurposeofthissurvey.Thestructureofthesurveyandpossible

timeneededtocompleteitwasalsomentioned.

Inaddition,inordertomotivatetherespondentstocompletethesurveywiththeirvaluable

opinion, a reward page was designed. Respondents could choose to fill in their contact

information(thecontactinformationwastheiremailaddress)incasetheywereselectedfor

thevoucherreward.Thechanceofwinningarewardisapproximately10%.

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3.2.2DEMOGRAPHICANDCONDITIONALQUESTIONS

Thissection includesdemographicandconditionalquestions.Someof thequestionswere

conditional inorder to filterout thedisqualified respondents,who isnot concernedas in

thetargetgroup.Therearetotally8questionsinthissectionandthreequestions(i,vi,vii)

weretofilteroutthedisqualifiedrespondents.Thequestionsinthissectionarelistedbelow.

i. Whatisyournationality?(Conditionalquestion)

• Chinese

• Others

The respondents selected others were disqualified, the survey will redirect to the

terminatedpage.

ii. Whichcitydoyoulive?

• Thisisanopen-endedquestion.

Due to thedrasticnumberof cities inChina, it is notpossible tomakea choicequestion

thereforerespondentshavetofillinthelocationthemselves.Thisquestioncanprovidean

overview of respondents’ locations in China and when it is necessary, the cities are

categorisedbythecitytiers(OfficialcommercializedcategoryofChinesecities).

iii. Whatisyourgender?

• Male

• Female

iv. Howoldareyou?

• Age18–25

• Age26–40

• Age41–60

• Aboveage60

Generally different age groups have different eating behaviours. Age group divisionwere

suggestedbySijtsemaetc.(Sijtsema,Jesionkowska,Symoneaux,Konopacka,&Snoek,2012).

21

The statistical analysis for this question determine whether there is difference in dried

mangopreferenceinagegroups.

v. Whatisyoureducationlevel?

• Primaryorlower

• Middleschool

• Highschool

• Bachelor

• Masterorhigher

vi. Haveyouevertriedfreshmango?(Conditionalquestion)

• Yes

• No

• Allergytomango

Therespondentswhohaveanallergytomangoweredisqualified;thesurveywillredirectto

theterminatedpage.

vii. HaveyouevereatenDriedMango?(Conditionalquestion)

• Yes

• No

• Allergytomango

Therespondentswhohaveanallergytomangoweredisqualified;thesurveywillredirectto

theterminatedpage.

viii. Howoftendoyouconsumedriedmango?

• Daily

• Weekly

• Monthly

22

• Fewtimesayear

• Never

3.2.3THECORESECTION

Thecoresectionoftheconjointsurveyincludes3majortasks:listofattributesandlevels,

screeningtasksandchoicetasktournament.Bygoingthroughthesetasksafinaloptimum

profiledproductcanbecreateforeachrespondent.Table4isthedesignofsurveythatused

forChineseconsumers.

Table4DesignforconjointanalysisforChinesemarket

Sectionsoftheconjointanalysis

Numberofattributes 6

Buildyourowntasks(BYO) included

ScreeningTasks

NumberofScreeningtasks 5

NumberofconceptsperScreeningtask 4

MinimumnumberofattributestovaryfromBYOselections 2

MaximumnumberofattributestovaryfromBYOselections 3

Numberofunacceptablequestions 2

Numberofmusthavequestions 1

BYOProductModificationStrategy Mixed

ChoiceTasksTournament

Maximumnumberofconceptsincludedinchoicetournament 14

Numberofconceptsperchoicetask 3

Calibrationconcept 0

� AvoidingDominatedConceptisnotused� IncludeBYOintournamentisnotused

23

v BuildYourOwn(BYO)section

In this section, respondents were asked to select the product attributes they prefer the

mostoutofthechoicethatprovided.Therequirementstateinthissectionis:“Inthispart,

you are offered with several characteristics of dried mango. Within each characteristic,

therewillbealistofseveraloptions.Now,youaregiventhefreechoicetocreatethedried

mangoyouwant.Howdoyoupreferyourdriedmango?Indicateyourpreferencebyclicking

oneoptionforeachcharacteristicofdriedmangobelow.Ifsomecharacteristicsdonotfitto

yourpreference, thenat least choose theclosestoption toyourpreference fromthe list.

Thesoftwarewillautomaticallyconsideryouroptionsforthenextpartofthissurvey”.

v Listofattributes

Proper defined conjoint attributes and its levels is the most essential part for conjoint

survey (Orme, 2002). Based on the chosen attributes and levels, it will determine the

optimumprofile forthefinalproduct.Theattributesand levelsthatusedforthisconjoint

survey (table 5) were selected based upon the information gathered from focus group

discussions.Theseattributescreatethefundamentalinformationfortheconjointsurvey.

Table5Attributesanditslevelusedfortheconjointsurvey

Attributes LevelofAttributes

MangoFlavour

Weakerflavourthanfreshmango

Similarflavourthanfreshmango

Strongerflavourthanfreshmango

DominantTaste

Moresweetthansour

Balancedsweetandsour

Moresourthansweet

Colour Paleyellow

24

Paleorange

Brightorange

Darkorange

DominantTexture

Chewy

Soft

Crispy

Sweetener

Highcaloriesweetener(i.e.sugar/honey)

Lowcaloriesweetener(i.e.fruitsugar)

Nocaloriesweetener(i.e.aspartame)

ExtraIngredients

Salt(i.e.seasalt)

Spices(i.e.chilli,ginger)

Saltandspicescombination

Noextraingredients

v ScreeningTasksSection

SawtoothLighthouseStudioVersion9.2.0(Sawtoothsoftwareinc.,2017)willdevelopsaset

of questions that is based on the respondents’ choice of BYO section, the questionswill

differ each other. These series of questions are used to identify the required level of

intrinsicqualityattributesaswellas theavoiding levelofattributes thatprovided.Within

25

this section, there are 3 type of screening questions provided – screening tasks,

unacceptableitemsandmust-haveitems.

• Screeningtasks–“Wehaveconsideredyourselectioninthepreviouspart.Now,in

thispart,wehavegeneratedsixsetsofcombinations.Everycombinationwepresent

may vary slightly from your own concept. Please carefully examine and decide

whethereachcombinationisacceptabletoyouornot”.

• Unacceptable items–“Beforecontinuing,we'venoticedthatyou'veavoideddried

mangowith certain characteristics shown below.Would any of these features be

totallyunacceptabletoyou?Ifso,choosetheonefeaturethatismostunacceptable

toyou, sowecan just focuson thecharacteristicsofdriedmango thatmeetyour

needs”.

• Musthave items–“Wedon'twanttojumptoconclusions,butwe'vealsonoticed

thatyou'veselecteddriedmangoeswithcertaincharacteristicsshownbelow.Ifany

oftheseisanabsoluterequirementforyou,itwouldbehelpfultoknow.Ifso,please

choosetheonemostimportantcharacteristic,sowecanjustfocusondriedmangoes

thatmeetyourneeds”.

v ChoiceTasks

In this section, the respondents were asked to select their most favourite dried mango

intrinsic quality set option out of the three comparison sets. The instruction of this part

statedas “Youalmost come to the finalpart for the survey.Wehaveconsideredall your

answers for each combination in the previous part. Now, in this part, we have chosen

severalsetsofcombinationsforyou.Pleasecarefullyexamineanddecidewhichoneamong

thesepossiblecombinationsdoyouprefer?”

The requirement of themaximumnumber of concepts included in choice tournament as

suggested from sawtooth lighthouse studio (Sawtooth software inc.,2017) is 14,which is

calculated from the equation – “maximum number of concepts included in choice

tournament=[(numberofscreeningtasks´numberofconceptspertask)/2]+4”.

26

3.2.3HEALTHORIENTATIONSECTION

Healthiness is also an essential element that determines the consumer consumption and

preferencetowardsfoodproduct(Sijtsema,Jesionkowska,Symoneaux,Konopacka,&Snoek,

2012). Therefore, at theendof this conjoint survey, ahealthorientation section is set to

understand the research group’s health consciousness. Respondents kindly asked to

“indicatetowhichextentyouagreewitheachofthesestatements!”torate11statements

abouthealth indaily life (Sijtsema, Jesionkowska,Symoneaux,Konopacka,&Snoek,2012)

ina5-pointlikertscale(totallydisagree,disagree,neutral,agreeandtotallyagree).The11

statementarelistedbelow:

1) IhavetheimpressionthatIsacrificealotformyhealth

2) Iconsidermyselftobeveryhealthconscious

3) Iampreparedtoleavealot,toeatashealthyaspossible

4) IthinkItakehealthintoaccountalotinmylife

5) Ithinkitismoreimportanttoknowhowtoeatinahealthierway

6) MyhealthissovaluabletomethatIampreparedtosacrificemanythingsforit

7) IhavetheimpressionthattheotherpeoplepaymoreattentiontohealththanIdo

8) Idonotcontinuallyaskmyselfwhethersomethingisgoodforme

9) IdonotoftenthinkaboutwhethereverythingIdoishealthy

10) IdonotwanttoaskmyselfallthetimewhetherthethingsIeataregoodforme

11) Ioftendwellonmyhealth

3.2.4CLOSING

Attheendofthesurvey,thereisaclosingsectionforrespondentsdevotingtheirprecious

time to help us on the new dried mango product development. For those who were

disqualifiedfromtheconditionalquestionsalsohaveaspecialterminationpage,whichisto

showwearegratefulfortheirparticipation.

27

3.3DISTRIBUTION

In order to have a good view of the Chinesemarket, the Chinese consumer groupwere

selectedasrandomChineseconsumersinmainlandChina.Thissurveywasinitiallydesigned

inEnglishandsecondlytranslateintoChinese.Aback-translatewasconductafterwardsto

verify the quality of Chinese survey. Before the final distribution, a pilot survey testwas

carried out to check the content of the survey aswell as the lenghth of the survey. The

conjoint surveywas uploaded to theWeb servermanager of Sawtooth lighthouse studio

(Sawtooth software inc.,2017) and distributed via email and electrical devices (such as

mobilephone,tabletsetc.)tomainlandChina.

3.4ANALYSIS

3.4.1CLASSIFICATIONOFRESPONDENTS

Thereare three typeof the responseswhensorting thedata–complete, incompleteand

disqualified.

• Complete – the respondents have finished all parts of the survey without being

disqualifiedthroughtheconditionalquestions.

• Incomplete–therespondentshaveopened/startedsurvey,butsomehowclosedthe

surveybeforefinishingit.

• Disqualified–therespondentshaveansweredthesurvey,butarefilteredoutbythe

conditionalquestions.

Theconjointanalysiswillonlytakeintoaccounttherespondentswhocompletedthesurvey.

Therefore, it isnecessary toexamine the completed results, to filterout the respondents

whodidnot takethesurveyseriouslyand filled in randomand irresponsibleanswers (i.e.

patterned answers, answered in unreasonable time duration etc.). With the academic

Sawtooth lighthouse studio license (Sawtooth software inc.,2017), the maximum

respondentscanbeanalysedis250,whichincludesalltypesofrespondents.

For the Chinese survey, 225 respondents opened survey, and 138 out of the population

completed the surveywith one respondent disqualified due to the conditional questions.

28

The rest 87 respondentsdidnot complete the survey. There is no respondenteliminated

fromthecompletedgroupdue to their regular timedurationand therearenopatterned

answers. Therefore, the complete 138 respondents’ results are used for the conjoint

analysis.

3.4.2CALCULATINGRELATIVEIMPORTANCEANDAVERAGEUTILITIESOFATTRIBUTES

Relative importance of attributes is used to identify the level of importance of attributes

that in different consumer group. As well this can reflect the importance when later

evaluating the product in the market. The relative importance level can help product

developertohaveafocuspointtowardsconsumerpreference.Therawdataof individual

importanceofeach respondentoneachattribute canbedownloaded from theSawtooth

lighthouse studio (Sawtooth software inc.,2017). By grouping the respondents upon

requirements,usingSPSSstatistics24(IBMCorp.,2016),One-wayANOVAwithTukeypost

ho.Tukey’sHSDposthoccancontroltheoverallsignificantdifferentlevel,whichisthemost

usefuloptioninthiscasetoidentifythesignificancedifferentofattributeswithinthegroups,

inordertounderstandtheimportanceofattributes.

TheutilityscoresoftheresultscanbecalculatedbyHierarchicalBayesian(HB)estimation

byusingSawtooth lighthousestudio(Sawtoothsoftware inc.,2017).Throughthissoftware

the individual utility scores can be analysed, which is used to examine the relative

preferencetowardsotherattributes.

3.4.3UNDERSTANDINGTHECONSUMERHEALTHORIENTATION

SPSSstatistics24(IBMCorp.,2016)canbeusedtocalculatedthehealthconsciousnesslevel

of respondents. Health sacrifice and health preoccupation are used based on the 11

statement and reference from Sijtsema etc. (Sijtsema, Jesionkowska, Symoneaux,

Konopacka, & Snoek, 2012). Firstly, a Cronbach alpha value is going to be calculated to

identifythenumberoffactorsandeliminatedthelessrelativeresult.Basedupontheresults,

categories the respondents into groups to calculate the relative importance within each

healthorientationgrouptounderstandtheirpreferencedifference.

29

4. RESULTSANDDISCUSSION

4.1SAMPLE

4.1.1GENDER,AGEANDEDUCATIONLEVEL

All the respondents, who filled in the surveywere randomly chosen. Therefore, it varies

fromgender,ageandeducationlevel.Thereare137Chineserespondentswhocompleted

the survey and in counting the completed surveys, the majority of the respondents are

female (75%).Thesurveywasdistributedvia Internet;however, it isstillnotyetcommon

forChineseolderpeople(above60yearsofage)tousethe internet.Asaresult, forboth

maleandfemalerespondentstheiragevariesbetween18to60years.Theeducationlevel

might influencethehealthperceptiontowardsfood,thereforeit isregardedasafactor in

thiscase.

Table 5 indicates the overall demographic informationof all respondentswho completed

thesurvey.129respondentsoutof137arehighlyeducatedandwithinthecounts,thereis

anequalratiobetweenthebachelorsandmasterorhigher.

Table5Gender,ageandeducationlevelofChineserespondents

Gender Agegroup

EducationLevel

Primaryor

lower

Middle

SchoolHighSchool Bachelor

Masteror

higher

Male

25.55%

18-25 11 - - - 6 5

26-40 22 - - - 12 10

41-60 2 - - - 2 -

Female

74.45%

18-25 53 - - 7 28 18

26-40 46 - - 1 19 26

41-60 3 - - - 2 1

30

Total 137 0 0 8 69 60

4.1.2DISTRIBUTIONOFREGIONS

China, known for its drastic population and landscape. It has the world’s second largest

statebylandarea(NBSPRC,2016),thereforetheChinesegovernmentestablishedtheCity

TiersMattertohelpunderstandthedevelopmentofregionalmarkets. Thecities inChina

are categorized into 4 tiersmainly based upon population, income and competitiveness.

Tier 1 is all the cities that are large densely populated urban areaswith strong influence

towardsChina’seconomic, cultureandpolitics. Tier2 ismadeupwithProvincial capitals,

sub-provincial capitals and some developed cities that have quite some influence on the

Chineseeconomiesandculture.Tier3consistsofcitieshaslessinfluencetowardseconomic

aspectandmostlyareopencoastalcities.Tier4citiescontainlessurbanareaswithlittleor

noneinfluencetowardstheChineseeconomy(Nexus,2013).Tosumup,differentcitytiers

illustratedifferenteconomicdevelopment,incomelevelsandbusinessopportunities,which

directly result in different consumer behaviors (Cheng, 2016). In this survey, the Chinese

respondents were asked to filled in the city where they live in and use China city tiers

systemtocategoriesthemintocitytiersduringdataanalysis.

Figure6DistributionofChineserespondentspercitytiers.

Tier1

45%

Tier229%

Tier3

15%

Tier4

11%

31

As shown in figure 6, there are 45%of respondents from tier 1 cities and a total 74%of

respondents from the highly developed cities (Second tier and above) this represent the

populationthatareingoodeconomicconditionsandcanselectthefoodproductsasthey

desired.

4.1.3FREQUENCYOFCONSUMPTION

Frequency of dried mango consumption had been asked in the survey. Except high

frequencyeaters(dailytoweekly),themajorityrespondentshadanexperiencewithdried

mangoandateiteveryyear,whichisrelatedtotherapidinternetdevelopmentandwidely

internetshopping,foodchoiceno longer is limitedtotheregional issues.Thepeoplewho

hadnoexperienceonlyoccupiedarelativelysmallpercentage(5%).

Figure7FrequencyofconsumptionofDriedMango.

Daily0%

Weekly6%

Monthly15%

Fewtimesayear74%

Never5%

32

4.2CONJOINTANALYSIS

4.2.1RELATIVEIMPORTANCE

As mentioned in previous chapter, the relative importance can be calculated within

differentgroups. It is tocheck therelative importanceofattributesaswell thesignificant

differencewithingroups.Asaresult,itcanidentifytheoptimumprofileofdriedmango.

v The3mostimportantintrinsicqualityattributes

TotheChineserespondents,asshowninfigure8,themostimportantthreeintrinsicquality

attributestowardsdriedmangoareextraingredients,sweetenerandtexture(p<0.05).

Figure8RelativeimportanceofattributesamongChineseconsumers(n=137).TheRelativeimportance

of attributes indicates how important is an attribute compare to the others. Different letter indicates

significantdifferencebetweenattributes(p-value<0.05)

1) Extraingredients–thisattributeshasarelativelyveryhighimportancecomparedto

otherattributes.It ismainlyduetomostoftherespondentsselectedthechoiceof

‘noextraingredients’,whichmeansthatmaintainingthenaturalflavourofmangoin

adriedmangoproductisessentiallyimportanttoChineseconsumers.

33

2) Dominanttexture–thisattributewasrateassecondimportantattributestowards

Chinese consumers (figure 8). The relative importance value is high because the

consumer has strong bias towards one option, in this case is chewy as dominant

texture.

3) Sweetener– Sweetener as oneof themost important ingredient of driedmango,

hasthirdhighestrelativeimportance.Sweetenersarealwaysunderargumentdueto

itisapartofadditive.Butinthiscase,theconsumersseemtoallhaveveryunique

answerthereforeresultinrelativelyhighimportance.

v Therelativeimportanceoffrequenteatersvs.non-frequenteaters

Among all the Chinese respondents, there is only small percentage (5%, 6 out of 137) of

nonedriedmangoeaters,itisnotreallyrepresentativetoanalysebetweeneatersandnon-

eaters.Asaresult,theChineseconsumerswillbecategorisedintofrequenteaters(weekly

and monthly eater) and non-frequent eaters (only consume few times a year or never

consume).Figure9showstherelativeimportanceofattributesbetweenthesetwodifferent

groups.

Figure9Relativeimportanceofattributesbetweenfrequenteaters(left,n=29)andnon-frequenteaters

(right,n=108).TheRelativeimportanceofattributesindicateshowimportantisanattributecompareto

theothers.Differentletterindicatessignificantdifferencebetweenattributes(p-value<0.05)

It is very clear that extra ingredient is as important for both frequent eaters and non-

frequent eaters.However, for the frequent eaters, there is notmuch significantdifferent

betweentherest5attributes,opposite,fornon-frequenteaters,thedominanttextureand

sweetenerare relativelymore important than colour,dominant tasteandmango flavour.

34

With the majority population, the non-frequent eaters’ relative importance directly

influencetheoveralldifference,assimilartofigure8.

v Therelativeimportanceofmalevs.femaleeaters

AsLinnemann indicated,there issignificantdifferenceofeatingpreferencebetweenmale

andfemale(Linnemann,2006).Therefore,inthiscase,thepreferencebetweenthegenders

areworthtolookat.Figure10illustratedthedifferencebetweenmaleandfemalefrequent

eaters.

Figure 10 Relative importance of attributes between frequent male eaters (left, n=3) and frequent

femaleeaters(right,n=26).TheRelativeimportanceofattributesindicateshowimportantisanattribute

comparetotheothers.Differentletterindicatessignificantdifferencebetweenattributes(p-value<0.05)

As canbe seen from figure10, there is very significantdifferencebetween themale and

female frequent eaters. Beside the representative of the number of respondents, the

differencebetweenattributeswithindifferentgroupsareverydifferent.Tobothgenders,

extraingredientsarerelativelyimportant.Forthemalefrequenteater,thedominanttaste

and mango flavour are the least important and has relatively significant difference with

otherattributesbutforfemalefrequenteaters,there isvery littledifferencebetweenthe

rest 5 attributes. However, as mentioned, the total number respondents are not so

representative,thereforethegenderdifferencebetweennon-frequenteatersareworthto

check.

35

A comparison is also done between the male and female of non-frequent eater group,

whichisrelativelymorerepresentativeduetothelargerrespondentnumber.Asillustrated

infigure11,therestillpresentsignificantdifferencebetweenthegenders.

Figure 10 Relative importance of attributes between frequentmale eaters (left, n=32) and frequent

femaleeaters(right,n=76).TheRelativeimportanceofattributesindicateshowimportantisanattribute

comparetotheothers.Differentletterindicatessignificantdifferencebetweenattributes(p-value<0.05)

Extra ingredientsasattributestill take themost relative importantplace forbothgender.

However,tothenon-frequentfemaleeaters,dominanttextureandsweetenerarerelatively

more importancethancolour,dominanttasteandmangoflavour,and itshowssignificant

differencebetweenthetwogroupsofattributes.Forthenon-frequentmaleeaters,beside

the extra ingredients, the different of importance between the attributes are not so

significantly distinguished. For them the dominant taste has the significant difference

towards the all other attributes. Sweetener, colour andmango flavourhavemoreor less

similarimportantbetweenthedominanttasteandtexture.

4.2.2RELATIVEUTILITIES

Individual utilities can be calculated by Sawtooth lighthouse studio (Sawtooth software

inc.,2017). Individual utilities (zero-centred diffs) illustrate the preference towards

attributes of dried mango. Figure 11 shows a relative utilities report of overall Chinese

consumers’preference.

Figure 11 Relative utilities (Zero-centredDiffs) of attributes of Chinese consumers (n=137)Averageutilities values indicates howattractive are levels in eachattribute.Ahigherutility,fromanegativetoapositivevalue,meansahigherattractivenessorpreferenceforcertainlevelwhencomparetoothers.Differentletterindicatessignificantdifferencesbetweenlevelineachattribute(p-value<0.05).

37

v RelativeutilitiesofattributesofChineseconsumers

Fromfigure11,itshowssomesignificantdifferencesbetweentheattributes.

� Extra ingredients– theaverageutilitiesvalueofextra ingredients’attributesvalue

are most standout. There is very unique preference towards no extra ingredient

amongChineseconsumers.Aswelltheoptionswithspiceshavetheleastacceptance

fromChineseconsumers.

� Sweetener– there is aswell significant difference among all attributeswithin the

sweeteneroption.LowornocaloriessweetenerarepreferredbyChineseconsumers,

and natural fruit sugar has significant preference compare to the no calorie

aspartame.Highcaloriesweetenerisnotpreferredinthiscase.

� Dominant Texture – The Chinese consumers are preferring mostly a chewy/soft

textureofdriedmangoproductthancrispyproducts.Thereissignificantpreference

towards chewy and soft products and within the options there is not much

significantdifference.

� Colour–(theactualcoloursprovidedinthesurveyarelistedintable5)toChinese

consumers it is veryobvious that thedriedmangocolour shouldbe similar to the

freshmango.Theintensivecoloursprovidedintheoptionwerenotpreferredatall.

Thepreferenceleveldecreaseswithincreasecolourintensiveness.

� Dominant taste – average Chinese consumers prefer a sweet taste fruit product.

Whentheproductismoresourthansweet,itismostlynotappreciated.Therefore,

there is a significance different of ‘more sour than sweet’ option towards ‘more

sweetorbalanced’option.

� Mango flavour – Chinese consumers prefer a driedmango product similar to the

freshproductaswelltheflavourofit.Neitherstrongernorweakerarenotpreferred.

Therelativeutilitieswerealsocalculatedbyfrequenteater(appendix2)andnon-frequent

eaters (appendix 3). Both group has very similar preference as the overall utility stated

above. There is notmuch significantdifference shows in the cases, detail seeappendix 2

and3.

38

4.3HEALTHORIENTATION

Thehealthorientationpartinthesurveyconsistedof11healthrelatedlifestatements,

which was verified by Sijtsema et al. in 2012 (Sijtsema, Jesionkowska, Symoneaux,

Konopacka, & Snoek, 2012). These statements are used for consumer studies to

understand the consumer health consciousness level. By using SPSS to calculate the

Cronbachalphavalueandfactoranalysistoconfirmitconsistwithtwosubscales:health

sacrifice and health preoccupation. Question 9 ‘I do not often think about whether

everything I do is healthy’ and question 10 ‘I do notwant to askmyself all the time

whetherthethingsIeataregoodforme’wereremovedbeforefurtheranalysisdueto

lowCronbachalphavalue,which represent low relativity to theoverall analysis.After

identifythefactors,therestninequestionsweregroupintothetwosubscales.Within

eachsubscale,therespondentsalsodividedintohighorlowhealthorientationlevel.

v RelativeimportanceofHealthsacrificegroup

Figure12RelativeimportanceofattributesbetweenHighHealthSacrifice(left,n=37)andLowHealthSacrifice (right, n=100). The Relative importance of attributes indicates how important is an attributecomparetotheothers.Differentletterindicatessignificantdifferencebetweenattributes(p-value<0.05)

Bycomparingthetwofiguresinfigure12,thereshowsasignificantdifferencebetweenthe

twogroups.Asfortheoverallimportance,noextraingredientsareuniquelyforallgroups,

thatmakes thehighdifferencebetween theattributes.Also, there is obviousdifferent in

39

relative importance of attributes, which means the optimum profile of dried mango is

differenttothesegroups.Forthehighhealthsacrificegroup,thesweetenerisslightlymore

importantthandominanttexture,whileforlowhealthsacrificegroupitistheopposite.By

looking at the significant difference, for the high health sacrifice group, there is relative

smallsignificantdifferencewithinthegroups(3leveldifferences)butoppositeforthelow

health sacrifice group. For the lowhealth sacrifice group, there is four level of significant

difference.

v RelativeimportanceofHealthpreoccupationgroup

Figure13Relative importanceofattributesbetweenHighHealthpreoccupation (left,n=83)andLowHealthpreoccupation(right,n=54).TheRelativeimportanceofattributesindicateshowimportantisanattribute compare to the others. Different letter indicates significant difference between attributes (p-value<0.05)

Figure 13 illustrated the relative importance of attributes between high and low health

preoccupationgroups.Comparingtherelativeimportanceofattributes’valuetherearevery

similar between the groups, however, the significant difference between the groups has

large difference. For the high health preoccupation group, there is significant difference

between attributes (extra ingredients vs. sweetener and dominant textures vs. colour,

dominanttasteandmangoflavour).Nevertheless,forthelowhealthpreoccupationgroup,

except the very unique option towards extra ingredients, the significant different within

otherattributesarenotsobig.

40

v Relativeutilitiesofallhealthorientationgroups

As mentioned previously, the relative utilities illustrated the preference towards the

attributes.Inthiscase,allfourhealthorientationgroups’relativeutilitieswerecalculated.

Figure14and15showstherelativeutilitybetweenhighandlowhealthsacrificeconsumer

groups. Same for all the consumer groups, the choice towards extra ingredients are very

uniquelysame.Veryhighpreferencetowardsnoextraingredientsandveryadverseattitude

towards theoptionswith spices.Andallwith significantdifferentbetween theattributes.

The consumer preference towards sweeteners as well similar that low or no calorie

sweeteneraremoreappreciated.CrispyalwaysthetexturethatChineseconsumernotso

welcomedandwithsamehighsignificantdifferentcomparetothechewy/softtexture.The

biggest different between the high and low health sacrifice consumer groups is the

preferencetowardsthecolourofdriedmango.Forthehighhealthsacrificeconsumergroup,

exceptdarkorange,thereisnosignificantdifferencebetweenothercolours,butitisnotthe

caseforthelowhealthsacrificeconsumergroup.Thepaleorange(colourindexprovidein

previous chapter), which is the colour that closest to the ripe fresh mango is the most

preferredbythelowhealthsacrificeconsumergroup,followbypaleyellowthatalsosimilar

to the freshmango. The bright orange and dark orange are not reallywelcomed by this

group, and there shows significant differences among all colours for low health sacrifice

consumer group. For the rest of the attributes (dominant taste,mango flavour) have the

samerelativeimportanceaswellthesignificantdifference.

The relative utilities of health preoccupation consumer groups are similar to the health

sacrificeconsumergroups,thedetailinformationareshowninappendix4and5.

41

Figure14Relativeutilities(Zero-centredDiffs)ofattributesoflowhealthsacrificeconsumergroup(n=100)Averageutilitiesvaluesindicateshowattractivearelevelsineachattribute.Ahigherutility,fromanegativetoapositivevalue,meansahigherattractivenessorpreferenceforcertainlevelwhencomparetoothers.Differentletterindicatessignificantdifferencesbetweenlevelineachattribute(p-value<0.05).

42

Figure15Relativeutilities(Zero-centredDiffs)ofattributesofhighhealthsacrificeconsumergroup(n=37)Averageutilitiesvaluesindicateshowattractivearelevelsineachattribute.Ahigherutility,fromanegativetoapositivevalue,meansahigherattractivenessorpreferenceforcertainlevelwhencomparetoothers.Differentletterindicatessignificantdifferencesbetweenlevelineachattribute(p-value<0.05).

43

5. CONCLUSION

This consumer research is the followupquantitative research towardsdried tropical fruit

productsafterthequalitativeresearch(focusgroup).ThegoalofitistofindouttheChinese

consumers’preference towardsdried tropical fruits, in this casedriedmango.Theaimof

this study is to answer the research questions – ‘What is the profile of intrinsic quality

attributesofdriedmango?’, ‘What isthepreferenceof intrinsicqualityattributesofdried

mango?’and ‘Howdoes theprofileandpreferenceof intrinsicqualityattributesbetween

consumerswithdifferenthealthorientation?’.

Regardingtothe“optimumprofile”ofintrinsicqualityattributes,itisessentiallyimportant

toknowthereshouldbenoextraflavouringredientsforChineseconsumersindriedmango,

aswellnecessarilyremainitsnaturaltaste.SecondarilyisChineseconsumersdonotprefer

hardandcrispytextureddriedmangoproduct.Fromthesweetenerperspective,loworno

caloriesweetenerismuchpreferredthanthenaturalhighcaloriesweetener.Forthecolour,

dominanttasteandmangoflavourofdriedmango,thereisnosignificantdifferenceamong

these attributes. The preference towards these attributes can be simply concluded as

remainingthenaturalcharacteristicoffreshmango.

Different consumer groups had been analysed in this report. Due to the fact, there is a

relativelyhighpercentageofexperienceddriedmangoeatersamongChineserespondents,

therefore, the consumers were grouped into frequent eaters (weekly, month consumed

driedmango)andnon-frequenteaters(consumeronlyeatdriedmangofewtimesayearor

notevenhadexperience).Thereshowsasignificantdifferencebetweenthegroupsaswell

between thegenders.Baseduponhealthorientationquestions, the consumerswerealso

groupsintohigh/lowhealthsacrificeandpreoccupation,differencealsoshowsbetweenthe

groups.

To sumup, based upon the research, the driedmango product that goes to the Chinese

market should fulfil the consumer preferences that are mentioned in this research. It is

importanttoknowtheexacttargetconsumergroupforthenewproductdevelopment.For

Chineseconsumers,thedriedmangoproductshouldmaximallyremaininitsnaturalform.

44

6. RECOMMENDATION

Inthisstudy,aconjointanalysiswasdonetostudytheoptimumprofileofintrinsicquality

attributesofdriedmangoinChinesemarket.Duringtheproject,therearesomedifficulties

aswellsomeimprovementsstillneededuponthisstudyforfurtherproductdevelopment.

� Chinaduetoitsenormouslandscapeanddifferenteconomicdevelopment,amore

detailedquantitativeresearchneeded.Forexample,focusononespecificregionand

increase the respondentvolume;divideChina intodifferent regionwith significant

difference based upon eating preference and do comparison study between

differentregionsetc.

� Survey still not a formatwidely acknowledged therefore result in high incomplete

rate.Amoreattractivewayofpresentingsurveyneedtobestudied.

� Based upon the research result, specify a focused target group, domore detailed

quantitativestudies,forexample,selectfrequentfemaleeaters,askfromintrinsicto

extrinsic,fromspecificmangotypetoadditiveetc.

� Produce ‘optimumprofile’product fromthissurveyanddoasensorytest towards

Chineseconsumers,toverifiedthestudyresult.

45

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48

8. APPENDICES

Appendix1:Conjointsurveyusedinthisconsumerstudy

Appendix2:Relativeutilities(Zero-CentredDiffs)offrequenteaters

Appendix3:Relativeutilities(Zero-CentredDiffs)ofnon-frequenteaters

Appendix4:Relativeutilities(Zero-CentredDiffs)oflowhealthpreoccupationconsumer

group

Appendix5:Relativeutilities(Zero-CentredDiffs)ofhighhealthpreoccupationconsumer

group

49

Appendix1:

ThefullChineseconjointsurveylink:

https://DMCNfinal.sawtoothsoftware.com/login.html

50

Appendix2Relativeutilities(Zero-centredDiffs)ofattributesfrequenteaters(n=29)Averageutilitiesvaluesindicateshowattractivearelevelsineachattribute.Ahigherutility,fromanegativetoapositivevalue,meansahigherattractivenessorpreferenceforcertainlevelwhencomparetoothers.Differentletterindicatessignificantdifferencesbetweenlevelineachattribute(p-value<0.05).

51

Appendix3Relativeutilities(Zero-centredDiffs)ofattributesofnon-frequenteaters(n=108)Averageutilitiesvaluesindicateshowattractivearelevelsineachattribute.Ahigherutility,fromanegativetoapositivevalue,meansahigherattractivenessorpreferenceforcertainlevelwhencomparetoothers.Differentletterindicatessignificantdifferencesbetweenlevelineachattribute(p-value<0.05).

52

Appendix 4 Relative utilities (Zero-centred Diffs) of attributes of low health preoccupation consumer group (n=54) Average utilities values indicates howattractive are levels in each attribute. A higher utility, from a negative to a positive value,means a higher attractiveness or preference for certain levelwhencomparetoothers.Differentletterindicatessignificantdifferencesbetweenlevelineachattribute(p-value<0.05).

53

Appendix 5 Relative utilities (Zero-centred Diffs) of attributes of high health preoccupation consumer group (n=83) Average utilities values indicates howattractive are levels in each attribute. A higher utility, from a negative to a positive value,means a higher attractiveness or preference for certain levelwhencomparetoothers.Differentletterindicatessignificantdifferencesbetweenlevelineachattribute(p-value<0.05).