A family business brand image: Associations
affect-ing consumers’ buyaffect-ing behavior
A study on family business Dafgård, frozen foods
Thesis within: MBA International Marketing Authors: Priscilla Angela Ramdharie
Derk Jan Kees Brinxma
Tutor: Annika Hall
Master Thesis in Business Administration
Title: A Family Business Brand Image: Associations affecting consumers buying behavior, a study on Family Business Dafgård frozen foods Authors: Derk Jan Kees Brinxma & Priscilla Angela Ramdharie
Tutor: Annika Hall
Date: 2012-05-14
Subject terms: Family business, brand image, associations, low-involvement, prod-uct knowledge, purchase intention, buying behavior
Abstract
Family business research is a rapidly growing topic of interest. Nevertheless there has been little research explicitly dedicated to the connection between consumers’ and family busi-nesses. This paper gives insight about the influence of the family business brand image and consumers’ purchase intentions. Hereby it was taken into consideration that low-involvement and product knowledge can influence this path. This was done by a combina-tion of qualitative and quantitative approaches. The findings showed that consumers asso-ciate family business with high quality, passion, heritage, traditions, small companies and craftsmanship. In general these associations do not influence consumers buying behavior. However, specific target groups showed different results. Implications focus on using the family business as a secondary brand image and family businesses should deal with caution when using their origin as a primary brand image.
Acknowledgements
It is for us a great pleasure to thank many people who helped us, by making this thesis pos-sible.
As we are two students who started their educations at the vocational training level, we want to thank all people who always believed in us and made it possible that we are now completing our master ‘International Marketing’ here in Jönköping, Sweden.
First of all we want to thank all the participants of the focus group and all the respondents who filled in our questionnaire, for their time and valuable thoughts. Here we also want to show our appreciation to the manager of “Willy’s” and the Marketing Manager of the A6 shopping center, to let us conduct our questionnaire.
We want to thank the critical views of our fellow students during the thesis seminars. They helped us tremendously by giving us new insights. We truly valued the personal teaching style here at Jönköping University.
However, some deserve special thanks. We want to start with our tutor Annika Hall; she helped us greatly by sharing her knowledge into the topic of family business and for always helping us when we were knocking on her door. We also want to thank our Marketing Re-search teacher Johan Larsson, who always was prepared to give critical reviews on our work.
Last but not the least, we want to thank our families and friends back home, who support-ed us every day from a distance.
Jönköping, 2012-05-14
Table of Contents
1
Introduction ... 4
-2
Background ... 7
-3
Purpose ... 9
-4
Literature Review ... 10
-4.1 Research Model ... 10 -4.2 Brand Image ... 10 -4.2.1 Brand Attitudes ... 12 -4.2.2 Brand Associations ... 13 -4.3 Product Knowledge ... 14 -4.4 Product Involvement ... 15-4.5 Evaluating the Alternatives and Purchase Intention ... 15
-5
Methods ... 17
-5.1 Research Design ... 17
-5.2 Research Method ... 18
-5.3 Process ... 19
-5.3.1 Focus Group Design ... 19
-5.3.2 Focus Group Process ... 20
-5.3.3 Focus Group Sample ... 20
-5.3.4 Questionnaire Design ... 20
-5.3.5 Questionnaire Process ... 21
-5.3.6 Questionnaire Sample ... 22
-5.3.7 Questionnaire SPSS Analysis ... 22
-5.4 Validity and Reliability ... 23
-5.4.1 Validity ... 23
-5.4.2 Reliability ... 23
-5.5 Limitations ... 24
-6
Data Results ... 25
-6.1 Focus Group Results ... 25
-6.2 Questionnaire Results ... 26
-6.2.1 Open Question Result ... 27
-6.2.2 Factor Analysis ... 28
-6.2.3 Multiple Regression Analysis ... 34
-6.2.4 Extra Multiple Regressions ... 36
-7
Analysis ... 38
-8
Conclusions ... 41
-9
Contributions and Implications ... 43
-9.1 Implications For Further Research ... 43
-9.2 Practical Implications ... 44
-9.3 Contribution ... 45
-1 Introduction
Family businesses are widely known to play an important role in economies all over the world (Krappe, Goutas and Schlippe 2011). This can be seen in the following growth of ar-ticles in the last years up to 2004: “33 arar-ticles up to 1989, 110 from 1990–1999 (an average of 11
articles per year), and 195 articles in the four-year period from 2000–2003 (almost 49 articles per year indicating over four-fold increase)” (Sharma, 2004, p. 1). This area has therefore been established
as a unique area of research that also experienced rapid growth in recent years (Debicki, Matherne, Kellermanns, and Chrisman, 2009; Sharma, Hoy, Astrachan and Koiranen, 2007).
In the academic world, despite the rapid growth of research on this topic there is no con-sensus about a definition (Miller and Breton-Miller, 2005). This is clearly underlined by the following quote. “No one really knows what the entire field is like or what its boundaries are or should
be” (Wortman, 1994, p. 4). As a result, there are different ways of defining a family business
according to different authors (Miller and Breton-Miller, 2005). Within this paper the fol-lowing definition from Handler was used: “An organization whose major operating decisions and
plans for leadership succession are influenced by family members serving in management or on the board”
(Handler, 1989, p. 262). Research that already has been done in the field of family business; focus mainly on two aspects of family business research. First researchers have tried to ex-plain the differences between family business and non – family businesses. Secondly, dif-ferent studies explored the differences in behaviors of the family and staff within a family business. (Chrisman, Steier and Chua, 2008). The outcomes of these studies resemble mostly the internal attributes of family businesses, including research that focuses on ‘familiness’ within a family business.
‘Familiness’ is defined as following: “The bundle of internal resources that exist due to the
involve-ment of the family in the firm” (Habbershon and Williams, 1999, s. 11). In their research they
mention that family involvement within the company leads to ‘familiness’ that can be seen as unique attributes and capabilities arising from family involvement in a family business. Within their study, Zellweger et. al, (2009) focused on building a family firm identity in or-der to facilitate performance advantages seen from the organizations internal perspective of a family business. They found that family ownership positively influence the development of a family firms image. Thus, this is an important aspect for a family business. Due to the fact that organizational identity may function as a form of competitive advantage for family firms since their ‘‘family identity is unique and therefore impossible to completely copy’’ (Sundaramurthy & Kreiner, 2008, p. 416). This implies that much research that has been done was on the internal side within family businesses itself (Handler, 1994; Eddleston, Chrisman, Steier, and Chua, 2010; Miller and Breton-Miller, 2005). Most of this research focused on the family business itself, its internal processes within the organization, con-cerning staff and the family business owners. The amount of published articles showed that the field of family businesses is a growing academic field. However, research on family businesses seen from the consumers’ perspective is lacking within the academic field of family business research. In order to maintain on the cutting edge of family businesses
re-search, the field of family business needs to be developed further (Blombäck, 2011). Blombäck (2011) suggests the following example: Marketing and Brand orientation focus is one of such topics, which is currently evolving. This implicates that branding within a fami-ly business is gaining grounds in the field, yet it needs more attention in famifami-ly business re-search. According to Cooper et. Al, (2005) it appears that family businesses have an ad-vantage in terms of competition over their competitors referring to customer acquisition and service. However, it is unclear if consumers support this statement. There has been lit-tle research, investigating the associations and impressions family businesses evoke with customers. Therefore, this study focused on whether, the so called “family business brand” influences consumers buying behavior.
Brand image has been defined as: “Perceptions about a brand as reflected by the brand associations
held in memory” (Keller 1993, p. 3). Brand image is based upon linkages, which a consumer
holds in his/her memory structure regarding the brand. These linkages, which are also called ‘brand associations’, are developed from a variety of sources including brand and product category experiences, product attributes, price, information, positioning in promo-tional communications, packaging, user imagery and usage occasions (Keller, 1993). These attributes, which define brand image, enable products and especially low-involvement products to distinguish from its competitors.
Several studies indicate that a positive relationship exists between communication of family business identity and firms performance (Craig, Dibrell and Davis, 2008; Kashmiri & Ma-hajan, 2010). Also, it is widely assumed that family businesses have a positive effect on the perceived value of a product. Craig, Dibrell and Davis (2008) found a relationship between communicating the family business brand identity and positive effects in terms of financial performance. Hence, establishing a company as a family business may be perceived as a positive attribute in the minds of consumers, which will contribute to the companies performance. Many family businesses nowadays realize that capitilizing on their family business identity can influence and build a distrinct corporate brand, such as Dafgård which is selling frozen food products. By promoting a business as a family business to consumers can positively affect consumers perception of family business as being trustwor-thy, customer-focused and quality-driven (Craig et al., 2008; Ward and Aronoff, 1995). The focus of this research was on the frozen food market. The main reason for this was the strong presence of the family business Dafgård in the frozen food branche. Their products are low-involvement fast moving consumer goods. These are goods that have a high inventory turnover. After examining the marketing efforts from Dafgård, we assume that Dafgård is a family business, which is convinced that promoting themselves as a family business has a positive effect on consumers buying behavior. Because, the connection between Dafgård and their “roots” as a family business was so clear, it classifies them as an outstanding research object for the purpose of this research. This research will contribute to a deeper understanding on the current research of Orth and Green (2009) that already started to investigate the effects of the family business brand image on store level. Therefore, this research focused on the effects of the family business brand image on
product level. Family businesses like Dafgård can use the outcomes of this research to develop their marketing strategy in the future.
2 Background
As mentioned in the introduction, it is widely known that current research, which has been done within the field of family business, focus more on the specific internal attributes of a family business (Miller and Breton-Miller 2005). Research (Orth and Green, 2009) suggests that firms can strategically deploy their family identity to gain a competitive advantage over non-family firms, given the positive attributes such as trust, commitment, and a customer-oriented focus, that are typically associated with family-owned companies. However, a fam-ily business can give the feeling to a consumer of being egoist and self-fulfillment (Krappe, Goutas and Schlippe 2011). It is important to emphasize that there are as many commonal-ities as contradictions in the publicized research (Miller and Breton-Miller 2005; Micelotta and Raynard 2011; Carrigan and Buckley 2008; Eddleston, et al. 2010). Eddleston, et al. (2010) suggests that this is due to the diversity of theories and different levels of analysis in family business research. This led to different interpretations of research.
Research is starting to question what is the consumers perceived value of a family business and if the so-called family business brand has an effect on the buying behavior of consum-ers (Blombäck 2011; Krappe, Goutas and Schlippe 2011). Orth and Green (2009) came to the conclusion that compared to non-family businesses; consumers evaluate family busi-nesses better in terms of service, frontline employee benevolence and problem-solving ori-entation and worse in terms of selection and price/value (less content for the same price). Results further indicate higher consumer trust in family business management policies and practices, frontline employee trust, and satisfaction but no differences in loyalty. As men-tioned before, these research findings are seen from the store’s perspective. It would there-fore be interesting to test how the findings of this research change when brand image on the product level rather than store image is studied, and when brand communications stress the family business origin (Orth and Green 2009). The main question here is: “Have family
businesses become a brand on their own” (Krappe, Goutas and Schlippe, 2011, P. 38).
To come to an empirical conclusion, the family business Dafgård was selected. We make the assumption that the frozen food products of Dafgård are low-involvement products. This is done because it is not an issue for a consumer to switch to similar frozen food products. The reasoning behind this is, is due to the low prices and that frozen foods are fast moving consumer goods. Within the low-involvement hierarchy the consumer does not initially have a strong preference for one brand over another, but instead acts on the basis of limited knowledge and then forms an evaluation after the product has been pur-chased or used (Solomon, et al. 2010, p. 278). According to the elaboration likelihood model of persuasion the consumer will follow the peripheral route to persuasion (Solomon, et al. 2010, p. 304). The peripheral route to persuasion indicates packaging, attractiveness of the source and the context in which the message is presented as cues that can influence the buying behavior of a potential customer. Solomon, et al. (2010) stated that this is the mar-keting paradox; the lower the involvement is, the more important the stimuli associated with the product will be. It raises the question if mentioning being a family business on the product package will give positive stimuli to the purchase intention of consumers. The
rea-soning that the product is a low-involvement product raises the question if the family busi-ness “brand image” is still of added value for the product.
3 Purpose
Since academic research is currently focusing on the internal attributes of family businesses, this research focused on the external effects of a family business seen from the consumer perspective.
With this research a deeper understanding of the already started research (Blombäck, 2009; Orth and Green, 2009; and Blombäck, 2011) on the impact of a family business brand im-age on buying behavior was generated. This purpose led to the following research question: What associations of the family business brand image of a low-involvement product affect consumers buying behavior and if so, why?
4 Literature Review
To come to a thorough insight of the existing research which has been done regarding this topic, different studies were reviewed. The focus of the literature review was based upon: Brand image, Product involvement, Product knowledge and Purchase intention.
4.1 Research Model
To come to a contribution to the current field of interest, if the family business brand im-age has a positive effect on attitudes and therefore directly on purchase intentions of con-sumers, the model in figure 1 was used. This model was developed during a similar re-search (Bian and Moutinho, 2011). The model shows that brand image such as a family business brand image is not the only influencer of consumers purchase intention. This gave us the insight that we should be aware of these influences during this research. Moreover, the model enabled us to come to a more comprehensive research result.
During theoretical study and during a focus group a set of variables were developed, for the factor brand image. This has been done in order to define what family business brand image is and what it means for a consumer that the products origin is from a family busi-ness. During this research we used the frozen food products from Dafgård. However, as the model implies, we need to take into consideration that the family business brand image is not the only influence on consumers purchase intentions. For example influences that are related directly to an individual consumer, such as the influence of a consumer’s per-sonality (Shank and Langmeyer, 1994) and attitudes (Faircloth, Capella and Alford, 2001).
Figure 1: Potential relationships between product involvement, product knowledge, brand image of a family busi-ness and purchase intention of family busibusi-ness products. (Bian and Moutinho, 2011 p. 198).
4.2 Brand Image
Communicating the brand image of a product to a target segment is already for a long time a field of interest (Gardner and Levy, 1955). Brand image can be defined as: “How a brand is
perceived by consumers” (Aaker, 1996, p. 150). The reasoning behind this is that people tend to
make certain associations with brands in their memories, which can be classified as a set of associations. Consumers use these brand associations to make their purchasing decisions easier. Hence, it can be emphasized that brand image is an important marketing activity in order for the family business Dafgård to be successful. This is due to the fact that brand
image contributes to a consumers decision whether or not the family business Dafgård fits to the wants and needs of the consumer. Therefore, a positive or negative brand image to-wards the brand Dafgård from consumers can influence consumers buying behavior (Dol-ich, 1969; Park, Jaworski and Maclnnis, 1986), whether or not they will purchase frozen foods from the family business Dafgård.
When it comes to the brand image of the family business Dafgård, the customer will evalu-ate this brand image based upon different attributes that revolve around either the compa-ny itself and based upon the product in particular (Da Silva and Syed Alwi, 2006). Reflect-ing back to the study of Keller (1993), product attributes can be classified as: Price, infor-mation, positioning in promotional communications, packaging, user imagery and usage occasions. Within this research the following product attributes were investigated: Price value, packaging, quality, information and logo. Family business company attributes can be classified as: trust, commitment and customer-orientated focus. (Miller and Breton-Miller 2005). The company attributes and associations of family business Dafgård and family businesses in general were examined during this research. However, the emphasis was placed upon the associations with the family business Dafgård frozen foods.
When the price of a product is too high compared to the benefits it delivers, this will affect the value proposition of a product. Thus, when consumers perceive frozen food products of family business Dafgård as overpriced and therefore expensive, they will not be satisfied even though the frozen food product obtains meaningful benefits. On the contrary, con-sumers can also perceive a higher price of family business Dafgård frozen foods as a higher quality frozen food product. (Aaker, 1996) Another point of view regarding price value of a product can be seen as following: when the frozen food products of family business Daf-gård possess a reasonable price, consumers will consider these products as offering value for money (Orth et al, 2004).
Furthermore, in a study (Tikkanen and Vääriskoski, 2010) which focused upon effects of the brand on the perceived quality of branded bread, found that consumers valuing prod-ucts not only based upon exclusivity of the product attributes. Also, they found that con-sumers during their purchasing decision while evaluating alternatives, first focus upon the brand itself. This implies that consumers will first perceive the brand as a “sign of quality”. Once that has been established, consumers evaluate the brand based upon attributes like physical appearance, price and packaging (Vranesevic and Strancec, 2003). Therefore, it can be concluded that it is of great importance that consumers perceive the family business brand image of Dafgård positively in order to eventually being chosen over competitors of-ferings. According to Blombäck (2011) family businesses can benefit from communicating the family business attributes towards their customers. The elaboration likelihood model can acknowledge these findings. Consumers will first act on the basis of cues and limited knowledge. However, they do not have a strong preference for one brand over another (Solomon, Bamossy, Askegaard and Hogg, 2010). Within the low-involvement hierarchy the consumer does not initially have a strong preference for one brand over another, but instead acts on the basis of limited knowledge and then forms an evaluation after the prod-uct has been purchased or used.
Blombäck (2011) started a discussion about how family businesses can use the characteris-tics from a family business, as mentioned earlier to create a competitive edge. Blombäck (2011) also stated that the family business identity can create a distinction. However, it cannot be used alone as an independent element that generates demand. It should be seen as an opportunity to create secondary branding. Hence, other brand values should be communicated together with the family business identity. Therefore, within this research we also examined specific product elements from the research example Dafgård. Blombäck (2011) implies with this secondary branding as being a family business that the family busi-ness identity will function as a Halo-effect. The Halo-effect means that consumers perceive better-looking products also as better products. Using the family business brand as a sec-ondary brand image, gives the family business the benefit to add this secsec-ondary brand im-age on the already existing corporate brand imim-age (Blombäck, 2009). However, Blombäck (2009) also stated that this is not suitable for all family businesses. This means that a family business should consider if this is suitable for them as an individual family business.
4.2.1 Brand Attitudes
In the world of acceptance of a brand image, consumer’s attitude towards this image is very important. Therefore, we took a closer look into this subject. Attitude is defined as: “A
learned predisposition to respond in a consistently favorable or unfavorable manner with respect to a given object” (Fishbein and Ajzen, 1975, p.6). Basically, this means that an attitude evaluates
some-thing in a good or bad way. It also stated positive or negative feelings about a person, ob-ject, or issue. However, the most important features of attitudes are learned. They affect the action and they involve evaluation (favorable – unfavorable, positive – negative, good – bad).
Attitudes and behavior are related, the following quote emphasize this: “When attitude is
based on direct experience with the attitude object and to the extent that the attitude is cognitively accessi-ble”. (Pratkanis, Breckler, Greenwald, 1989 p. 2). According to Fazio and Williams (1986),
active attitude in our memory influences individual’s behavior. Thus, it is of great im-portance for Dafgård as being a family business that consumers will gain positive attitudes towards the products of Dafgård. When consumers experience favorable and positive feel-ings towards frozen foods and Dafgård as being a family business, this will result in com-petitive advantages. e.g., if people believe that frozen foods from a family business compa-ny contain higher quality and if they trust a family business product more than a competi-tor’s product offering, they will probably purchase frozen food products from a family business. Moreover, when people have positive attitudes towards frozen foods of a family business, they can easily affect other people (children, friends, colleagues) and encourage them to have positive attitudes towards these products as well. This effect will lead to pur-chase intentions by other people, this is called: “The persuasiveness of an evaluative component in
judgments of meaning”. (Pratkanis, Breckler, Greenwald, 1989, p.2).
Nevertheless, the persuasiveness of attitudes cannot be a reason for concluding that tudes are very important in explaining consumer’s behavior. According to Bem (1967) atti-tudes might be as illusions, which are created after behavior. This means, that in order for
consumers to obtain positive attitudes towards the family business Dafgård, prior purchase is required.
4.2.2 Brand Associations
That people make associations with certain attributes was already revealed in 1903, by biol-ogist U. G. Yule (1903). However, it took until 1990 when this subject entered the business world by the research of Dobni and Zinkhan (1990). It was revealed that brands carry cer-tain associations, the following definition of brand associations was set up: “Brand
associa-tions are the other informational nodes linked to the brand node in memory and contain the meaning of the brand for consumers” (Keller, 1993, p. 3). Faircloth, Capella, and Alford (2001) found proof
that brand associations will result in brand image. However, researchers also say that there is a lack of knowledge about specific brand associations (Belén del Rio Vázques and Iglesi-as, 2001; Low and Lamb, 2000; Lassar, Mittal and Sharma, 1995; Dobni and Zinkhan, 1990). Cooper, Upton and Seaman (2005) acknowledge this lack of research about family business associations. Hence, there is no possibility to set up a straightforward approach to differentiate the position and extend specific brands (Low and Lamb, 2000). Therefore, Low and Lamb (2000) stated that measuring these associations is a desirable goal for firms. They also stated that brand associations are multi-dimensional and include brand image and perceived quality. Belén del Rio, Vázquez, and Iglesias (2001) stated that brand associations have descriptive features that characterize the brand. They examined from the consumer side, what is involved with its consumption. These brand associations of consumers will re-solve into certain brand attitudes, which are the overall evaluation of a brand (Belén del Rio, Vázquez, & Iglesias, 2001). Brand associations are therefore useable to monitor the strength of positioning strategies (Low and Lamb, 2000). Belén del Rio Vázques and Igle-sias (2001) revealed the three top advantages of identifying brand associations:
1. It produce advantages to current performance and profitability; 2. Advantages related to longevity of profits;
3. Advantages related to growth potential.
Lassar, Mittal and Sharma (1995) stated also that positive brand associations will create confidence in a brand. This confidence will result in brand loyalty, which will eventually re-sult in willingness to pay the premium price for a brand (Lassar, Mittal and Sharma, 1995). These advantages imply that when consumers have positive brand associations towards the family business brand image, this will lead to the advantages mentioned above. The chal-lenge is not only to disclose these associations, but also to communicate these associations to the consumers (Tikkanen & Vääriskoski, 2010).
Individual associations of family businesses are formed by all actions that can be reflected or related to family businesses. Hence, it will be difficult for an individual firm to form a preferred set of associations related to family business. (Blombäck, 2009)
Due to the focus group that was conducted during this research, the authors were able to extract the brand association of the family business. However, we are aware that this only can be seen as a preliminary indication, because only one focus group was conducted.
4.3 Product Knowledge
Brand knowledge can have a positive or negative influence on brand equity (Keller, 1993). This influence can be seen in figure 1. Bian and Moutinho (2011) identified that product knowledge has a direct influence on brand image and the purchase intention of the con-sumer.
According to Alba and Hutchinson (1987) product knowledge should be divided into two parts:
1. Familiarity with products 2. Expertise
What consumers learn from their experience of a product will not lead to an objective truth (Hoch & Deighton, 1989). This truth comes from familiarity with the products and famili-arity is achieved after a certain purchase. The more familiar a consumer is with a product, the stronger the brand as a whole will be (Johnson and Russo, 1984). It is concluded in the same research that the search for alternatives will decrease and the willingness to pay more will increase. However, familiar consumers need more selective information about the products and they will ignore unimportant information (Johnson and Russo, 1984).
Consumers’ expertise of a product will go beyond the expertise of a Marketing Manager. The meaning of this sentence is clarified in the following quote: “The proof of the pudding is in
the eating” (Hoch and Deighton, 1989, P. 1). Hoch and Deighton tried to say with this, that
every marketing effort is useless when the product gives an unsatisfied feeling.
Expertise is defined as the level of what consumer’s believe they know from prior experi-ences. This means that expertise that is formed by the familiarity of the product will be of high influence of the purchase intention and the brand image of frozen food products. The relationship between product knowledge and brand image should be considered when studying the impact of external factors (Rao and Monroe, 1988). The implication is that the higher product knowledge from consumers is, the more rational the purchase decision will be. The frozen food products from Dafgård are low-involvement products, therefore the family business logo on the package can be of great value during the purchase.
Blombäck (2011) assumes that the family business sign on the Dafgård package will have a positive effect on the familiarity with the product. According to Blombäcks theory, family business products have an advantage above other products to come into the evoked set. It is then to the product itself to come into the consideration set (Lurie, 2004) of a consumer. Finally this will have a positive influence on the purchase and it will lead towards expertise. Based on the research from Hoch and Deighton (1989) we assume that a higher level of expertise will lead to a lower level of influence from the family business brand identity.
4.4 Product Involvement
This research especially focused upon low-involvement frozen food products from the family business Dafgård. The frozen food products from Dafgård are fast moving con-sumer goods; these products have therefore a lower level of concon-sumer involvement (Silayoi and Speece, 2004). According to the elaboration likelihood model (Solomon, Bamossy, Askegaard, and Hogg, 2010, p. 304) the persuasion of buying a low-involvement product will go through the peripheral route to persuasion. Within the peripheral route to persua-sion the product is explained by the graphics created on the package. When taking a closer look at the package in a low-involvement setting, consumers look mainly towards the labels on the product packaging (Silayoi and Speece, 2004). The consumer is not motivated to think deeply about their purchase decision (Solomon et. al, 2010). It is not of significance whether these images are purposely developed by the marketer, or unintended and unantic-ipated. Graphics includes image layout, color combinations, typography, and product pho-tography, and the total presentation communicates an image (Silayoi and Speece, 2007). For consumers, the package is the product; particularly for low-involvement products where initial impressions formed during initial contact can have lasting impact (Silayoi and Speece, 2007). Dafgård is doing an effort to communicate the positive values of a being a family business through their product packaging.
Ahmed, et al. (2004) conducted a study towards the question if the country of origin has an influence when it concerns a low-involvement product. The results of their study indicate that the country of origin does matter when consumers evaluate low-involvement products. However, in the presence of other extrinsic cues like the price of the product, the impact of the country of origin is weak. A study with the research object wine showed that consum-ers who are low in purchase involvement place greater importance on price discounts in-stead of other cues (Hollebeek, Jaeger, Roderick, and Balemi, 2007). The implication is that the importance of brand image decreases when the involvement level decreases (Ahmed, et al. 2004; Hollebeek, Jaeger, Roderick, and Balemi, 2007). Based upon the involvement the-ory from Solomon, et al., (2010) this will be the same for family business with products in a low-involvement context.
4.5 Evaluating the Alternatives and Purchase Intention
The purpose of this research is to investigate what associations of a low-involvement fami-ly business brand image affects purchase intention of consumers. In order to answer this question it is therefore relevant to understand how consumers of Dafgård frozen food products actually evaluate the alternatives and make their purchase decisions. According to Kotler and Armstrong (2005) the decision – making process model is mostly applied for purchase decisions based on a high level of engagement from a customer However, the model is also suitable for purchase decisions based on a low-involvement level of engage-ment, such as in this case our research example Dafgård frozen food products. Kotler and Armstrong (2005) identified the following steps in a purchase decision: Problem Recognition,
Information search, evaluation of alternatives, purchase, and post – purchase Evaluation. In figure 2, the
The starting point of the decision-making process model begins with a need or problem recognition of a consumer. When con-sumers are aware of this need or problem, the consumer will start the information search in order to find a suitable product or service to meet his needs. After the “Information Search” stage, the consumer needs to compare several products against each other in terms of product attributes, features and reputa-tion. The next stage revolves around making a product choice after evaluating all the product alternatives. In the final stage of the decision-making process model, a customer evaluates his or her purchase. (Solomon, 1999) Within this research the focus was placed upon the stage Evaluation of Alternatives’. The main reason for this was that this research examined the family busi-ness associations of low-involvement products and if these asso-ciations can influence the evaluation of alternatives stage. When this is the case it will have a direct effect on consumers purchase intentions as it is shown in figure 2.
After the “information search” stage, the consumer needs to compare several products against each other in terms of product attributes, associations and reputation (Solomon, 1999). In the case of Dafgård frozen foods, the customer will evaluate products based on the price, family business product packaging, quality, logo and taste with competitor offer-ings within the frozen food product assortment. For example, a consumer is standing in the supermarket and is considering three different frozen lasagnas based upon the attrac-tiveness of the product packaging, the price, quality and previous experiences. How cus-tomers actually evaluate different alternative products with one another varies between product categories (Kotler and Armstrong, 2005). Hoyer (1984) stated that customers tend to make decisions in an easy and effortless way when it involves low-involvement products. Therefore product attributes shown on the package can just make the difference.
5 Methods
In this chapter information will be provided about how the research method, samples and techniques were used. The methodology provides different stages that needed to be cov-ered for conducting the necessary primary information search.
5.1 Research Design
To come to an empirical answer, referring to the stated research question: “What associa-tions of the family business brand image of a low-involvement product affect consumers buying behavior and if so, why?” It was needed to conduct primary research. We empha-sized on the following factors: product involvement, product knowledge, brand image, brand equity and purchase intentions. These factors were carefully chosen based upon the model shown in figure 1 (chapter 4). This is done in order to examine if these factors had any influence on consumers buying behavior when they purchase a family business prod-uct.
In order to collect these necessary primary data, a combination of qualitative and quantita-tive research was conducted which are by nature characterized as an exploratory and con-clusive (descriptive) research design. Exploratory research can be defined as a flexible and evolving approach to understand marketing phenomena that are difficult to measure (Mal-hotra and Birks, 2007). This exploratory research was conducted by using the focus group method. By performing exploratory qualitative research in the form of a focus group, a small sample was selected to generate maximum insights. By having a small sample com-munication buzz was minimized. This emphasized the procedure that was needed to obtain ‘quality’ during the focus group. This enhanced the willingness of participants to open up, use their imagination and reveal their thoughts and behaviors (Malhotra and Birks, 2007). Descriptive research, which is a type of conclusive research, can be defined as a research design that revolves around measuring and describing clearly defined marketing phenome-na. This type of research is characterized by the formulation of specific research questions and hypotheses (Malhotra and Birks, 2007). Thus, descriptive research is pre – planned and structured by nature. Which means that formulation of questions before hand is necessary in order to conduct the research and gather these so called primary data. Furthermore, de-scriptive research is characterized by a large sample in order to be representative (Malhotra and Birks, 2007). The descriptive research conducted within this research, in the form of a questionnaire is characterized as a single cross sectional design. In a single cross sectional design one sample of respondents is drawn from the target population and information is obtained from this sample only (Malhotra and Birks, 2007).
Within this research, both exploratory and conclusive research was conducted. For the ex-ploratory part during this research, the product frozen lasagna from the family business Dafgård was used. This is done to gain more insights in understanding consumers’ prefer-ences, attitudes, thoughts and behavior towards this family business frozen food product.
The main reason for conducting both exploratory and conclusive research was to collect primary data in order to answer the stated research question. Additional to the main ques-tion, which was: What family business associations affected consumers buying behavior. We also wanted to know why these certain family business associations affected consumers buying behavior. Conducting exploratory research, allowed the authors to gain understand-ing in the stated topic and to obtain the associations that consumers have with low-involvement family business products. During the quantitative part of the research we ob-tained deeper information about the level of influence from these associations on consum-ers buying behavior. Furthermore, we obtained information why these family business as-sociations were of influence on consumers buying behavior.
5.2 Research Method
The primary data collection has been set up in two stages, which were obtained by per-forming a qualitative research in the form of a focus group. The outcomes from the focus group generated input for the collection of primary data through quantitative research. Previously, the combination of qualitative and quantitative methods has been used to an-swer similar questions (Boruch, 1997; Tashakkori and Teddlie, 1998; Maxwell and Loomis, 2003; Creswell et. al, 2006) Therefore, we felt that this was the most optimal way of an-swering the posed research questions.
Qualitative research can be defined as an unstructured exploratory design, which is based upon small samples in order to provide insight and understanding of consumers’ thoughts, motivations, feelings, experience and encapsulate behavior (Malhotra and Birks, 2007). Ac-cording to Malhotra and Briks (2007) there are three different reasons why researchers conduct qualitative research within their study: to discuss subconscious feelings of the con-sumers towards a low-involvement family business frozen food product of Dafgård, to gain a better understanding of this complex phenomena under investigation and finally to better interpret and explain underlying reasons from the quantitative research findings (Malhotra and Birks, 2007). Hence, the collection of qualitative data was conducted through a focus group.
Quantitative research on the other hand, can be defined as a research method that seek to qualify data and is typically applied to fulfill some form of statistical analysis (Malhotra and Birks, 2007). Within this research primary data was collected in the form of a questionnaire. Results out of the focus group, were grouped into several survey questions. After primary data was received, the results which came out of the quantitative part of the research, were afterwards analyzed with the statistical program SPSS.
5.3 Process
Due to the lack of knowledge in the field of family business as mentioned in the literature review, there was a need to identify what consumers associations were with a family busi-ness brand image. Here, we also tried to discover the opinion towards frozen food in gen-eral. With the questionnaire the family business associations that were revealed during the focus group were measured in the level of importance and the related reasoning’s why. 5.3.1 Focus Group Design
The focus group consisted of six students. This number was chosen because research (Sim, 1998; Hancock, Ockleford and Windridge, 2007) pointed out that this number of partici-pants is within the ideal range to have a discussion. The focus group discussion was based upon the model from shown in figure 1 (chapter 4) from the research conducted by Bian and Moutinho (2011). They examined the level of influence of product involvement and product knowledge on the brand image and the final purchase decision. Where they put special focus on the participants’ attitudes towards family businesses.
By using the theory on how to conduct a focus group from Liamputtong (2011) the au-thors were able to interpret data with insight and not only interpret findings in the light of prejudice and preconceptions. During the focus group discussion, questions were asked re-garding brand image, product involvement, product knowledge and purchase intentions of a family business low-involvement fast moving consumer goods by using the family busi-ness Dafgård as a research example. During the focus group it was highlighted that this company is a family business company. In order to examine these attributes it was im-portant to show participants the product packaging of the family business Dafgård frozen food product, which was frozen lasagna. The lasagna product was chosen as a research ex-ample, because this product was the most similar product compared with non-family busi-ness competitors’ products. The family busibusi-ness Dafgård packaging of frozen lasagna was compared with a non-family business frozen food lasagna product. This in order to investi-gate whether or not it was of importance for the participants, if the company is a family business. Furthermore, the frozen lasagna was tasted within the focus group in order to understand participants taste preferences referring to the product. As well as analyzing con-sumers’ expectations before and after the tasting.
Liamputtong (2011) gave the authors valuable insights in how to conduct a focus group. During the focus group it was especially valuable for the research to give the participants space to develop their own thoughts and answers. By doing this, the authors tried to reduce the gap of what people say and what they actually think. This also reduced the social con-formity of the participants towards the group and it motivated the participants to actively participate. The outcomes of the focus group resulted in valuable input for the question-naire, such as the associations consumers make with a family business. Therefore, the men-tioned associations that were extracted from the focus group discussion were examined in the quantitative part of the research by conducting a questionnaire.
The topics product knowledge, product involvement, purchase intentions, brand image were addressed during the focus group discussion. At the end a tasting and evaluation ses-sion of the Dafgård family business and the Findus non-family business lasagnas was con-ducted. The exact questions for these topics can be found in appendix 1.1.1 ‘Focus group Questions’.
5.3.2 Focus Group Process
The qualitative data extracted from the focus group was analyzed in three steps, data as-sembly, data reduction and data display (Malhotra and Birks, 2007 P.237). First the data was recorded with a recording device and transcribed as transcripts (see appendix 1.1.3 ‘Focus Group Transcribed’). Coding the messages together with notes taken during the fo-cus group disfo-cussion reduced the collected data. The data was coded by analyzing the con-tent (Malhotra and Birks, 2007 P.251). By coding the concon-tent we were able to display the obtained data as small conclusions for the topics that were mentioned above (see appendix 1.1.2 ‘Focus Group Data Collection Paper’). This resulted in a solid and useable overview. 5.3.3 Focus Group Sample
The focus group consisted of six students. The sample of students was made up of Interna-tional and Swedish students who were pursuing to graduate their master degree at the Uni-versity of JIBS for one or two years. Therefore, the sample of the focus group was set to-gether by using the convenient sampling method which is a sampling technique that at-tempts to obtain a sample of convenient elements where the selection of sampling units is of free choice of the interviewer (Malhotra & Birks, 2007, p. 411). A certain degree of ho-mogeneity in terms of demographics was important for a focus group in order to receive highly valid and reliable results. Due to these reasons the focus group consisted of four In-ternational students from respectively Bulgaria, The Netherlands, France, Greece and two Swedish students. The participants were in the age group 20 to 26 years old.
5.3.4 Questionnaire Design
The outcomes from the focus group discussion were used as possible answers for the ques-tionnaire. The questions were set up according to the Likert scale. The inventor of the Lik-ert scale, Rensis LikLik-ert (1931) described the LikLik-ert scale as ideal for measuring attitudes. Gliem and Gliem (2003) stated that the Likert scale is often used, because there is no suffi-cient information available to estimate the measurements. This was also the case within this research, because family business as a research topic just entered the academic world. Therefore, there was a lack of information. Gliem and Gliem (2003) stated in their study that it is imperative to use Cronbach’s Alpha to test the reliability when using the Likert scale. If this will not be performed, the reliability will be low. Therefore, the quantitative part of this research was tested for reliability with the Cronbach’s Alpha test.
After consolidating an expert at Jönköping University within the field of Marketing Re-search, the decision was made to avoid the neutral point by using a six point Likert scale. This was done because the questionnaire contained questions where participants would
most likely use social desirable answers. According to Garland (1991) the desire to please the interviewer and social unacceptable answers can be minimized by eliminating the neu-tral point. However, the discussion about using the neuneu-tral point is still ongoing (Garland, 1991; Sim J., 1998).
With the Likert scale it was determined to what extend a family business association was important for a respondent. However, the question ‘why’ was not covered yet. Hence, we placed an open question in the questionnaire, where the respondents were able to write down why the most important family business associations were of importance for them. 5.3.5 Questionnaire Process
For conducting primary data within this research, a questionnaire in the format of a per-sonal street interview was designed (see appendix 1.2 ‘Questionnaire’ for the complete questionnaire). The questionnaire design was based upon the outcomes of the focus group that has been held as well upon the secondary data that was conducted prior and after the empirical data collection. In first instance the intention was to conduct the questionnaire within the supermarket “Willy’s” located near to the A6 shopping center in Jönköping. The manager of the supermarket gave us permission to retain the questionnaire. While standing at the frozen food section in “Willy’s”, we discovered that participants were not willing to help us, filling in the questionnaire. Inside the supermarket “Willy’s”, the possible respond-ents felt disturbed during their shopping and therefore they were reluctant to participate. As a result, the decision was made to collect questionnaires within the A6 shopping center in order to gain more responses, since the desired amount of responses was set on 300 questionnaires in order to achieve reliable results out of the SPSS analysis.
To retrieve questionnaires within the A6 shopping center, permission was gained from the marketing manager, Mr. Kristoffer Krantz. The questionnaire was held during three days, from Tuesday 27th of March 2012 until Thursday 29th of March 2012. Moreover, the
deci-sion was made to collect the primary data from the questionnaire at different times during the days in order to obtain a wide range of opinions from respondents with different shop-ping behaviors. Therefore, for three days questionnaires were obtained from nine o’clock in the morning until seven o’clock in the evening, what subsequently initiated 300 filled in questionnaires within three full days of questioning people during their shopping’s. After conducting the questionnaire, the results were manually put in the statistical program called SPSS.
During the analysis in SPSS we used the following tools: Standard statistics, factor analysis and multiple regression analysis. To deepen our multiple regress analysis, we divided the participants in gender, nationality and two age groups, adults and youth. This was done ac-cording to the Swedish public transport regulations (Svenska Järnvägar, 2011). They con-sider people who are 25 years and younger as youth (ungdom) and above this age as adults (vuxen).
5.3.6 Questionnaire Sample
The sample of the questionnaire was conducted by using the simple random sampling method where each element in the population has an equal probability to be selected (Malhotra & Birks, 2007, p. 416). The sample does not have the same characteristics as the focus group sample. However, this did not cause any problems, because different types of information were sought. After counseling an expert in the field of quantitative date han-dling the quota for the questionnaire was set on 300 questionnaires, the missing values were identified with the code 999 in SPSS. The 300 questionnaires and identifying the miss-ing values ensured the reliability of the data when analyzmiss-ing the data in the statistical pro-gram SPSS. Due to the fact that we performed personal street interview questionnaires, all the obtained questionnaires were useable. The sample consisted out of 132 (44%) males and 168 females (56%), of which 83% were Swedish respondents. Moreover, the average age of the sample was 29 years old.
5.3.7 Questionnaire SPSS Analysis
The results from the questionnaire were analyzed within the statistical program SPPS. The following statistical analyses were performed: a factor analysis in order to reduce the col-lected data and a multiple regression analysis in order to examine relationships between multiple variables. Furthermore, from all the questions that were asked within the ques-tionnaire, Std. Deviations and Means were conducted.
5.3.7.1 Factor Analysis
A factor analysis is a class of procedures, which are primarily used for data reduction and for summarization (Malhotra & Birks, 2007). By performing a factor analysis in SPSS, these correlated variables could have been reduced and put into clustered factors. Different ques-tions (items) within a research survey could be asked, to evaluate one overall question. The evaluation of these items within an overall question could have been analyzed to determine the factors underlying the overall question. A factor analysis is thus searching for joint vari-ations. In a factor analysis there are no distinctions made between one dependent variable and independent or predicting variables because an entire set of interdependent relation-ship is examined (Malhotra and Birks, 2007 p. 647). These factors were given names for the enhancement of the interpretation.
5.3.7.2 Cronbach’s Alpha
Cronbach’s Alpha is a measurement to measure the reliability of the scale (Malhotra and Birks, 2007 P. 358). In order to obtain knowledge about the reliability of the factors formed by running a factor analysis and to see which factor can be used in further calculations. The Cronbach’s Alpha was obtained by different ways of splitting the scale items within each created factor separately. The resulting coefficient varies from 0 to 1, which means that a value of 0.6 or less indicated unsatisfactory internal consistency reliability of that particular factor. Within this research, each factor was interpreted separately (Malhotra and Birks, 2007 P. 358).
5.3.7.3 Multiple Regression Analysis
Multiple regression analysis is a technique that can be used to explore the relationship be-tween one continuous dependent variable and a number of independent variables or pre-dictors. Moreover, a multiple regression analysis is based upon correlations. Therefore, a more refined exploration was possible of the interrelationships among a set of variables (Pallant, 2005). In this case, the main objective of performing the multiple regression analy-sis was to find an association with all factors together in order to predict consumers’ buying behavior towards family business frozen foods. Therefore, it was used to investigate how much of the variance in the dependent variable (e.g. consumers buying behavior) could be explained by independent variables (family business associations, family business associa-tions affecting buying behavior, attitudes towards frozen foods and frozen foods packaging and price). In order to speak about a relationship between the dependent variable and the independent variables, the correlation scores should preferably be higher than 0,3. On the contrary, correlation scores should not be higher than 0,7 (Pallant, 2005).
5.4 Validity and Reliability
During the process of this research, the authors took into account that the standards con-cerning reliability and validity were of professional level.
5.4.1 Validity
Validity revolves around the question: did you measure what you wanted to measure? Therefore, the content of the questionnaire was examined by using two experts. Firstly, our thesis tutor which was an expert in the field of family business. She examined the question-naire and gave the authors valuable feedback. Secondly, an expert in marketing research ex-amined the used scales for each question separately. By doing this content validity (Mal-hotra and Birks, 2007 P. 358) was ensured. During the questionnaire it was ensured that not only one opinion was received from a certain type of shopper. According to Davies (1994) shoppers behave different during the morning, midday and evening. Therefore, the authors made sure that they received answered questionnaires during these different parts of the day. This was done in order to make sure that we measured what we wanted to measure.
5.4.2 Reliability
To secure the reliability of the questionnaire, a pretest was performed before the actual questionnaire was used. It was tested if Swedish respondents would understand the ques-tions formulated in the English language. Therefore, we examined whether or not Swedish respondents interpreted the stated questions in the way that the authors intended them. This was done to reduce the likelihood of the occurrence of random errors. Controlling the SPSS measurements with the Cronbach’s Alpha test tested the reliability. Outcomes that scored negative on the Cronbach’s Alpha scale were not taken into considerations within further research analysis.
5.5 Limitations
There were different limitations coherent to this research, which were necessary to take in-to consideration when evaluating the obtained results within this study.
Since the qualitative research in the form of a focus group was conducted with mainly In-ternational students and only two Swedish students, we cannot generalize the results in main ideas and opinions concerning the whole focus group participants. After the focus group was held, results showed that the opinions from International students and Swedish students differ from each other. Swedish students in general obtain more positive attitudes towards family businesses referring to frozen food products rather than International stu-dents. Therefore, the limitation of the focus group discussion is that there was no equality in the ideas and opinions from participants, as well as the small amount of Swedish stu-dents participated within the focus group. The main reason for this limitation was due to lack of time, which forced the authors to choose for this deviation of the focus group par-ticipants. However, it did not cause major problems for the research, because different types of information were needed in the focus group discussion and the questionnaire. Due to the time pressure the authors needed to take the decision to conduct one focus group. Nevertheless, useful information was gathered, although we were not able to control this information in a second or even third focus group. This also limited the amount of differ-ent collected opinions from the participants.
Furthermore, another limitation of this research refers to the questionnaire designed for the quantitative part of the primary data collection. The questionnaire was designed in Eng-lish and was not translated into Swedish to conduct the research. This was done, because both authors were not familiar with the Swedish language. Nevertheless, the questionnaire contained some English words that were translated into Swedish to help the respondents fill in the questionnaire. Also, the researchers, personally helped respondents who could not understand English properly, filling in every question in order to keep the reliability of the research as high as possible. However, the fact that the questions were designed in English instead of Swedish it was possible that this occasionally would have led to random errors within the obtained results that could negatively affect the reliability of the conduct-ed primary data. Random errors within this research can thus be seen as respondents who did not understand the questions and interpreted them wrong. This could have led to in-correct answers from the respondents.
In first instance the authors were planning to involve consumers in the sample who actually were purchasing or intended to purchase a frozen food product. Therefore, this would re-volve around people who were at the stage of ‘Evaluating Alternatives’ within the decision-making process of purchasing frozen foods. Unfortunately, due to unwillingness of con-sumers in the supermarkets to participate within this research by filling in the question-naire, the decision was made to change the location. Therefore, we did not obtain the de-sired environment for conducting the questionnaire. Nevertheless, the questionnaire was held within a shopping environment, the A6 Shopping center.
6 Data Results
In this chapter the main results from the primary research that was conducted by perform-ing a focus group discussion and a questionnaire will be publicized. The data from the questionnaire were manually put in the statistical program SPSS were afterwards a factor analysis and a multiple regression analysis were calculated. Moreover, the gathered data from the focus group were transcribed.
6.1 Focus Group Results
During the literature reviews, the authors discovered that specific family business associa-tions from a brand image were unknown. Therefore, we needed to identify the family busi-ness associations during the focus group that was conducted. It was also revealed that to-gether with these associations, product knowledge and the level of involvement were of in-fluence on the purchase intention. Therefore, specific frozen food attributes were revealed during the focus group. The main results from the focus group will be shown in this para-graph. However, if you are interested in the full-transcribed focus group, we refer you to appendix 1.1.3 ‘Focus Group Transcribed’.
In the following paragraphs the focus group discussion topics product knowledge and ex-pertise, involvement and family business brand image are discussed.
Product knowledge: According to the literature review (Johnson and Russo, 1984) prod-uct knowledge is mainly obtained by the actual usage of the prodprod-ucts. In general the partic-ipants answered that they were familiar with frozen food products, except for two partici-pants. However, after it was made clear that topic of the focus group was the frozen ready to go meals, all participants stated that they were familiar with frozen food products. The participants, who were buying frozen food products, answered that their main reasons for purchasing these products were, convenience, taste, quality, preparation time and the price of frozen foods.
Involvement: As shown in the literature review (Silayoi and Speece, 2004; Solo-mon, Bamossy, Askegaard, and Hogg, 2010) the product package was the most important for the participants, when choosing one of the shown product packages. The participants specifically mentioned, the general looks, the brand and the picture of the actual product. The packages shown to the participants were frozen lasagna from the brands: Findus and the family business Dafgård. Which one of the shown products the participants would choose was evenly divided. Participants’ feelings referring to price/value of the frozen food products were equally divided. After the product tasting, there was still an equal divided opinion. This implies that no product had features that would overrule the other product, for example the family business identity. This was clearly shown by the following quote: “I
only know that these ready meals are super quick and in terms of buying frozen foods, it is not just about branding. I always recognize it and then I just take it” (participant Mike, 20th March, 2012).
Family business brand image: After mentioning that Dafgård is a family business, the researchers asked the participants for their associations they made with a family busi-ness. It should be noted that the Swedish participants knew that Dafgård was a family business. The associations that were made by the participants were as follow: Tradition, heritage, quality, more care taking, better taste, small business and craftsmanship. After the question was asked, the Swedish participants decided that these family business associa-tions would affect their buying behavior. However, it should be noted that this was said af-ter mentioning that Dafgård was a family business.
6.2 Questionnaire Results
The results from the questionnaire were summarized by calculating Std. Deviations and Means for every questions. This was done in order to obtain more insights in the variation of answers from the respondents. The questionnaire contained one open question, which was analyzed separately in order to gain more insights in the reasoning’s why respondents believed that a particular family business association was important for them. Furthermore, a factor analysis and multiple regression analysis were performed in order to reduce the primary data and examine whether or not there were correlations between variables. Table 4 ‘Means and Std. Deviations’ (see appendix 1.2.1) shows means and Std. Deviations of all questions asked within the questionnaire. The Std. Deviations showed that the an-swers were quite concentrated, which means that the respondents in general filled in the questions equally. The majority of the respondents were females as well as the majority of the respondents were of Swedish nationality. Furthermore, the year of birth of the re-spondents differed from 1940 till 1998, which was a large variety. However, the average year of birth of the respondents was 1983, which is related with an average age of 28. The majority of respondents considered themselves as a health conscious consumer with a mean of 3,59 out of a 6-point scale. On average, the respondents bought frozen food products, less than once a week. Furthermore the average weekly budget on food was 576,62 Swedish Kronor.
Respondents share the opinion that frozen food products are not actually healthy products and they believe that frozen foods contains preservatives, additives and residues and that they contain more fat with an average mean of respectively 4,41 and 3,97. Although, they did believe that frozen food products are convenient products. When it comes to the im-portance of frozen food attributes, respondents believed that the price (mean 4,05) of a frozen food product was more important for them. This was followed by the brand (mean 3,92) and lastly by the packaging apparel (mean 3,65). According to the respondents, they based their purchase decision when it comes to frozen foods mainly upon the product quality (mean 4,87), price/value (mean 4,54) and the product information in the packaging (mean 4,29). The brand, package apparel and preparation time of the product were less im-portant for them when making a purchase decision.
The most important associations the respondents made with a family business company were tradition and heritage with an average mean of respectively 4,69 and 4,52. The other four family business associations scored approximately the same. Whether or not these
family business associations positively affect the respondents buying behavior, it can be said that the association referring to high quality of family businesses mostly affect con-sumers buying behavior (mean 4,53) followed by craftsmanship (mean 3,78). However, The other four family business associations scored approximately the same. Regarding the ques-tion if family business associaques-tions in general can affect respondents buying behavior when it comes specifically to frozen foods, the average answer for this question was a mean of 3,29. The majority of the respondents slightly agreed with the statement: ‘family business associations can affect my purchase behavior, when it comes to frozen food products’ (see appendix 1.2.3 ‘Family Business Associations Affecting Buying Behavior’ Figure 4).
6.2.1 Open Question Result
To come to a comprehensive answer on the research question, the researchers set up an open question in the questionnaire. This question resulted in more insight in the reason-ing’s why the specific family business associations are important for consumers.
High quality was mentioned as the most important association with a family business. The reasons mentioned why high quality was such an important family business association, were rather similar as can be seen in table 1. Besides high quality, passion was often men-tioned as an important association. Also, the other associations were menmen-tioned. However, respectively less than high quality and passion. The least mentioned family business associa-tion was Craftsmanship.
Associations
High quality Passion Heritage Tradition Small
com-panies Craftsmanship
When it comes to food partic-ipants wants high quality.
The food will have a higher level of quali-ty.
‘Friendlier’
businesses It ensures the expected qual-ity Want to sup-port small companies It means better quality
It is healthier They feel more passion coming from family busi-nesses.
The products are local and they stand for authenticity
My mother
al-so bought it They work harder It means originality and exclusivity
It is tastier When you are passionate, you conduct good business. You know where your food comes from, because you grow up with it. Ethnocentric
reasons Better quality It means tradition
It will not
con-tain additives Passionate people will perform better
It means quality I only eat
what I know Do not like monopolies and big com-panies
It feels good when a craftsman put ef-fort in a product
