Section 4: Socio-demographic characteristics

According to Davies (2007) and Allison et al. (1996), a survey includes personal questions, which allows for the analysis of opinions and attitudes based on different types of respondents. Socio-demographic characteristics (such as age, gender, marital status, income, education, occupation, and household size) have considerable influence on food store choice (Prasad and Aryasri 2011), food purchasing patterns (Ricciuto, Tarasuk and Yatchew 2006), and food shopping frequency (Meng et al. 2014). Section IV of the questionnaire looked at the socio-demographic variables for each respondent (Table 6.7).

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Table 6.7: Section 4: Socio-demographic characteristics Socio-demographic

questions Literature

Gender Macharia, Collins and Sun (2013); Toiba et al. (2013); Prasad and Aryasri (2011); Jacobson, Mavrikiou and Minas (2010); (Bai, Wahl and McCluskey 2008); Carpenter and Moore (2006); Pan and Zinkhan (2006); ACNielsen (2005); Baltas and Papastathopoulou (2003) Marital status Krukowski et al. (2012); Prasad and Aryasri (2011); Reynolds, Ganesh

and Luckett (2002); Li and Houston (2001)

Age Macharia, Collins and Sun (2013); Toiba et al. (2012); Amine and Lazzaoui (2011); Martinez-Caraballo and Burt (2011); Prasad and Aryasri (2011); Carpenter and Moore (2006); Pan and Zinkhan (2006);

Neven et al. (2006); Baltas and Papastathopoulou (2003) Number of people living in

the household (household size)

Macharia, Collins and Sun (2013); Toiba et al. (2012); Martinez-Caraballo and Burt (2011); Prasad and Aryasri (2011); Kato and Ota (2010); Bai, Wahl and McCluskey (2008); Neven et al. (2006);

D’Haese and Huylenbroeck (2005); Goldman and Hino (2005) Composition of the people in

living at home Suryana, Ariani and Lokollo (2008); Veeck and Veeck (2000) Education Macharia, Collins and Sun (2013); Krukowski et al. (2012); Toiba et

al. (2012); Prasad and Aryasri (2011); Bai, Wahl and McCluskey (2008); Carpenter and Moore (2006); Neven et al. (2006); Goldman and Hino (2005); Baltas and Papastathopoulou (2003); Reynolds, Ganesh and Luckett (2002)

Occupation Krukowski et al. (2012); Toiba et al. (2012); Prasad and Aryasri (2011); Amine and Lazzaoui (2011); Martinez-Caraballo and Burt (2011); Chowdhury, Gulati and Gumbira-Sa-id (2004)

Spouse’s occupation (if applicable)

Ethnicity Chamhuri (2011); Hino (2010); Belwal (2009); Wang et al. (2007);

Jamal et al. (2006); Omar, Hirst and Blankson (2004); Othman (1990) Spouse’s ethnicity (if

applicable)

Religion Tinggi, Jakpar and Padang (2012); Hino (2010); Li and Houston (2001); Omar, Hirst and Blankson (2004)

Suburb Amine and Lazzaoui (2011); Bai, Wahl and McCluskey (2008) Fridge/refrigerator

ownership Finzer et al. (2013); Toiba et al. (2012); Hino (2010); Kato and Ota (2010); D’Haese, Van den Berg and Speelman (2008); Neven et al.

(2006); Othman (1990)

Microwave oven ownership Finzer et al. (2013); Kato and Ota (2010)

Motorbike ownership Finzer et al. (2013); Kato and Ota (2010); D’Haese, Van den Berg and Speelman (2008); Neven et al. (2006); Goldman and Hino (2005) Car ownership Finzer et al. (2013); Toiba et al. (2012); Kato and Ota (2010);

D’Haese, Van den Berg and Speelman (2008); Neven et al. (2006);

Goldman and Hino (2005); Goldman, Krider and Ramaswami (1999) Who does the cooking in the

household Kato and Ota (2010); Neven et al. (2006); Goldman, Krider and Ramaswami (1999)

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Table 6.7: Section 4: Socio-demographic characteristics cont Socio-demographic

Jacobson, Mavrikiou, and Minas (2010); Kato and Ota (2010)

Monthly spending for eating out in restaurants (spending groups, not exact amount)

Jacobson, Mavrikiou, and Minas (2010); Kato and Ota (2010);

Ricciuto, Tarasuk and Yatchew (2006)

Total family earnings per month/household income (income groups, not exact amount)

Macharia, Collins and Sun (2013); Crush and Frayne (2011); Prasad and Aryasri (2011); Jacobson, Mavrikiou, and Minas (2010); Kato and Ota (2010); Bai, Wahl and McCluskey (2008); D’Haese, Van den Berg and Speelman (2008); Carpenter and Moore (2006); Neven et al. (2006); Pan and Zinkhan (2006) previous studies on food shopping behaviour and preliminary research findings. Gender influences food shopping because in selecting a store, women tend to be more detailed in terms of economic value (Baltas and Papastathopoulou 2003) and pay more attention to food labels (Sanlier and Karakus 2010). Women also value shopping as leisure activity, demand a more personal relationship (Yousaf and Huaibin 2013), and tend to use traditional wet markets (Li and Houston 2001). Yousaf and Huaibin (2013) identified women as more likely to make impulse buying decisions because they are more responsive to image and enjoyment.

Gender also relates to marital status due to the shopping role in a household. According to Baltas and Papastathopoulou (2003), people with a family often pay more attention to the household budget, and therefore pay more attention to price-related attributes. Consistent with this result, Li and Houston (2001) found that married shoppers tend to use wet markets.

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In previous studies, age has been found to influence a consumer’s store choice decision.

Older shoppers use traditional wet markets more frequently (Li and Houston 2001), while younger shoppers utilise supermarkets more often (Neven et al. 2006). For this study, age groups used in the questionnaire were adapted from Walker (1996, cited in Isaacs, Dixon and Banwell 2010). The youngest age group was 18-24 years, which was justified by the nature of this study to examine consumer decision making in food shopping. In a household, those who make the purchasing decision would usually be around this age group. This demographic was compliant with the ethics requirements of Curtin University for level C (low risk) approval.

According to Ricciuto, Tarasuk and Yatchew (2006), the age of the consumer influences food purchase decisions because it reflects the specific needs for the life stage. Older people, such as pensioners, may face tighter budget constraints due to their low disposable income (Baltas and Papastathopoulou 2003). The number of children in a household also depends on the life stage of the household. Suryana, Ariani and Lokollo (2008) noted that families with children often shop in supermarkets as a family recreation.

Household size is an important determinant of food expenditure. Lower food expenditures among large households may be explained by a tendency to substitute less expensive foods for more expensive ones, or by economies of scale resulting from the purchase of larger quantities (Ricciuto, Tarasuk and Yatchew 2006). Several studies have suggested that large households have a greater family commitment and time restrictions, and thus they tend to be loyal and avoid variety-seeking behaviour (Martinez-Caraballo and Burt 2011). Due to more consumption, larger households prefer to buy in bulk from hypermarkets (Prasad and Aryasri 2011).

Education is negatively associated with price-related decision criterion, mainly because university graduates tend to receive higher salaries (Baltas and Papastathopoulou 2003).

However, according to Ricciuto, Tarasuk and Yatchew (2006), education-related differences in food purchasing seem to be more reflective of health concerns than income-related ones.

Traditional markets generally suit families with lower education levels because these retailers provide staple foods at cheaper prices (Meng et al. 2014), while educated consumers tend to patronise modern retail formats (Prasad and Aryasri 2011).

Occupation is also a meaningful determinant for store choice, as working women tend to purchase more prepared and semi-prepared food from supermarkets (Prasad and Aryasri 2011). Martinez-Caraballo and Burt (2011) found that occupation had an influence on

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variety-seeking behaviour for working women, as most respondents split their grocery purchases among two to three stores.

Another significant factor in consumer patronage behaviour is ethnicity, including religion (Seitz 1988, cited in Omar, Hirst and Blankson 2004). Race or ethnicity may influence consumers’ food preferences due to their desire for ethnicity-specific dishes (Fan et al.

2007). Similarly, Wang et al. (2007) identified how the availability of ethnic foods strongly influence consumers’ store choice.

District (suburb) was included in this study as location has been found to have a statistically significant impact on food shopping frequency (Meng et al. 2014). Furthermore, asking respondents to identify their place of residence can help in checking the coverage (cross-section) of the study population (Bai, Wahl and McCluskey 2008). In this study, the area in which the respondents resided was expected to influence their access to both traditional and modern food retail stores.

Vehicle ownership is another determinant of store choice due to the ability to readily access the retail store of choice. Shoppers with limited transportation are restricted to shopping in a few nearby food and grocery stores (Brown 2004). Other variables related to a household’s economic status include fridge and microwave ownership.

Concurrent with the increase in the number of working women and time pressure, there has been a growing demand for more convenience food and a greater propensity to eat more food away from home (Veeck and Veeck 2000). This study assessed the monthly household spending for food in general, raw food to be cooked at home, ready-to-eat food, convenience food, and food consumed away from home.

In previous research, questions about eating out and the purchase of ready-to-eat meals were asked as frequency of eating out in a week or a month (Kato and Ota 2010), monthly expenditure group (Jacobson, Mavrikiou and Minas 2010) or weekly expenditure in dollars (Ricciuto, Tarasuk and Yatchew 2006).

Questions regarding income were asked last, as these are considered sensitive questions.

Respondents were asked about their household’s monthly income category, income regularity and credit card ownership. Food purchasing generally expands with higher income, which is consistent with the widely observed phenomenon that as incomes rise, households spend more on changing the type, quality and variety of foods, rather than

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increasing the quantity of food consumed (Horton and Campbell 1991, cited in Ricciuto, Tarasuk and Yatchew 2006).

Consumers with higher incomes tend to spend more on products and services (Stewart et al.

2004, cited in Mehmood and Rehman 2010). These richer households experience higher opportunity cost of time and prefer one‐stop shopping at supermarkets (D'Haese, Van den Berg and Speelman 2008). Some households with higher income will employ a maid (Toiba et al. 2013; Kato and Ota 2010), which may influence their food shopping behaviour. On the other hand, consumers with low or limited income deem every purchase to be important and have to be sure that they are making the right purchases (Chikweche and Fletcher 2010).

Income regularity and credit card ownership are often associated with the use of hypermarkets and supermarkets. According to Tessier (2010), steady income has been shown to influence supermarket patronage. Consumers who own a credit card tend to patronise modern food retail formats (Prasad and Aryasri 2011; Neven et al. 2006).