Agricultural Economics
M. Zandi Nasab; M. Ghaffari
Abstract
Introduction Organic agricultural products play an important role in the food basket of the community health development. Many researchers have proven that organic agricultural products are better and safer for human health, and unhealthy products are a threat for society. Increasing health problems ...
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Introduction Organic agricultural products play an important role in the food basket of the community health development. Many researchers have proven that organic agricultural products are better and safer for human health, and unhealthy products are a threat for society. Increasing health problems and food-related diseases have made consumers to give more attention to these products purchase. There has been an increase in organic products popularity due to their health benefits and positive environmental impact.Shahdone store is one of the natural, complete and organic products stores in the country that serves online and in person with the aim of providing healthy, complete and natural raw materials. Healthy nutrition and modification of consumption pattern towards healthy, whole and natural products is one of the main goals of this collection. The focus of the company is on online sales and trust plays an important role in this type of purchase. To improve the business and introduction of this type of trades in Iran, word of mouth, especially electronic word of mouth, are very important and since this study examines the antecedents of intention to use electronic word of mouth in purchasing organic agricultural products at Shahdone, it will be beneficial for the company. The study focused on organic agricultural products, which are useful for the development of Shahdone and similar companies operating in the field of agriculture, to understand consumers' intentions and attitudes toward word of mouth. Also, for people in the community whose health is important, this research can be effective in promoting organic products. Therefore, the present study investigates the impact of social capital dimensions and trust on social media, attitude toward electronic word of mouth and intention to use electronic word of mouth in purchasing organic products.Materials and MethodsThe statistical population of this study consisted of all consumers of organic agricultural products in Shahdone stores, who used the products of this company during the collection of research data in February of 2018. The population was considered unlimited and 476 samples were selected using available sampling method. To collect data, a questionnaire containing 42 questions was designed by reviewing the literature on research variables. Also, two questions were compiled to measure demographic variables (education, gender). To measure and confirm the validity of the questionnaire, content validity, construct validity were examined. In order to evaluate the content validity, a number of questionnaires were distributed among university professors and premiers. Sensibility and comprehensibility of the questions and the appropriateness of the variables were examined. Experts opinions were used to improve questionnaire questions. For construct validity, factor analysis was used in the form of measurement model. Cronbach alpha coefficient was used to assess the reliability of the questionnaire. According Cronbach alpha coefficient, the questionnaire has a satisfactory reliability. SPSS and LISREL statistical software were used to analyses the research data and test hypotheses.Results and Discussion The findings of this study showed that attitudes toward electronic word of mouth are influential on the intention to use electronic word of mouth in purchasing organic agricultural products, on the other hand, there are some antecedents before obtaining attitudes toward electronic word of mouth which include; social capital in social media and trust in social media.Conclusion The results of the first and third hypotheses of the study indicate that voluntary social media participation has an impact on competency and behavioral stability, but the second hypothesis was not confirmed. Social media engagement when it comes to the sense of altruism and volunteering to give information, it gradually builds the ability to influence people, so having people on social media and through social media can impact others. The results of hypotheses fourth, fifth and sixth indicate that adherence to social commitments in social media affects the competence of influencers, the honesty of reputable people and their behavioral stability. People who are committed to social commitment, including indicators of doing the right thing, observing fairness, performing social duties, and a sense of responsibility to the community can help and influence others as a worthy person. Hypothesis seventh states that collaboration in social media affects its competence. The eighth and ninth hypotheses were not confirmed. People who help others, and have expertise in organic products, can play a vital role in people health. The results of the tenth and eleventh hypotheses of ethical-cultural interactions in social media influenced the competence and honesty of reputable people, but the twelfth hypothesis of ethical-cultural interactions in social media did not support behavioral stability. Expanding the culture of using healthy products will allow more people to participate in organic products. One of the problems with organic products is the exaggeration of the benefits of organic products, which should be minimized by cultural planning for these products. Hypothesis thirteenth states that common values in social media influence the competence of influencer and fourteenth and fifteenth hypotheses were not confirmed. Having commonalities and closeness of ideas makes others more important to people. When people are close to each other, they are more concerned about others and try to pay more attention to the consequences of their suggestions. The results of hypotheses sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth indicate that influential competence, honesty of reputable people, and respect for behavioral stability in social media influence attitudes toward electronic word of mouth. Hypothesis nineteenth states that attitude towards electronic word of mouth influenced intention to use electronic word of mouth in purchasing organic agricultural products, this hypothesis was confirmed. The emerging attitude towards electronic word of mouth led to intention to use electronic word of mouth. Organic farming, or acceptance of information by the individual, before purchase.
M. Zandi Nasab; M. Ghaffari; F. Khadem Shahzadeh Taher
Abstract
Introduction: With increasing population, agricultural activities should provide enough food for 80 billion people around the world until 2030. Many farmers are dependent on chemical technologies for pest management and producing enough food. However, despite the many benefits, it is indicated that, ...
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Introduction: With increasing population, agricultural activities should provide enough food for 80 billion people around the world until 2030. Many farmers are dependent on chemical technologies for pest management and producing enough food. However, despite the many benefits, it is indicated that, chemicals and pesticides, may have bad consequences for the health of human being and environment. Hence, due to the response to concerns about common agricultural activities, the interest in organic products has been increased around the world. Increasing health problems and diseases associated with food products has made consumers to give more importance to buying these products. One of the people's reactions has been moving forward to using organic agricultural products. Many researchers, have proved that, organic products, are safer and better for people's health and unhealthy products are a threat for society. For instance, in developing countries, 5 million children under age of 5 are afflicted to illness symptoms caused by poisonous and chemical residues in food, and more than 3 million people die and in 2010 the World Health Organization has declared that; Iran, ranked 93rd out of 160 countries in the world for bad consequences of agriculture. Organic products have characteristics such as taste, health, and issues related to environment and animals' right, which are not tangible in the first sight. In some cases, when consuming or buying, consumers hardly understand these features. For success and development of organic products these features should be understood by consumers and they should be willing to pay for these products. Organic agricultural products have higher prices for several reasons (such as production conditions and issuing the certificate). Economically, the value of a product is equal to the sum of payments for that product, in addition to the consumers' welfare. Surplus consumer welfare is defined as the difference between the consumer's willingness to pay and the real price paid for it. In this regard the notion of willingness to pay can be defined as the total payment that reflects the difference between the surplus consumer welfare before and after adding or improving one characteristic of food. Many consumers are looking for food safety and they have tendency to pay more for healthy food products, because it simultaneously increases the level of utility and reduces the risks for health. A review of research literature on willingness to pay for organic agricultural products shows that most studies have been conditional on the costs of organic agricultural products and estimation of willingness to pay for them by methods such as valuation and less attention have been paid to the reasons that make consumers to pay for these products. Hence, it seems that an exploratory study for identifying and prioritizing factors affecting the willingness to pay for organic agricultural products has a great importance. Therefore, the purpose of present study is identification and prioritization of factors affecting the willingness to pay for organic agricultural products.Materials and Methods: This research in terms of purpose is applied and in terms of research method, is descriptive-survey. The statistical population of the study included all consumers of organic agricultural products of Bioneshan shops in Tehran, who have been using these products at the time of collecting the research data on November 2018. To determine the sample size, Comrey and Lee patterns were used, and 384 samples were selected by sampling method. Analyzing the research data was done by SPSS and EXCEL software.Results and Discussion: Before conducting an exploratory factor analysis, in order to identify factors affecting willingness to pay for organic agricultural products, and in order to ensure that existing data can be used and the number of data is appropriate for factor analysis and the adequacy of exploratory Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin sample size, Bartlett test was used. In the next step, for exploratory factor analysis, research data were analyzed by using main components analysis method and the choice of varimax rotation method. The results of exploratory factor analysis show that, factors affecting willingness to pay for organic agricultural products consist of seven elements or dimensions. These include the quality of products, perceived benefits, income levels, information barriers and access to products, environmental concerns, life styles and food safety. These seven identified factors totally define 68/123% variance of affecting factors on willingness to pay for organic agricultural products. In order to prioritize the factors affecting the willingness to pay for organic agricultural products Shannon entropy was used. According to respondents, food safety is ranked first in terms of its importance.Conclusion: The first identified factor is the quality of the products which corresponds with the studies of Krystallis and Chryssohoidis (2005) and Villanueva and colleagues (2015). One of the factors that causes the consumer to focus on a product, is the quality of that product. Organic agricultural products are not exceptions to this fact and more than being organic, their quality should be considered as well. The fact that products should be both organic and have a high quality, is difficult due to the lack of chemical and artificial compounds. The second identified factor is perceived benefits, which correspond with the studies of Van doorn and verhoef (2011) and Zaho and colleagues (2018). Consumers consider some benefits for themselves of using each product. In order to enhance the willingness to pay for organic agricultural products, People who are active in agricultural activities, should try to increase the level of perceived benefits in consumers. The third identified factor is income level which corresponds with the studies of Nandy and colleagues (2017) and Vapa-Tankosic and colleagues (2018). One of the obstacles to the expansion of organic agricultural products is people's low income level and higher prices of organic agricultural products. The forth identified factor is information barriers and access to products which corresponds with the studies of Nandy and colleagues (2017) and Sriwaranun and colleagues (2015). Lack of information about organic agricultural products and inadequate supply and availability affects the willingness to pay for them. By increasing information about the benefits of these products the interest in paying for these products will be increased. So when the supply and access to these products can easily happen, and people have access to these products in different stores, the desire to use and pay for this products increases and with increasing supply, the price of these products reduces. The fifth identified factor is environmental concerns, which corresponds to the studies of Nandy and colleagues (2017) and konuk and colleagues (2018). Many people by understanding that organic agricultural products entail less harm to the living environment, are satisfied with paying more for these products. The sixth identified factor is lifestyle, which corresponds to the studies of Skreli and colleague (2017). People who primarily establish a healthy lifestyle for themselves, and care about their health more, have willing to pay for organic agricultural products as a healthy product. The seventh identified factor is food safety which corresponds with the studies of Budak and colleagues (2006) and Chen and colleagues (2015). According to food respondents, food safety has the top priority. Consumers should be certain about the organic state of the products and their health in order to have desire to pay for them.