JÖNKÖPING UNIVERSITY
A Conjoint based study on meat preferences. The effect of
Country-of-Origin, Price, Quality and Expiration date on the
consumer decision making process.
Bachelor Thesis in Business Administration and Methodology Author: Diana Mesanovic, Dijana Rubil, Beatrice Rylander Tutor: Dr. Erik Hunter
Acknowledgements
The authors of this thesis would like to acknowledge the following persons for their guidance and help throughout the process of this research.
We would like to thank our tutor Dr. Erik Hunter for his support, interesting opinions and discussions and his great thoughts of inspiration.
The authors would also like to thank the employees at ICA Maxi Jönköping who helped us find interesting and relevant data to our experiment, the professors at Jönköping International Business School for their guidance through the research and all the participants in the experiment and the interviews. Also, the authors would like to thank Robert Pilipovic for the help with conducting the Conjoint Analysis.
A thank is also expressed to family members’ who have been supportive and helpful. Lastly, we would like to thank the students for their feedback.
Diana Mesanovic Dijana Rubil Beatrice Rylander
Bachelor’s Thesis in Business Administration and Methodology
Title: A Conjoint based study on meat preferences in Sweden. The effect of Country of-Origin, Price, Quality and Expiration date on the consumer decision making process
Author: Diana Mesanovic, Dijana Rubil, Beatrice Rylander Tutor: Dr. Erik Hunter
Date: [2009-12-09]
Subject terms: Fresh meat, Country-of-Origin, ethnocentrism, expiration date, price, quality, conjoint analysis, consumer decision making process, consumer behaviour
Abstract
Purpose This study will examine the importance of Country-of-Origin, Price, Quality and Expiration date, in the consumer decision making process for fresh meat.
Background Country-of-Origin has earlier been investigated, however the research has been focusing on manipulating one single cue. With the recent scandals in the fresh meat industry, were animals being abused and expiration dates being changed, it is interesting to investigate how important the consumers find the four attributes; Country-of-Origin, price, quality and expiration date.
Method In order to answer the research questions, and fulfil the purpose, the authors will use a mix of different data collection methods. Qualitative data will be gathered by performing interviews and quantitative data will be gathered by conducting a pilot study and an experiment. The data will be retrieved with the use of SPSS 17.0 and the conjoint analysis procedure.
Conclusion Country-of-origin has been found to be the most preferred attribute for consumers in their purchasing process for fresh meat, closely followed by expiration date. The consumer did find price and quality to be of importance, however the attributes were not found to be as important as Country-of-Origin and expiration date. As Country-of-Country-of-Origin was found to be the most significant attribute for consumers in their decision making process, this indicates that the consumers are ethnocentric in their behaviour, i.e. they consider their own country and culture to be above others, which leads to a purchase of Swedish meat. It has also been found that the purchasing process of fresh meat is of great complexity, especially with the negative attention the fresh meat industry has induced.
Kandidatuppsats inom företagsekonomi
Titel: En Conjoint analys studie på färskt kött i Sverige. Effekten av ursprungsland, pris, kvalité, och hållbarhets datum på konsumentens beslutsamhets process
Författare: Diana Mesanovic, Dijana Rubil, Beatrice Rylander Handledare: Dr. Erik Hunter
Datum: [2009-12-09]
Nyckelord: Färskt kött, ursprungsland, etnocentrism, hållbarhets datum, pris, kvalité, konsumentens beslutsprocess, konsument beteenden
Sammanfattning
Syfte Studien ska undersöka hur viktigt ursprungsland, pris, kvalité, och hållbarhets datum är i konsumenternas beslutsamhets process.
Bakgrund Ursprungsland har tidigare blivit undersökt, dock har dessa studier enbart fokuserat på att manipulera en faktor. Med tanke på de senaste skandalerna inom den Svenska köttindustrin, där djur har misshandlats och där hållbarhets datum har ändrats, så är det intressant att undersöka till vilken grad faktorerna ursprungsland, pris, kvalité, och hållbarhets datum anses betydelsefulla för konsumenterna.
Metod För att ge svar på syftet, har man i denna studie använt olika sorters metoder för att samla ihop data. För att få in kvalitativ data har författarna använt intervjuer och för att få in kvantitativ data har författarna genomfört en förundersökning undersökning och ett experiment. Data har sedan framskaffats med användning av SPSS 17.0 och Conjoint analys processen.
Slutsats Ursprungsland är den faktor som är viktigast för konsumenterna vid deras köp av färskt kött, tätt följt av hållbarhets datum. Konsumenterna värdesatte pris och kvalité som viktiga faktorer i deras köpbeteende, dock inte så viktiga som ursprungsland och hållbarhetsdatum. Att ursprungsland ansågs vara viktigt för konsumenterna tyder på att dem är etnocentriska, vilket betyder att dem ser sitt land och sin kultur som bättre än andras, vilket i sin tur bidrar till ett kött av svenskt kött. Resultaten av studien har också visat att konsumenternas köpbeteende är komplext i fråga om köp av färskt kött, speciellt med den negativa bilden av denna industri som framhävs.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements ... i
1
Introduction ... 1
1.1 Background ... 1 1.2 Problem Area ... 2 1.3 Purpose ... 2 1.3.1.1 Perspective ...2 1.4 Delimitations ... 3 1.5 Definitions ... 32
Frame of Reference ... 4
2.1 Choice of Theory ... 4 2.2 Attribute overview ... 4 2.2.1 Country-of-Origin ... 4 2.2.2 Price ... 6 2.2.3 Quality ... 7 2.2.4 Expiration date ... 8 2.3 Consumer Ethnocentrism ... 82.4 Consumer Behaviour towards meat ... 9
2.4.1 Consumer decision making process towards meat ... 10
2.4.1.1 Problem Recognition ... 11 2.4.1.2 Information Search... 11 2.4.1.3 Alternative Evaluation ... 11 2.4.1.4 Choice/ Behaviour... 12 2.4.1.5 Hierarchy of Effects... 12 2.4.1.6 Information Processing ... 12 2.4.1.7 Influencing Factors... 12
2.4.2 Types of Buying Decision Behaviour ... 13
2.5 Product Features ... 14
2.5.1 Intrinsic and Extrinsic cues ... 15
3
Method ... 16
3.1 Research Approach ... 16
3.2 Research strategy ... 16
3.3 Quantitative versus Qualitative ... 17
3.4 Collecting Data ... 17
3.4.1 The Sample Collection ... 17
3.4.1.1 Defining the Target ... 18
3.4.1.2 Determining the sample frame ... 18
3.4.1.3 Select a sample technique ... 19
3.4.1.4 Determine the sample size ... 19
3.4.1.5 Execute sample process ... 20
3.4.2 Data Collection methods ... 20
3.4.2.1 Pilot Study ... 20 3.4.2.2 Experiment ... 21 3.4.2.3 Interview ... 21 3.5 Variables ... 22 3.5.1 Country-of-Origin ... 23 3.5.2 Quality ... 23 3.5.3 Expiration date ... 24
3.5.5 Conjoint Analysis ... 24
3.5.6 Conducting Conjoint Analysis ... 25
3.5.6.1 Formulating the problem ... 25
3.5.6.2 Constructing the stimuli ... 26
3.5.6.3 Deciding the form of input data ... 27
3.5.6.4 Interpreting the results and assessing the reliability and validity ... 27
3.6 Validity, Reliability and Generalizability ... 27
3.6.1 Validity ... 27
3.6.2 Reliability ... 29
3.6.3 Generalizability ... 30
4
Results and Analysis ... 31
4.1 Statistical Results ... 31
4.1.1 Importance Values... 31
4.1.2 Utility Values ... 32
4.2 Summary of Interviews ... 34
4.3 Analysis of statistical results ... 36
4.3.1 Country-of-Origin ... 36
4.3.2 Price ... 38
4.3.3 Quality ... 40
4.3.4 Expiration date ... 41
4.3.5 Analysis of the 9 Profiles ... 42
4.3.5.1 Profile Number 1 ... 42 4.3.5.2 Profile Number 2 ... 43 4.3.5.3 Profile Number 3 ... 43 4.3.5.4 Profile Number 4 ... 44 4.3.5.5 Profile Number 5 ... 45 4.3.5.6 Profile Number 6 ... 45 4.3.5.7 Profile Number 7 ... 46 4.3.5.8 Profile Number 8 ... 46 4.3.5.9 Profile Number 9 ... 47
4.4 Validity of Statistical Results ... 47
4.4.1 Correlations ... 47
4.5 Preference scores of simulations ... 48
5
Conclusion ... 50
6
Discussion ... 51
6.1 Recommendations for interested parties ... 51
6.2 Critique of the Study ... 52
6.3 Suggestions for Further Research ... 53
7
References ... 54
Appendix A ... 59
Appendix B ... 60
Appendix C ... 62
Appendix D ... 63
Appendix E ... 64
Appendix F ... 65
Appendix G ... 66
Appendix H ... 67
1
Introduction
This section will introduce the reader to the background of this research, the problem area, the research questions the authors have chosen to focus on, and the purpose. Furthermore, the perspective has been explained and the delimitations of this study clarified.
1.1 Background
In the 21st society the meat market is a constant issue of discussion and debate. The growth of the society as a whole has increased drastically, with more children reaching adult ages, and more elderly living longer, especially in the western countries (Gabriel, 2009). With the increase in population there has been a correlated increase in the demand for many products, food is a great example. To meet this demand for food, internationalization has increased, resulting in food originating from several places around the world. Further on, the internationalization has led to a higher competition in terms of the price which is set in the market, the quality of the products, the Country-of-Origin effects and freshness. To be able to compete in this environment the producers need to differentiate themselves, develop their uniqueness or increase productivity. However, in the most recent example within the meat industry, increasing productivity has resulted in producers increasing the number of animals in their facilities, without changing the facility itself (Chaaban, 2009). The effect of this is less space per animal, a more stressful environment, and an unethical behaviour which has shown to be discouraging for the consumers.
Consumers have become more observant and critical of what the market offers and use their knowledge, prejudices, and own previous experience when evaluating the different alternatives. During the last years the Swedish meat handling has been heavily criticised in Swedish media, mostly within fraud of labelling and brutal animal handling. Knowing where the meat originates from can sometimes be a specification of quality (Chao, 1998), and even safety. Though it has been uncovered that producers try to deceive the consumers to believe that a fresh meat product is Swedish, when in fact it originates from any part of the world (Ahlborg, 2005).
The way animals are handled before and during slaughter is something that has several times been criticised. It has been uncovered that Scan, one of Sweden’s most popular food brands (Scan, 2008), threw living pigs in boiling water (Mossberg, 2009), and several years before Kalla Fakta showed how cows were brutally slaughtered and abused (Fagerström, & Alfredsson, 2001). However the criticism has not changed the Swedish consumers purchasing behaviour. They still continue to buy Swedish meat products, and according to sales statistics, the purchase of Swedish beef has increased with 10 percent during the first half of 2009 (Lantbrukarnas Riksförbund, 2009).
The food labelling is a valuable asset for the consumer to determine the safety of the product. This can be done by examining the expiration date, which informs the consumer on how long the product is still of good quality Only two years ago a scandal broke out uncovering how ICA, a market leader in food retailing, was changing the expiration date on fresh meat products so they would appear more fresh (Dahlin, 2009).
In Sweden we consume mostly pork, beef and occasionally lamb (Svensk Köttinformation, 2009) and seven out of ten people eat pork at least one time in a week. In the supermarkets there are now many alternatives with different price levels, Country-of-Origin labels and qualities available. A consumer is also influenced by the factors in the environment as well as own previous experience and knowledge, hence the purchase of meat has become more complex, with every individual having its own reasons behind it. The factors that influence a decision arise from many different places and sometimes are even created by the marketer (Kotler, Wong, Saunders & Armstrong, 2005). In Sweden there is a strict food act which is responsible for the consumers receiving the correct information about their products at the time of the purchase (Svensk Köttinformation, 2009). One of the information cues that the consumer has the right to identify, when evaluating a product before a purchase, is the information of where a product originates from, which is more known as Country-of-Origin. The research within fresh meat in Sweden is a subject that has not been fully researched. Hoffman (2000) conducted a study about the effects of Country-of-Origin, however, other factors did not receive as much attention. Hoffman has previously stated that it is necessary to conduct further research within this area (2000).
1.2 Problem Area
Imported meat being labelled as originated from Sweden, animals in Swedish slaughter houses being abused, expiring dates not being reliable, are just some of the scandals that have caused debates in Sweden. Consumers are constantly exposed to negative publicity about the meat market in media, and the question is how this affects them in their decision making process for fresh meat. To understand the complex mind of the consumer, this research will investigate which factors of; Country-of-Origin, Price, Quality, and Expiration date, are the most important in the consumer decision making process for fresh meat. This is specified in the following research questions:
Research Question 1: How and to what degree are the four variables,
Country-of-Origin, price, quality and expiration date important for consumers who purchase fresh meat?
Research Question 2: How ethnocentric are the consumers in their decision
making process when purchasing meat?
Research Question 3: What can explain the possible complexity that the
consumer faces in the decision making process for fresh meat?
1.3 Purpose
This study will examine the importance of Country-of-Origin, Price, Quality and Expiration date, in the consumer decision making process for fresh meat.
1.3.1.1 Perspective
This study will be conducted from a consumer-based view, where the authors will investigate what factors are mostly regarded upon when purchasing fresh meat. The study will also take into consideration previously made models and theories, which will be used as a basis to answer the research questions that will help the authors to find out to what degree the different factors affect the consumer decision making process.
1.4 Delimitations
The study will be conducted in Jönköping, where an experiment will be performed inside of ICA Maxi at the meat counter. This will expectantly give the authors a homogenous group. The smaller the variation in the study population is, the greater the certainty will be (Kumar, 1999). A homogenous group, with respect to the characteristics, can provide the authors with a reasonably good estimate. The reason behind the chosen place is because the authors assume that ICA Maxi compared to Lidl, a low-price chain store (Lidl, 2009), will attract customers that are not only price sensitive. Furthermore, consumer who are vegetarians will be excluded from the sample due to their active nonparticipation in purchasing meat.
1.5 Definitions
To help the reader understand the thesis to a greater extent, the authors have added this part, were some definitions, that play a significant role in the thesis, are explained. Attitude: “a person’s consistently favourable of unfavourable evaluations, feelings and
tendencies towards an object or idea” (Kotler et al., 2005, p. 905).
Attribute levels: The attribute levels denote the values assumed by the attributes. Consumer buying behaviour: ”the buying behaviour of final consumers- individuals
and households who buy final goods and services for personal consumption”(Kotler et
al., 2005, p. 908).
Country-of-Origin: “the picture, the reputation, the stereotype that businessmen and
consumers attach to products of a specific country” (Nagashima, 1970, p. 68). It can
also be defined as country image “the overall perception consumers form of products
from a particular country, based on their prior perception on the country’s production and marketing strengths and weaknesses” (Piron, 2000, p. 308).
Expiration date: Refers to how many days the consumer has before the product no longer has its best quality (Tsiros & Heilman, 2005).
Fractional factorial design: “Designs employed to reduce the number of stimulus
profiles to be evaluated in the full profile approach” (Malhotra, 2010, p. 702).
Orthogonal design: Orthogonal design is a special class of fractional factorial design that enables the efficient estimation of all main effects (SPSS Inc, 2009b).
Full profiles: The complete profiles shown to the consumers which are constructed in terms of all the attributes by using the attribute levels specified by the design (SPSS Inc, 2009b).
Relative importance weights: “The relative importance weights are estimated and
indicate which attributes are important in influencing consumer choice” (Malhotra,
2010, p. 702).
2
Frame of Reference
This part of the thesis explains all the theories chosen, including the attribute overview, ethnocentrism, consumer behaviour towards meat, and product features. Each theory begins with a motivation of why the authors have chosen it and how it is related to this study.
2.1 Choice of Theory
This chapter will describe the different theories that will help the authors to understand and analyse the data. This is completed in order to receive answers for the research questions the authors have chosen to focus on and to be able to answer the purpose of this study. The key factor of this study is to explain the importance of Country-of-Origin, price, quality and expiration date in the consumer decision making process when purchasing fresh meat. The first part of the frame of reference will therefore present these different attributes. Ethnocentrism is an important theory in this study since research has consistently found that in developed countries there is a preference for products that are manufactured in the home country (Watson & Wright, 2000). Further, the consumer behaviour theory towards meat is explained by using a framework revised by Verbeke (1999), which explains the decision making process and all the factors influencing the consumer. This theory will help the authors understand how and why consumers behave in different situations. Finally, Product features will explain what the different characteristics the consumers can identify by the time of purchase. The relevant and the important characteristics for this study will be explained.
2.2 Attribute overview
To understand to what degree the consumer is affected by the attributes there is a need to understand how they are looked upon in the meat market, and how they contribute to knowledge for the consumer. The different attributes used in this study are all factors that are displayed on the label of a meat product. According to Livsmedelsverket, there are regulations controlling the information required on the labelling. This is information such as the ingredients the product contains, weight and expiration date. A clear and easy to read labelling gives the consumer a fair chance to compare prices and products and their qualities and further choose the right alternative (Livsmedelsverket, 2009). The overview of the attributes will be of importance when answering the research question one; how and to what degree are the four variables important for consumers who purchase fresh meat. Knowing what the attributes are influenced by, can assist the authors in finding the answer to how the consumers are affected in their purchasing behaviour, while the answer to “what degree” will be answered by the data retrieved from the experiment.
2.2.1 Country-of-Origin
The studies on the Country-of-Origin are extensive, with several results available. They have been conducted in a number of different countries and the studies have investigated different products, such as yoghurt (Orth & Firbasová, 2003), fresh meat (Hoffmann, 2000), and beer (Schaefer, 1997) among others. Country-of-Origin is the “overall perception consumers form of products from a particular country, based on their prior perceptions of the country’s production and marketing strengths and
weaknesses” (Roth & Romeo, 1992, p. 480). It can also be referred to as the phenomena where consumers will stereotype products depending on the country the product was produced in, based on their previous experiences (Chao, 1998). This is more known as the “Made in…” labelling that can be noted on products (Orth & Firbasová, 2003). Consumers are affected by several different descriptive, informational and inferential cues when formulating an attitude towards a product. These are intrinsic and extrinsic cues. Intrinsic are when consumers base their attitudes on factors such as colour, design and other specifications of the product, where as the extrinsic factors are price, warranties, and brand reputation (Becker, 2000). Country-of-Origin is considered to be an extrinsic factor in the formation of an attitude towards a product. It has been shown in previous research that extrinsic cues are used in situations where there are no intrinsic factors to be considered, e.g. a consumer may evaluate quality based on Country-of-Origin (Zhang, 1997). Consumers who are familiar with a brand tend to evaluate the product based on the brands’ attributes, e.g. intrinsic cues, therefore it can be assumed that the more familiarity with a brand, the less the consumer will consider Country-of-Origin (Schaefer, 1995). Hoffmann (2001) came to the conclusion in his article about Country-of-Origin and fresh meat, that women, to a lager extent than men, tend to use Country-of-Origin as a cue of quality. The reason to this is that women are, in majority, the main household shopper and are often seen as more risk averse. This study also showed that a majority of the Swedish consumers tend to use Country-of-Origin as a quality cue, both in case of food quality and food safety (Hoffmann, 2001).
Studies made by researchers such as Schooler (1965), Hampton (1977), and Baumgartner and Jolibert (1978) among others, have shown that consumers in general show preference toward products from certain countries. This preference tend to be related with the development level of a country (Samiee, 1994). This preference has shown to depend on the economic development and the political situation within a country. Yaprak (1978), Nagashima (1974) and Lillis and Narayana (1974) argue that consumers from developed countries evaluate products from the third world country to be of lower quality. Evaluations were also low to countries that the consumers personally disliked and had a negative attitude towards the nation or its people.
It has been shown that the influence of Country-of-Origin is important in the international marketing, but other factors may affect to what degree consumers consider it to be of importance. Consumers with lower education and politically conservative views, tend to avoid foreign products. Depending on the consumers age, gender, and occupation, the view on foreign products are different. These factors may show that the influence towards the products origin is more diverse “with respect to a person’s willingness to and readiness to process information” (Zhang, 1997, p. 268).
There has been criticism towards the research done on Country-of-Origin. In some studies the consumers have been asked to demonstrate their attitudes, which is not always a good indicator of their purchasing behaviour (McLain & Sternquist, 1991). Other researchers have chosen the “manipulation of a single cue” (Orth & Firbasová, 2003. p. 139), i.e. the “made in...“ factor, where consumers were then asked to evaluate Country-of-Origin alone, not considering other influential decision making factors, such as price, expiration date, or quality (Peterson & Jolibert, 1995). As many studies have focused on only controlling one single cue, without taking other cues into consideration, Hoffman writes that, “further research is needed to examine the trade-offs between the
importance of other factors, such as price, food quality or the safety aspects” (Hoffmann, 2000). During a telephone conversation with Ruben Hoffmann, a Doctor at Department of Economics at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, and also the author of the study “Country-of-Origin – a consumer perception perspective of fresh meat (2000), he explained that the fact that Country-of-Origin exists is stated. The problem and difficulty is finding why it exists (R. Hoffmann, personal communication, 2009-09-17).
2.2.2 Price
Price is “the amount of money charged for a product or service, or the sum of the values that consumers exchange for the benefit of having or using the product or service” (Kotler et al., 2005, p. 918). The price is affected by the supply and demand of the market and it is a factor that changes when the demand and supply for the product changes. When supply increases, the price will decrease since there will be more of the product in the market and in order to sell it, the suppliers will decrease the price. When demand for the good increases, the price will increase since the consumers will be willing to pay more for the product and the price will increase. The price may also be influenced by income, meaning that if the income increases the price will tend to increase, which is called inflation (McDowell, Thom, Frank, & Bernanke, 2006). The price elasticity of demand, which is the percentage change in demand for a one unit change in price, can be affected by what the type of product it is. For instance, is it a complementary good or substitution good, whether it is a normal good or an inferior good and the level of income of the consumer (McDowell et al., 2006). The sensitivity towards prices is a characteristics of the consumer (Orme, 2006). The price elasticity causes consumers to be price sensitive meaning that they are more aware of the price (Kim, Srinivasan, & Wilcox, 1999). The price sensitivity can vary from one product to the next and can also vary depending on the attributes of the product (Orme, 2006). The Swedish Price information law (Prisinformationslagen 2004:347) states the regulations for the price information given to consumers. The main rule is that the product or the product packaging should be labelled with a price. Although price is a separate attribute it can also be used as an indication of quality. According to Scott and Bettman (1986) also cited in Zeithaml (1988) consumers tend to differ in their thoughts of an association between the price and quality attributes. Using the price attribute as an indication of quality can depend on; other cues of quality available, the price variation within the product type, product quality difference within the product type or category, the consumers level of price awareness and the consumers ability to identify quality differentiation in a group of products (Zeithaml, 1988). According to Verbeke, consumers who purchase meat are less price sensitive compared to what they used to be. He explains this observation as a result of the medias’ reports on the potential health risks with meat (Verbeke & Ward, 2001). The attribute price is important in this study since it, according the consumers, is one highly appreciated attributes that can help the consumer evaluate different alternatives and their qualities. This is also confirmed by Livsmedelsverket, where it is stated that a clearly stated price in the labelling help the consumers weight the benefits of the different alternatives against how much they value the product (Livsmedelsverket, 2009).
2.2.3 Quality
Quality explains the specifications of a product or service and the satisfaction the consumer receives (Hoyer, Hoyer, Crosby, & Deming, 2001). Quality can be defined as all the different attributes used in this experiment since it is individually defined, however while conducting the pilot study, the results implied that the respondents were defining quality as animal welfare, no additional adding, and “safe” food. With this in mind the authors decided to define quality in terms of how ecological the process of fresh meat is. As the ecological aspect considers the animal keeping, additional adding, and overall quality of the food, this is assumed to be a significant definition of quality. The aim of this discussion about KRAV and EU-ecological is to explain the benefits of ecological food and how it can be related to quality. The authors consider quality in terms of how the end product, i.e. the fresh meat, has been produced with focus on the well being of the animal, making sure that their lives and their food have been as natural and free from toxics as possible.
In today’s society there is an ongoing discussion about food quality and safety. Different countries and regulations have their own definitions and rules of what in the food production and transportation is considered to be both safe and of quality. One of the important actors, now present all over the world in this debate, is the organic food. In the European Union all ecological products must meet the standards of the European Union for ecological production (Wall Ellström, 2009). These are a set of rules adapted and implemented in all the European Union countries. However, these are only standards on a minimum-level since the rules are set after the standards and the conditions after every country, which means an average or minimum level. There are several other rules that can be implemented to improve the food quality and safety by making the rules in every country stricter in terms of what is approved in the process of breeding and butchering the animals (Gabriel, 2009). In Sweden the key actor of organic food is called KRAV (Livsmedelsverket, 2009). They develop the organic standards within the food market in Sweden and distinguish these products by labelling it with the KRAV logo. The KRAV-logo stand for; good process of the environment, good animal welfare and good health and social responsibility and differs from the EU-ecological standards by being more demanding on farmers, processors and all other actors in the production of food (Meyer von Bremen, 2009). It starts with the forage and its origin and continues with several controls during the process of breeding and butchering animals for the meat. KRAV has rules for how the animals should be treated as well as what substances are allowed to be added in the final products. There are also rules that help protect the food from toxic substances, for instance by making sure that no farmer has its cultivation too close to a highly operated road (Wall Ellström, 2009). The more demanding KRAV rules and the Swedish set of regulations also mean a more expensive production which indicates more focus on the well being of the animals (Björnberg, Odelros, Persson, & Alarik, 2005).
One of the concrete differences between KRAV and EU-ecological is the way farmers take care of the pigs. This is interesting since the handling of animals and especially pigs has recently been brought up in media. The ecological rule states that all pigs should be held outside, but the difference is that with EU-ecological it is enough if it is outside on concrete floor. However, with KRAV this is not the same. The pigs should stay outside where the environment is as close to nature as possible. In KRAV there are
rules on the butchering process, for instance the rule to avoid stress for the animals among others. However, there are no EU-ecological rules for this (KRAV, 2009). The authors have contacted KRAV and asked if it is possible for imported meat to be KRAV labelled and the answer to this is that although there is no imported meat with the KRAV label today, it would be possible (H. Bengtsson, personal communication, 2009-10-02). The requirements of KRAV represent the conditions in Sweden. If KRAV would be implemented in other countries, it would be important that these countries would develop standards on the basis of their conditions. In the end, this would still have to meet the similar requirements of KRAV and EU-ecological which would mean that the pigs have had the chance to graze during summer time and that no transports of animals have been longer than eight hours (Wall Ellström, 2009). It is well known that ecological food is beneficial for the animals, the human being and the environment. This can, according to the authors, be a conclusion of that KRAV represents better quality, for everyone.
2.2.4 Expiration date
The term expiration date refers to the “sell by date”, “best before date” or “use by date” (Tsiros & Heilman, 2005). The expiration date is government regulated and must be on the product label (Verbeke & Ward, 2005). According to Swedish Livsmedelsverket, products must be labelled with this information in order for the consumer to understand how long the products last (Livsmedelsverket, 2009). There are three forms of labelling expiration date. Sell by date refers to the last day the retailer must sell the product by, this form of expiring labelling is mostly used on meat, milk and bread products among others. Best before indicates the day the product is no longer considered to have its best qualities. The last form is use by, meaning that the product is not longer of satisfactory quality should not be consumed, this is used on products like eggs, and yeast. The expi-ration date depends on several factors which influence how long the product can stay fresh. It depends on where and how the product has been produced, and also how it has been packaged and stored (Livsmedelsverket, 2009). Previous research has shown that consumers have little knowledge about the different forms of labelling expiration dates. However a study has shown that approximately 60 percent of consumers claim they look for the expiration date on food products, though only 33 percent know how to use this information and know what to do with the different expiration date formulations (Tsiros & Heilman, 2005)
2.3 Consumer Ethnocentrism
“The beliefs held by consumers about the appropriateness, indeed morality, of purchasing foreign-made products”
(Shimp & Sharma, 1987, p. 280) “Consumer ethnocentrism” represents the beliefs held by consumers about the appropriateness of purchasing foreign made products. Research has consistently found that in developed countries there is a preference for products that are manufactured in the home country (Watson & Wright, 2000). A variable that can explain this relationship is consumer ethnocentrism. This theory will help the authors explain certain behaviour that might be found in the results of the data received. Ethnocentrism is
essential in this study, since it will explain why people act and believe in a certain way. It is also strongly related to Country-of-Origin, which will further help the authors to analyse the results. Research question two; how ethnocentric are consumers in their decision making process when purchasing meat, will be answered with the use of this theory. To answer the research question this theory will explain what ethnocentrism is, how it is created, and why it exists.
Ethnocentrism has been explained by Shimp and Sharma (1987) as a tendency for people to view their own group as the centre of the universe and to interpret other social units from the perspective of their own group. People also have a tendency to reject persons who are culturally dissimilar while accepting those who are culturally like themselves. In the mind of an ethnocentric consumer, it is wrong to purchase imported products, because it may hurt the domestic economy, cause loss of jobs, and is clearly unpatriotic (Shimp & Sharma, 1987). On the other hand, non-ethnocentric consumers evaluate foreign products on their own merits, without considering Country-of-Origin. Consumers’ ethnocentricity results from the love and concern of one’s own country, and also the fear of the harmful effects that the imported products have on the economy (Shimp, Sharma & Shin, 1995). For highly ethnocentric consumers, buying foreign products is not only an economic issue but also a moral problem. This relationship can cause consumers to buy domestic products even though the quality is below that of imports. Shimp and colleagues (1995) argue that the consequences of consumer ethnocentrism include a moral obligation to buy domestic products, a preference for domestic products, an overestimation of the domestic products and an underestimation of imported products.
2.4 Consumer Behaviour towards meat
In order to answer questions such as when and why consumers buy a product and to understand the process they go through before a purchase, it is necessary to research the consumer decision making process (Kotler et al., 2005). This theory is important in this study because it guides the authors through the different steps of the process and the influences the consumers are affected by.
The consumer behaviour theory will give the authors a chance to understand and further on connect the data collected to the theory and recognize the consumer behaviour before a purchase. As an example, the information search will mean finding the different features and attributes of the product, this stage also would involve the identification of the Country-of-Origin.
On the other hand, an evaluation of a product means putting the factors into relation to each other to see which one is more important for the individual consumer (Kotler et al., 2005). The authors have chosen to use theory revised by Dr Wim Verbeke, at Ghent university, who has been researching the field of consumer decision making towards food and meat with the help of theory firstly found by well known names such as; Pilgrim; McGuire; Engel, Kollat & Blackwell; and Lavidge & Steiner. Although there have been some criticism towards some of these concepts and theories, for instance it has been argued that the stair-step hierarchy notion is too simple, the authors feel that this model can help them understand all the different forms and stages of influence which the consumer is affected by in the decision making process (Ray, 2006).
2.4.1 Consumer decision making process towards meat
The consumer passes through different stages in order to reach a buying decision (Kotler et al., 2005). A more general model shows five different stages that a consumer passes through: need recognition and problem awareness, information search, evaluation of alternatives, purchase and post-purchase evaluation. In the decision
making process of fresh meat there are many factors that influences the different stages of the process. The authors have found a model, see figure 1 above, with several interesting concepts linked to the decision making process. In his work, Verbeke presents a four-stage process originally by Engel, et al. (1968), that links the four stages starting with a model “hierarchy of effects” by Lavidge and Steiner (1961). In the decision making process model there is also theory linked to the information processing part which was presented by McGuire (1978) (Verbeke, 1999). The variables or “influencing factors” are categorised into environmental factors, person-related factors and properties-of the food, and this theory has been adopted by Pilgrim (1957) (Verbeke 1999).
2.4.1.1 Problem Recognition
This is the first stage of the buying process, problem recognition, see figure 1 – the consumer recognizes a problem or a need (Kotler et al., 2005). A need is defined as a difference between the actual and the desired state of feeling or of being (Luning, Devlieghere & Verhé, 2006). The need can be triggered either by internal or external stimuli. Internal stimuli is when one of the person’s normal needs, for instance hunger or thirst, rises to a level high enough to become a drive (Verbeke, 1999).
2.4.1.2 Information Search
When the need is recognized the consumer starts to search for information about potential answers or solutions in order to satisfy the need (Luning et al., 2006). During this process, both internal and external sources are used. Internal sources are usually described as previous experience or the consumers memory while external sources include commercial and non-commercial messages in the consumers environment. The consumer can obtain information from any of several sources:
Personal sources: family, friends, neighbours, acquaintances
Commercial sources: advertising, salespeople, the Internet, packaging
Public sources: mass media, consumer-rating organizations
Experiential sources: handling, examining, using the product
The commercial sources, those controlled by the marketer, is where the consumer receives the most information about a product (Kotler et al., 2005). However, the personal sources tend to be the most effective one. The personal sources legitimize or evaluate products for the buyer, while the commercial sources normally just inform about the products (Luning et al., 2006). The consumer’s awareness and knowledge of the available brands and features increase as more information is obtained.
2.4.1.3 Alternative Evaluation
Further, the consumer comes to the stage where he or she needs to evaluate the alternative solutions on the basis of criteria that is relevant and significant for the individual consumer in the specific situation (Luning et al., 2006). These criteria are referred to as attributes and every consumer has different beliefs linked to these attributes. Every combination of specific beliefs of the attributes and the importance and weight of these beliefs, are called a consumers preferences and further in the process they become the purchase intention of each individual.
In the alternative evaluation, the consumers first step is to look for certain benefits that can be acquired by buying a product or a service in order to satisfy a need (Kotler et al., 2005). This product or service is usually seen as a bundle of different product attributes, where each attribute has its own benefit that satisfies the need. Second, different degrees of importance are being attached to each attribute. Third, the consumers develop a set of beliefs held about a particular brand, which is called brand image. Fourth, for each attribute the consumer is assumed to have a utility function, which shows how the consumer expects total product satisfaction to vary with the levels of different attributes. Fifth, the consumer creates attitudes towards the different through some evaluation procedure.
2.4.1.4 Choice/ Behaviour
The last stage in the process is the choice and behaviour where often purchase intention yields to purchase behaviour (Luning et al., 2006). Normally, the consumer will buy the most preferred brand, which would be the consumer’s purchase decision, but there are two important factors that can come between the purchase intention and the purchase decision. The attitudes of others are one factor, and these can be for instance families, peers or reference groups (Kotler et al., 2005). How much another person will affect the purchase maker depends on both the strength of the other person’s attitudes and the motivation for the purchase maker to comply with that person’s wishes. The other factor that influences a consumer’s purchase intention is by unexpected situational factors.
2.4.1.5 Hierarchy of Effects
In the model showing the consumer decision making process towards meat the concept “hierarchy of effects”, first initiated by Lavidge and Steiner (1961), explains the different mental stages a consumer goes through in the decision making process (Verbeke, 1999). These three concepts have been stated to hold their structure, although there is no clear evidence on their sequence and inter-distance to each other and to the process (Barry & Howards, 1990; Ambler, 1998; Vakratsan & Ambler, 1999) cited in Verbeke, (1999). The conative effect is referred to as the realm of motives which ads, stimulate, or result in direct desires in the consumer. The affective effects are the realms of emotions of the consumer and ads change in attitudes and feelings. Finally, the cognitive effects is described as the realm of thoughts and it provides information and facts in the process (Lavidge & Steiner, 1961). Verbeke (1999) describes the concepts as following; conative as what the consumer is intending or doing, affective as what the consumer is thinking and feeling and cognitive as what the consumer is learning and knowing during the decision making process.
2.4.1.6 Information Processing
Throughout the whole decision making process the judgments and thoughts of the consumer are affected and influenced by stimuli from the environment. In order for the consumer to reduce the perceived risk, he or she starts to search for information from different sources (Mitra, Reiss & Capella, 1999). Both internal and external search are examples of this (Verbeke, 1999). There are other potential influencing factors on the consumers’ decision making process. They are included in this model, see figure 1, as different stages of communication effects, exposure and attention to communication, comprehension, persuasion which is described as the change in attitude and also retention of a new attitude. These stages refer to the social psychology part of this phenomena, where the persuasive communication is an important element (Verbeke, 1999).
2.4.1.7 Influencing Factors
This model also presents the ideas of Pilgrim (1957), also cited in and reviewed in Shepherd (1990) and Steenkamp (1997) (Verbeke, 1999). The categories of factors influencing consumers are divided into; environmental factors, person-related factors and properties of the food, in this case fresh meat (Verbeke, 1999). According to Pilgrim (1957), the food perception is a function and is therefore dependent on the three influencing factors. These influence the consumers’ choice, but exactly how they
interrelate is not described (Wierenga, 1997). The category, environmental factors, is represented by the consumers environment where marketing stimuli covers the marketing in the environment and economic variables focus on income and price (Wierenga, 1997). The situational factors which are included under the environmental factors, are not fully explored on how they affect the consumer (Verbeke, 1999), and will therefore not be included in the analysis of this study. Person-related factors are the demographic, psychological, and biological variables (sex, age and body weight, that relate to the individual consumers’ characteristics. Demographic variables refer to the consumers age, education, employment status, stage in life and household size (Wierenga, 1997). Socio-cultural or cultural factors are those referring to the culture surrounding the consumer, meaning what we eat in today’s society and how this food or these products are prepared.
Finally, the properties of the food, divided into intrinsic or extrinsic, search experience or credence attributes, represents the actual attributes of the product. Properties of the food factors refer to both physical and chemical properties as well as the nutrient content, such as energy value and how much fibre it contains. By affecting the consumers physiological effects, hunger and appetite, and sensory properties, the properties of the food affect the whole consumer behaviour (Wierenga, 1997).
Experience attributes are those attributes or qualities of a product that the consumer actually needs to experience in order to perceive it, also referred to as consumption experience. Further, credence attributes are those characteristics of a product that the consumer cannot judge even if he or she uses the product. These characteristics can instead be seen as the side effects, cannot be predictable, and could in this case be a food poisoning of the fresh meat (Arora, 2006).
2.4.2 Types of Buying Decision Behaviour
With this theory the authors can identify the behaviour that the consumer undertake while purchasing fresh meat. This theory will assist the authors in their aspiration to answer research question three; what can explain the possible complexity that the consumer faces in the decision making process for fresh meat. Consumer buying behaviour differs greatly with what type of buying decision it is about. The personal interests and engagement in the process reflect the level of involvement (Evans, Jamal & Foxall, 2009). More complex situations involve more involvement from the consumer and more buying participants. By identifying what type of buying decision
fresh meat is, the authors can understand what factors that influence the process. According to Assael (1981) citied in Mitchell (1992) there are four types of buying behaviour; complex, dissonance-reducing, habitual and variety-seeking, see figure 2. When consumers are highly involved in a purchase and when they perceive significant differences among brands, they undertake complex buying behaviour (Kotler et al., 2005). The buyer usually passes through a learning process where it first develops beliefs about the product, then attitudes and finally makes a thoughtful purchase choice (Evans et al., 2009). When consumers are highly involved with an expensive, infrequent or risky purchase, but they see little difference among brands, dissonance-reducing buying behaviour occurs (Assael, 1981; Mitchell, 1992). Habitual buying behaviour occurs under conditions of low consumer involvement and little significant brand difference. Their behaviour become a habit rather than brand loyalty for the product. It has been shown that consumers have low involvement with most low-cost, frequently purchased products (Assael, 1981; Mitchell, 1992). Variety-seeking buying behaviour happens in situations characterized by low consumer involvement and significant perceived brand differences. In these cases, consumers will do a lot of brand switching, which occurs for the sake of variety rather than because of dissatisfaction (Assael, 1981; Mitchell, 1992).
2.5 Product Features
“Product characteristics are those features of a product which are used as (technical) indicators for product quality and are (in principle) measurable with (standardized) analytical (including sensoric) methods”.
(Becker, 2000, p. 163) This theory is helpful for the study since it explains what characteristics of a product that the consumer can recognize and appreciate by the time of purchase. The authors can identify which characteristics that are of importance and relevance for the purpose of this study, and further explain how these influence the consumer in the decision making process.
According to Steenkamp (1990), cited in Grunert, Bredahl and Brunsø (2003) cues are different pieces of information used of the consumer to form quality expectations. Becker describes four categories of characteristics that can be identified in the studies of meat quality:
Characteristics indicating the nutritional value: protein, fat, carbohydrate content, ash content, digestibility;
Characteristics indicating the processing quality: share-force, ph-value, colour, fatness, water binding capacity;
Characteristics indicating the hygienic-toxicological quality: residues contaminants, micro bacterial status, additives;
Characteristics indicating the sensoric quality: texture (tenderness, juiciness), flavour/odour, and colour or appearance (marbling).
The physical characteristics of the products, the ones related to the products technical specifications, and also the physiological characteristics, the ones that can be measured objectively, are referred to as the intrinsic cues of the product (Grunert et al., 2003). These examples given are not characteristics that can be measured or evaluated by using the human abilities. Some of them, for instance the ph-value, needs more advanced methods such as instruments in laboratories (Becker, 2000). On all the characteristics the consumer is exposed to, only the ones that are apparent will have an affect or influence on the quality perception and further influence on the purchase (Grunert et al., 2003).
2.5.1 Intrinsic and Extrinsic cues
As the authors will bring up the complexity of consumer behaviour for fresh meat, the knowledge of how the intrinsic and extrinsic cues affect the consumers motivation of a purchase is important in this study. Becker (2000) categorizes the product cues into two groups; intrinsic and extrinsic. Intrinsic is explained as the appearance, colour, shape, and presentation of the product. Extrinsic cues includes the price, brand name, stamp of quality, Country-of-Origin, store, production information and nutritional information of the products. Further on, Evans and colleagues (2009) argue that both intrinsic and extrinsic cues influence the consumer in the product evaluation by reminding them about previous knowledge and experience with the product. Consumers tend to rely more on extrinsic cues during the product evaluation, since they become more aware of them over time. Further, when intrinsic cues do not provide the consumer with useful information, the extrinsic cues are then used as quality indicators. This can happen in following situations; consumer has no information or just a little information about the fresh meat, the consumer does not have enough time to evaluate the intrinsic cues, or when the consumer cannot evaluate the intrinsic cues (Zeithaml, 1988).
3
Method
This chapter will present and describe the chosen methods for gathering and analysing the data. The different steps of the process will be discussed and explained. The authors will present the different attribute levels used in the experiment and explain the conjoint analysis procedure. The end of this chapter will discuss the reliability, validity and generalizability of this research.
3.1 Research Approach
The authors of this thesis will test how important Country-of-Origin, price, quality and expiration date is in the consumer decision making process for fresh meat. Data will be collected through an experiment and the authors will test the theory and connect it to the results. Research approach is divided into two groups, the deductive and the inductive approach. Depending on whether or not one will use theory, and in what way the theory will be used, the decision of which approach to use differs. The deductive approach will be used during the thesis. This approach is used when the aim is to test a theory (Hair, Bush, & Ortinau, 2006). This requires the development of a theory, exploring the outcome, and if necessary, further developing the theory based on the results (Saunders, Lewis, & Thornhill, 2003). The deductive approach focuses on data, meaning that the approach is highly structured and independent of the researcher (Saunders et al., 2003).
3.2 Research strategy
“General plan of how the researcher will go about answering the research questions”
(Saunders et al., 2003, p. 488) The data for this study will be collected through a multi-method approach. This is a method where more than one data-collection technique is used and the techniques are combined together (Saunders et al., 2003). It can also be described as mixed models. The data collected consists of an application of both methods during the study. It can start with an experimental design, which will gather quantitative data, and be followed by qualitative data in form of responses from interviews (Tashakkori & Teddlie, 1998). The multi-method will in this study be combined of a pilot study and an experiment which will be followed by an interview. This method of data collection can be useful since it presents opportunities for the authors to evaluate the research findings to be trusted or not and also the opportunity to reliably answer the research questions (Saunders et al., 2003). The pilot study will give the authors some information needed to conduct the experiment. Further, the interviews will be used after the actual experiment in order to gather relevant, in-depth information. They will also gather the qualitative data that is needed to further develop the analysis and answer the research questions (Grbich, 2007). This study will therefore use a sequential method where one category of data will provide a base for collecting and developing the study with another category of data (Mertens, 2009).
“An experiment is a very precise tool that should only be used when there is a considerable amount known about the phenomenon studied”
The experiment, which will be the key strategy for this research, will help the authors to study the casual links, meaning that the authors will be able to test if changing an independent variable will have the effect of changing another dependant variable (Saunders et al., 2003). According to Saunders et al. (2003) an experiment is a classical form of research where the researchers will define theoretical hypothesis that will be used in the experiment. The samples are selected from a known population, one or more variables are manipulated, a small number of the dependant variables are measured and all other variables are controlled. In this study, the dependent variable is the actual purchase of fresh meat, while the independent variables are Country-of-Origin, price, quality and expiration date.
3.3 Quantitative versus Qualitative
To be able to answer the purpose of this research, data will be collected using both qualitative and quantitative data. The main difference between the two collection techniques is that qualitative data generates non-numerical data in form of words and quantitative data numbers (Saunders et al., 2003). The use of a qualitative study will enable the objective of describing the variation in a phenomenon, situation or attitude whereas the quantitative research will enable a quantifying variation of the data (Kumar, 1999). One of the main objectives with using qualitative date is the gain of preliminary insight of the research (Hair et al., 2006).
In this study the quantitative data will be collected through an experiment where the respondents will be exposed to a trade-off, where nine different profiles will be presented to the respondents. The data received will further be analyzed through a conjoint analysis in SPSS. This will be relevant since measurements and numbers are important in order to be able to describe a possible variation in the data. Qualitative data collected through a pilot study and through interviews will supplement the research by making it possible to describe the situation in words (Kumar, 1999). The two types of data can be useful in different parts of the research (Saunders et al., 2003). Also, the two approaches of data collection combined will be useful since they will enable the authors to better answer the purpose of the study.
3.4 Collecting Data
This part will cover the data sampling collection model, by Malhotra, and later explain the different data collection methods that will be used by the authors in this study. 3.4.1 The Sample Collection
The sample collection process is important to conduct before starting with the experiment since this makes the authors reflect about important factors such as defining the target, determining the sample frame, selecting a sampling technique, determining the sample size and finally executing the sampling process, see figure 3 below.
3.4.1.1 Defining the Target
A population consists of all the elements with the same characteristics, which the researcher is searching for. To research a whole population would require time and funding. Therefore one can select a subgroup from the whole group to examine. To be able to collect a sample it is required to know who the sample elements are. A sample frame gives a representation of the different elements (Malhotra, 2004). A target population is “a specified group of people or objects for which questions are asked or observations made to develop required data structures and information” (Hair et al., 2006, p. 65). The sample group should contain of convenience samples who are relatively homogenous. This is desirable since a heterogeneous group can influence the discovery of violation of theories in the study when they are false and also inflate the error terms of statistical tests of experiment predictions (Lynch, 1982). The target used for this research will be inhabitants in Jönköping, who purchase food in ICA Maxi. The authors have chosen this place for the experiment in order to target only one homogenous group. The researchers will be standing at the meat counter where they will be asking the passing customers to be a part of the experiment. For the results to be as realistic as possible, some elements in the sample will have to be eliminated, in this case these elements are vegetarians.
3.4.1.2 Determining the sample frame
A sampling frame is something that helps the researcher to identify the element in the population (McGivern, 2009). The sampling frame is a list that will show the population and its different elements. It can be a telephone list, a list of all employees within a firm, mailing list or a map (Malhotra, 2004). Due to the limitations of time and monetary resources, this research will not be conducted with a sampling frame, however there will be some structure in the sample selection where the researchers will only be investigating consumers at ICA Maxi in order to receive a homogeneous group.
Define the target
Determine the sampling frame Select a sampling technique Determine the sample size Execute the sampling process
3.4.1.3 Select a sample technique
There are two ways of collecting a sample, non-probability and probability sampling. Probability sampling is when all elements within the population have the same chance of being selected for the research. If all the elements will have equal chance of being selected the researchers require a sampling frame (Malhotra, 2004). Non-probability sampling occurs when the researcher chooses the elements in a non-random way, indicating that the different elements will not have the same chance of being selected (Hair et al., 2006). The elements may be selected due to some traits or characteristics the researcher is looking for (Saunders, 2004). The authors have decided to use non-probability sampling for this research due to the time limitations and the lack of finances, which generally are required to construct a sampling frame.
Non-probability sampling is divided in different sampling techniques, e.g. convenience sampling, quota-, judgmental-, and snowball sampling. The authors have decided to use a mix of convenience sampling and judgment sampling to reduce the problems that might arise with just using one of these. Convenience sampling is when the researcher takes an element just because the element is at the right place in the right time, e.g. the researcher stands outside a university if he or she is looking for students (Malhotra, 2004). The advantage with convenience sampling is that the researcher can conduct a lager number of data sampling within a short time. Though the problem is that it does not show the representativeness of the sample (Hair et al., 2006).
Judgmental sampling is a way of conducting convenience sampling, where the researcher chooses the elements based on the believe that the element is representative of the population (Hair et al., 2006). The problem with judgmental sampling is that the representativeness of the sampling cannot be measured. Though if the researcher’s judgment is correct, the sampling will be better compared to convenience sampling (Hair et al., 2006).
3.4.1.4 Determine the sample size
When determining the sample size the researcher decides how many element that will be a part of the sample. To receive reliable and valid data the sample size must be well thought off, though if does not guarantee unbiased results since these can be affected by other parts of the research process (McGivern, 2009).
It is not necessary to compare groups to each other but rather to focus on individual respondents. Since the experiment in this study contains of nine profiles, every individual respondent will give nine ratings each. The purpose makes this thesis investigational, therefore a sample size of 30-60 respondents is needed (Orme, 1998). According to Shepherd and Zacharakis (1997, cited in Chabo & Saouma, 2005) a sample size should be smaller than 250 respondent. In order to avoid possible damage by not getting the desired amount of response in the results, the authors have decided that the sample size will consist of the needed sample number including some extra respondents. The reason for this is that there may be a difference between the non-responders and the ones that respond in the experiment (Gorard, 2003). A number of 60 respondents will therefore be sufficient in a conjoint analysis (Orme, 1998).
