Analysis of Consumers’ Consumption Intention and Influencing Factors towards Qingyuan Chicken in the Pearl River Delta Region of China ()
1. Introduction
Qingyuan chicken, a national geographical indication product of China, is an agricultural local variety resource from Qingyuan City, Guangdong Province. Qingyuan chicken is mainly produced in Qingcheng District, Qingxin District, Fogang County, Qingyuan City and the combination of the Pearl River Delta and the mountainous area of north Guangdong. As one of the five billion agricultural industries cultivated by Qingyuan City, whether Qingyuan chicken can get more consumers’ favor is particularly key.
Existing studies have analyzed the Qingyuan chicken industry and consumers’ consumption willingness from multiple perspectives. Domestic scholar Huang (2023) studied the current situation of production and marketing of chicken in Qingyuan and pointed out that the production and marketing of chicken in Qingyuan have problems, such as insufficient publicity breadth, unstable product quality of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), single type and single flavor of deep-processed products, and flooding of the market with counterfeit and shoddy products, etc. He also put forward the development strategies for growing the chicken industry in Qingyuan in terms of the brand marketing strategy, the leading demonstration of the leading enterprises, the innovation of the deep-processed products, and quality control. Zhang et al. (2024) pointed out that the basic characteristics, cognitive level and experience perception all have an impact on the consumption intention of urban residents of geographical indication agricultural products. Wang’s (2023) study showed that consumers’ behavioral attitudes (BA), subjective norms (SN), and perceived behavioral control (PBC) directly and positively affect the consumption intention of organic agricultural products. He & Wu (2024) concluded that the variables of consumers’ perceived ease of use, consumption attitude, and perceived risk had a significant impact on the consumption intention and behavior of Chongming freshwater crabs through the TAM-TPB extended model. Zhao (2021) argued that consumers’ consumption intention is related to individual characteristics, and set three demographic characteristics as moderating variables to conduct multi-group analysis of the model in terms of gender, age, and travel experience, and verified whether there is invariance of consumption intention in different group characteristics through empirical research.
Foreign scholars Vermeir and Verbeke (2007) studied consumers’ attitudes towards sustainable food and found that consumers’ environmental awareness and health awareness significantly affected their willingness to consume. Lobb et al.’s (2006) study showed that consumers’ perceptions about the safety of food products significantly affected their willingness to purchase organic food and local specialty food. Thøgersen et al. (2018) stated that consumers’ perception of the origin of a product influences their quality judgment and willingness to purchase the product. Magnusson et al. (2003) showed that consumers’ concern for health and nutrition is an important factor that influences their choice of healthy food. Fotopoulos et al. (2002) found that personal motivations (e.g., health, environmental protection) and socio-cultural background had a significant impact on the willingness to consume organic food through a survey of Greek organic food consumers. Michaelidou and Hassan (2008) analyzed the impact of health awareness and food safety concerns on consumers’ choice of organic food against the background of consumers’ perceptions of healthy food.
The Pearl River Delta is in Guangdong province, China. It is composed of Guangzhou, Foshan, Zhaoqing, Shenzhen, Dongguan, Huizhou, Zhuhai, Zhongshan and Jiangmen (See Figure 1 and Table 1). This study takes the consumers in the Pearl River Delta region as the research object, and analyzes the willingness of consumers in the Pearl River Delta region to buy Qingyuan chicken products according to the first-hand data obtained from the questionnaire. Based on the consumer cognition theory, descriptive analysis is used to find the influencing factors of consumers’ willingness to buy Qingyuan chicken. This study will help to better understand the behavior and demand of consumers in purchasing and consuming Qingyuan chicken products, and can provide useful decision-making reference for policy makers, industrial development and enterprise management.
Figure 1. A map of the Pearl River Delta (Bie et al., 2015).
Table 1. Cities in the Pearl River Delta region.
City |
Area km2 |
Population (2020) |
Guangzhou |
7434 |
18,676,605 |
Shenzhen |
1986 |
17,560,000 |
Foshan |
3848 |
9,498,863 |
Dongguan |
2465 |
10,466,625 |
Huizhou |
10,922 |
6,042,852 |
Zhuhai |
1724 |
2,439,585 |
Jiangmen |
9535 |
4,798,090 |
Zhongshan |
1784 |
4,418,060 |
Zhaoqing |
14,891 |
4,113,594 |
2. Survey Methods
In this study, empirical research method was used to collect relevant information and data of consumers in the Pearl River Delta region by questionnaire survey, so as to understand the influencing factors of consumers’ willingness to buy and consume Qingyuan chicken products.
2.1. Questionnaire Design
The main purpose of the questionnaire is to understand the consumer groups in the Pearl River Delta region’s attitude towards Qingyuan chicken and the factors affecting their consumption willingness. The questionnaire investigates the basic situation of consumers, consumers’ attitude towards Qingyuan chicken, consumers’ consumption intention and consumption situation of Qingyuan chicken respectively. The questionnaire mainly includes three parts: the first part is the basic situation of the questionnaire fillers that mainly understand consumers’ personal characteristics, family characteristics and consumers’ attention to their own health. Personal characteristics include consumers’ age, gender, occupation. monthly income level. And household characteristics include questions such as whether there are children in the household and whether there are elderly people in the household. The second part is consumers’ attitude towards Qingyuan chicken, which is the related factors that may affect consumers’ willingness to consume, respectively from five dimensions of consumers’ cognition of Qingyuan chicken, acceptance of price, trust, convenience of consumption and external environmental factors. The third part of the questionnaire is the consumer’s willingness to consume Qingyuan chicken and consumption situation, mainly to understand whether consumers are willing to consume Qingyuan chicken, what are the reasons for willing to consume Qingyuan chicken, what are the reasons for not willing to consume Qingyuan chicken, the consumption frequency of families on Qingyuan chicken, purchase channels, etc.
2.2. Sample Selection
In order to improve the representativeness of the samples and the application value of the research conclusions, the principle of combining online and offline is adopted in this study in the Pearl River Delta region of Guangdong Province, and the one-to-one interview method is adopted offline, so that the samples can represent the consumption intention and consumption behavior characteristics of consumers in the Pearl River Delta region as much as possible. The offline research is mainly carried out in farmers’ markets, large, medium and small supermarkets and roadside vegetable stalls in Pearl River Delta cities with dense crowds. Consumers who are buying or have already bought chicken products are given priority for the research. Considering the role played by minors in the family, they will not often buy food and cannot truly express their willingness to consume Qingyuan chicken, so the research subjects actively excluded minors under the age of 18.
A total of 868 questionnaires were sent out and 832 were recovered, among which 48 were invalid and 784 were valid, with an effective questionnaire recovery rate of 94.23%.
3. Survey Basic Information
3.1. Sample Characteristics
1) Gender characteristics. The proportion of women surveyed was slightly higher than that of men. Among the 784 valid questionnaires, there were 139 men, accounting for 17.73% of the total sample, there were 645 female respondents, accounting for 83.27% of the total sample. As can be seen from the table, there is a higher proportion of women among the respondents. When the research team carried out field research, it was also found that there were more women than men in the shopping crowd. This may be due to traditional attitudes and work that put women in more of the roles of buying and cooking. Therefore, the high proportion of women in the survey is consistent with the reality.
2) Age structure. Consumers in the 46 - 65 age range are a major part of the respondents in this survey, there were 79 respondents aged 18 - 30 accounting for 10.08% of the total sample. The sample size for those aged 31 to 45 was 106, accounting for 13.2% of the total sample. The sample size for those aged 46 - 55 was 262, accounting for 33.42% of the total sample, the highest proportion among all age groups. The sample size for those aged 55 - 65 was 215, or 27.42% of the total sample. There were 122 respondents aged 65, accounting for 15.56% of the sample.
3) Occupational status. Among the survey results, the sample size of retirees is the largest, with a total of 197 people, accounting for 25.13% of the total sample. Most of these retirees filled out questionnaires face-to-face during field research. Followed by the sample size of government or public institution employees, a total of 184 people, accounting for 23.47% of the total sample. The sample size of enterprise personnel is 155. Accounting for 19.77% of the total sample. There were 118 self-employed or private owners, accounting for 15.05% of the total sample. In addition, the sample size of people whose occupation is farmers totaled 69, accounting for 8.8% of the sample. In the valid sample, the sample size of freelancers and other occupations is 6l, accounting for 7.58% of the total sample. There may be unemployed people and other occupational practitioners not mentioned in other options. It can be seen that the occupational distribution of the interviewees is relatively dispersed, which is in line with the actual situation (See Table 2).
3.2. Consumers’ Cognition of Qingyuan Chicken
The popularity of Qingyuan Chicken is very high, as high as 98.98% of consumers have heard of Qingyuan chicken. Meanwhile, 85.33% of the respondents said that they had eaten Qingyuan chicken, and consumers showed a high degree of love for Qingyuan chicken, accounting for 71.17%. The main channels for consumers to buy Qingyuan chicken were farmers markets (44.52%), e-commerce platforms
Table 2. Individual characteristics of consumers.
Question item |
Option |
Sample Size |
Ratio |
Gender |
Male |
139 |
17.73% |
Female |
645 |
83.27% |
Age |
18 - 30 Years old |
79 |
10.08% |
31 - 45 Years old |
106 |
13.52% |
46 - 55 Years old |
262 |
33.42% |
55 - 65 Years old |
215 |
27.42% |
Age more than 65 years |
122 |
15.56% |
Occupation |
Staff members of government organs or public institutions |
184 |
23.47% |
Farmer |
69 |
8.8% |
Self-employed individuals or private property owners |
118 |
15.05% |
Enterprise employees |
155 |
19.77% |
Retiree |
197 |
25.13% |
Liberal professions |
41 |
5.23% |
Other |
20 |
2.55% |
Per capita monthly household income |
Below 4000 yuan |
78 |
9.95% |
4000 - 7000 yuan |
202 |
25.77% |
7001 - 10,000 yuan |
239 |
30.48% |
10,001 - 13,000 yuan |
197 |
25.13% |
Above 13,000 yuan |
68 |
8.67% |
(24.11%), large supermarkets (19.9%) and offline franchise stores (9.31%) (See Table 3).
3.3. Consumer Purchase Intention
Consumers’ willingness to buy Qingyuan chicken refers to consumers intention to buy and consume agricultural products with geographical indications. This purchasing intention reflects the purchasing decision that consumers may make when facing Qingyuan chicken. Of the consumers surveyed, 64.29% are willing to purchase Qingyuan chicken, while 20.4% are not inclined to buy it. This shows that there is still some room for improvement in consumers’ enthusiasm for buying Qingyuan chicken (See Table 4).
3.4. Frequency of Consumers Buying Qingyuan Chicken
Among the respondents, the number of people who buy Qingyuan chicken 1 - 3 times a month is the largest, accounting for 27.42% of the total sample. Those who bought Qingyuan chickens four to six times a year followed, accounting for 23.34% of the total sample. Respondents who bought Qingyuan chickens one to three times a year accounted for 20.28% of the total sample, while those who never bought Qingyuan chickens accounted for 10.71% of the total sample. It can be seen that the frequency of consumers in the Pearl River Delta region buying Qingyuan chicken is not very high, and the market potential of expanding Qingyuan chicken in the Pearl River Delta is still great (See Table 5).
Table 3. Consumers’ cognition and attitude towards Qingyuan chicken.
Question item |
Option |
Sample Size |
Ratio |
Have you heard of Qingyuan chicken |
Yes |
776 |
98.98% |
No |
8 |
1.02% |
Have you heard of Qingyuan chicken |
Yes |
669 |
85.33% |
No |
71 |
9.06% |
Not sure |
44 |
5.6% |
Do you like Qingyuan chicken |
Yes |
558 |
71.17% |
No |
226 |
28.83% |
Channels for purchasing Qingyuan chicken |
Farmers’ market |
349 |
44.52% |
Large supermarkets |
156 |
19.9% |
E-commerce platform |
189 |
24.11% |
Offline specialty store |
73 |
9.31% |
Other channels |
17 |
2.16% |
Table 4. Willingness of consumers to buy Qingyuan chicken.
Question item |
Option |
Sample Size |
Ratio |
Willingness of Consumers to Buy Qingyuan Chicken |
Very willing |
298 |
38.01% |
Somewhat willing |
206 |
26.28% |
Neutral |
120 |
15.31% |
Not very willing |
93 |
11.85% |
Very unwilling |
67 |
8.55% |
Table 5. The frequency of consumers buying Qingyuan chicken.
Question item |
option |
sample size |
ratio |
The Frequency of Consumers Buying Qingyuan Chicken |
Never purchase |
84 |
10.71% |
1 - 3 times per year |
159 |
20.28% |
4 - 6 times per year |
183 |
23.34% |
1 - 3 times per month |
215 |
27.42% |
4 - 6 times per month |
102 |
13.01% |
More than 6 times per month |
41 |
5.23% |
3.5. Reasons Why Consumers Are Willing to Consume Qingyuan Chicken
Among the 784 respondents, the number of respondents who are very willing to consume Qingyuan chicken and those who are relatively willing to consume Qingyuan chicken is 504. In order to better understand the reasons why consumers are willing to consume Qingyuan chicken, the questionnaire also sets relevant questions. According to the questionnaire data, 489 respondents (97.02%) were willing to eat Qingyuan chicken because of its smooth and tender taste, which indicates that most consumers care more about the taste of Qingyuan chicken. A total of 365 respondents indicated that they were willing to consume Qingyuan chicken because of its moderate price, and they were highly sensitive to the price of Qingyuan chicken, accounting for 72.42%. A total of 329 respondents indicated that their reason for choosing to consume Qingyuan chicken is its high nutritional value. In addition, 244 respondents, 48.41%, said they chose to eat Qingyuan chicken because it was recommended by others. In addition, up to 93.06% of the respondents said that they chose to consume Qingyuan chicken because of their eating habits, which indicates that once the consumption habit of eating Qingyuan chicken can improve consumers consumption willingness (See Table 6).
Table 6. The reason why consumers are willing to consume Qingyuan chicken.
Question item |
option |
sample size |
ratio |
The Reason why Consumers are Willing to Consume Qingyuan Chicken |
Tender texture |
489 |
97.02% |
Reasonable price |
365 |
72.42% |
High nutritional value |
329 |
65.28% |
Recommended by others |
244 |
48.41% |
Dietary habits |
469 |
93.06% |
3.6. Reasons Why Consumers Are Unwilling to Consume Qingyuan Chicken
Among the 784 respondents, 106 were reluctant to consume Qingyuan chicken or very reluctant to consume Qingyuan chicken, accounting for 20.4% of the total sample size. Among these respondents, 88 respondents, or 83.02%, were unwilling to consume Qingyuan chicken because of its high price. A total of 69 respondents, accounting for 65.09%, said they were unwilling to consume Qingyuan chicken because they were worried that it was not authentic. In addition, 59 respondents said they were unwilling to consume Qingyuan chicken because it was inconvenient to buy it, accounting for 55.66%. In addition, 37 respondents said that they were unwilling to consume Qingyuan chicken because of its poor taste, which indicates that the taste of Qingyuan chicken is not the main reason for consumers to be unwilling to consume Qingyuan chicken (See Table 7).
Table 7. The reason why consumers are reluctant to consume Qingyuan chicken.
Question item |
Option |
Sample size |
Ratio |
The reason why consumers are Reluctant to consume Qingyuan Chicken |
High price |
88 |
83.02% |
Concern about buying fake Qingyuan chicken |
69 |
65.09% |
Inconvenient to purchase |
59 |
55.66% |
Poor texture |
37 |
34.91% |
4. Test the Reliability and Validity of the Questionnaire
4.1. Reliability Analysis
In order to improve the quality and scientificity of the questionnaire research and ensure the validity and reliability of the questionnaire measurement results, the research team conducted a reliability and validity analysis on the relevant data of the questionnaire. As shown in Table 8, Cronbach’s alpha coefficients of all variables were greater than 0.8 indicating high reliability of the data of variables and good reliability of the questionnaire.
Table 8. Reliability test table.
Variable |
Cronbach’s alpha |
Number of items |
Reliability assessment |
Product awareness |
0.827 |
6 |
Very good |
Intrinsic needs |
0.869 |
2 |
Very good |
Occupation |
0.812 |
3 |
Very good |
Household income |
0.835 |
3 |
Very good |
4.2. Validity Analysis
To Test the validity of the questionnaire, the research team conducted Bartlett’s Test and Bartlett’s test spherical test (P < 0. 05). A KMO of less than 0.6 indicates poor validity, a KMO of 0.7 - 0.8 indicates good validity, and a KMO of more than 0.8 indicates very good validity. As shown in Table 9, a KMO of 0.846 indicates good validity of the questionnaire. At the same time, the Bartlett spherical test results show that the significance P value is 0.000, showing significance at the level. and there is correlation among variables. Factor analysis is effective and the degree is appropriate.
Table 9. KMO validity test.
KMO |
|
0.846 |
Bartlett Spherical Test |
Approximate Chi-square |
3726.618 |
Degrees of freedom |
156 |
Significance |
0 |
5. Research Conclusions and Countermeasures
5.1. Research Conclusions
This study collected relevant data of consumers’ willingness to consume Qingyuan chicken through questionnaire survey, and used descriptive analysis method to analyze consumers’ willingness to consume Qingyuan chicken in the Pearl River Delta region and its influencing factors, and reached the following conclusions:
1) Qingyuan chicken has a high reputation in the Pearl River Delta region. Of the consumers surveyed, 64.29% are willing to purchase Qingyuan chicken. These consumers know more about the origin of Qingyuan chicken and its social and cultural background, so they are more positive about the quality of Qingyuan chicken products and their intention to buy, but there is still room for improvement. Consumers show a high degree of love for Qingyuan chicken. Good taste and coming from a specific region are the main characteristics of Qingyuan chicken. The main channels for consumers to buy Qingyuan chicken are farmers markets, e-commerce platforms, large supermarkets and offline franchise stores. The cognitive factors, internal demand factors, product characteristics factors, family income factors and other variables of consumers have a significant impact on the willingness of consumers in the Pearl River Delta region to buy Qingyuan chicken.
2) Gender, age, occupation and monthly per capita income of consumers in individual characteristics and family characteristics have significant effects on consumers’ purchase of Qingyuan chicken. The purchase frequency and food demand of internal demand factors have significant positive effects on consumers’ willingness to buy Qingyuan chickens. The product price in the product characteristics factors has a significant negative impact on the willingness of consumers in the Pearl River Delta region to buy Qingyuan chicken. Consumers were motivated by the pursuit of healthy and safe food. The taste, quality assurance, and purchasing convenience of Qingyuan chicken had a significant positive effect on consumers’ willingness to purchase Qingyuan chicken in the Pearl River Delta region. In addition, the gender of consumers has a significant negative impact on consumers’ purchase of Qingyuan chicken.
3) Although the popularity of Qingyuan chicken is high and more consumers have expressed their willingness to consume, the price of Qingyuan chicken will still affect the actual behavior of different consumers. In addition, consumers have doubts about whether what they buy is the real Qingyuan chicken, indicating that there is room for further improvement in the quality supervision of Qingyuan chicken and consumers’ trust.
5.2. Countermeasures and Suggestions
5.2.1. Improve the Market Certification Supervision Mechanism
Improve the market supervision mechanism and establish an authoritative Qingyuan chicken standard and certification system. Improve the supporting inspection and testing and traceability system, pay close attention to the certification audit of Qingyuan chicken production and operation, and ensure that the product quality of Qingyuan chicken meets the relevant requirements. At the same time, in order to improve the quality and food safety of Qingyuan chicken as the goal, rapid investigation and treatment of non-conforming cage-free egg products. The discovery of counterfeit Qingyuan chicken products should be dealt with or punished in time to curb illegal acts and create a good atmosphere for the further healthy development of Qingyuan chicken market.
5.2.2. Establish Consumers’ Trust in Qingyuan Chicken
Consumer trust is the key factor affecting the willingness to consume Qingyuan chicken. It is necessary to strengthen the construction of product quality, strictly crack down on illegal acts such as fake and shoddy, and protect the construction of Qingyuan chicken brand from being destroyed. Ensuring the quality of Qingyuan chicken and providing high-quality after sales service can make consumers feel at ease during the purchase process and enhance the trust of Qingyuan Chicken brand. Whether it is a physical store or an online shopping platform, it is necessary to make consumers feel happy in the process of purchasing products. Providing quality product experience is also an important way to enhance consumers’ willingness to Qingyuan chicken. By providing tasting services, cooking consume teaching and other means, consumers can feel the unique taste and quality of Qingyuan chicken before they buy it, thereby increasing their willingness to buy.
5.2.3. Set Reasonable Product Prices
The first factor that most consumers consider in the process of making consumption decisions is the product price of Qingyuan chicken. Among the respondents who are not willing to buy Qingyuan chicken, up to 83.02% of consumers clearly said that they refused to buy Qingyuan chicken because of its high price sensitivity. Although the prices of agricultural and sideline products themselves do not change much, reasonable product prices can promote consumers’ willingness to consume, and consumers are more inclined to choose chicken products with lower prices in the process of consumption decision-making. The production and operation enterprises of Qingyuan Chicken can promote consumers to form a more comprehensive consumption cognition and consumption willingness by promoting the product advantages of Qingyuan Chicken, and then increase the market share of Qingyuan Chicken in the Pearl River Delta region.
Project Fund
2023 General College Youth Innovation Talent Project in Guangdong Province: Research on the High-quality Development Path of Qingyuan Chicken Industry from the Perspective of Industrial Integration (Project Number: 2023 WQNCX249).