Consumer Behavior: Purchasing Local Baby Food vs. Imported Baby Food in Ethiopia Literature Review Description

A systematic review of the literature is provided in this chapter in order to develop informed and timely answers to the study's guiding research questions and to confirm or refute its guiding hypothesis. In this regard, Fraenkel and Wallen (2001, p. 48) advise that, "Researchers find out what has already been written about the topic they are interested in [by] investigating the opinions of experts in the field and other research studies. Such reading is referred to as a review of the literature." Likewise, Gratton and Jones (2003) report that a well-conducted review of the literature represents an essential part of virtually any type of scholarly research project today. For example, Gratton and Jones (2003, p. 51) note that, "No matter how original you think the research question may be, it is almost certain that your work will be building on the work of others. It is here that the review of such existing work is important." There are also a number of valuable outcomes that can be achieved using a systematic review of the literature, including identifying gaps in the existing body of knowledge (Gratton & Jones 2013).

Purchasing Preferences: Local vs. International Brands

The definition of "perceived value" provided by Camerer and Loewenstein (2004, p. 81) states that, "Consumers get two kinds of utility from a purchase: acquisition utility and transaction utility. Transaction utility measures the perceived value of the 'deal.' It is defined as the difference between the amount paid and the 'reference price' for the good, that is, the regular price that the consumer expects to pay for this product." A number of studies have employed the notion of perceived value conceptualized in this fashion, including a study by Salois and Reilly (2014, p. 18) who report, "There is a complicated relationship between marketing efforts (advertising) and value creation (perceived value) in generating consumer demand for and consumption of a good or service."

Likewise, Dobre and Dragomir (2013) define the concept thusly: "Consumer perception of the value of a product/service means comparing the quality and benefits associated with the product to the sacrifices they make by paying the asked price. Perceived value is the surplus between customer's perceived benefits and customer's perceived costs." Researchers have applied the perceive value concept to determine the important attributed to membership in performance art guilds (Dibble & Nelson 2015) as well as on consumer preferences for organically grown foods compared to non-organically grown foods (Shaharudin & Rizaimy 2010). Other researchers have examined perceive value along a continuum that includes several dimensions such as enhancing perceived value with added benefits or by reducing the amount of money or effort that consumers must make to obtain a good or service (Gronroos 2007). In this regard, Gronroos (2007, p. 157) notes that, "Customer-perceived value can, of course, be improved by adding benefits [and] by decreasing the sacrifice perceived by a customer, the perceived value also improves."

These studies, together with a growing body of other evidence, confirms that perceived value is highly related to higher consumption levels and these levels are significantly influenced by appropriate advertising (Salois and Reilly 2014).Therefore, the foregoing definition of perceived value was used to evaluate the relationship between this construct and consumers' purchase preference as discussed below.

What is the relationship between the "perceived value" and "consumers' purchase preference?

The initial theoretical model, including independent, dependent and moderating variables of interest to the study, is presented in Figure 1 below.

Figure 1. Theoretical model guiding the study

The study's independent variables will be discussed first below.

Independent Variables:

1. Professional Endorsement:

Definition of "professional endorsement." According to Blackett (2001), some professions such as healthcare clinicians, are prohibited by law in most countries from publicly endorsing more medicine over another. Therefore, for these products, Blackett (2001, p. 71) advises that, "Brand advertising and promotion may not use professional endorsement." Some studies, however, have used the term professional endorsement to refer to the manner in which experts in a field lend their support to various definitions or procedures (McKenzie 2009). Other studies have applied the term to refer to support given to various theoretical models concerning specific learning disabilities (McKenzie 2009) or expert qualifications in a field (All together now 2004). Therefore, for the purposes of this study, the term "professional endorsement" will refer to any endorsement of a baby food product by a credible authority that enhances their perceived value.

To the extent that credible authorities endorse a baby food product over another will likely be the extent to which those products have a higher perceived value compared to those that do not, ceteris paribus. Therefore to test a relationship between professional endorsement of the product and the perceived value by customer, the following hypothesis has been developed and there is a direct relationship between professional endorsement and perceived value.

2. Lifestyle:

Some representative dictionary definitions of "lifestyle" include the following:

The habits, attitudes, tastes, moral standards, economic level, etc., that together constitute the mode of living of an individual or group...

Lifestyle is expressed in both work and leisure behavior patterns and (on an individual basis) in activities, attitudes, interests, opinions, values, and allocation of income. It also reflects people's self-image or self-concept; the way they see themselves and believe they are seen by the others. Lifestyle is a composite of motivations, needs, and wants and is influenced by factors such as culture, family, reference groups, and social class (Business Dictionary 2016).
Taken together, these definitions provide a useful explanation concerning how lifestyle is viewed by different authorities. The term lifestyle has been used in different studies concerning the manner in which consumers select products and services based on their individual needs and priorities (Iwata 2006), as well as segmenting markets according to specific consumer demands (Marbury 2013). Likewise, a study by Kucukemiroglu (1997) identified a number of lifestyle dimensions among Turkish consumers that were shown to have an effect on their purchasing behaviors. In this regard, Kucukemiroglu (1997, p. 470) reports that, "Non-ethnocentric Turkish consumers tend to have significantly more favorable beliefs, attitudes, and intentions regarding imported products than do ethnocentric Turkish consumers." Similarly, a study by Altintas and Toko (2007) examined the effects of consumer ethnocentrism on consumers' purchase decisions for domestically produced or foreign made products. Based on their analysis of 540 Turkish consumers, Altintas and Toko (2007, p. 308) conclude that, "The most important factor in the formation of ethnocentrism is the presence of a cultural structure. Through the dynamics of culturalization, people gain the habit of doing certain things in certain ways, and develop an evaluation of other groups as false and mistaken."

Some researchers have conceptualized lifestyle according to several dimensions, including activities, interests, opinions and demographics as shown in Table 1 below.

Table 1

Representative lifestyle dimensions

Activities

Interests

Opinions

Demographics

Work

Family

Themselves

Age

Hobbies

Home

Social issues

Education

Social events

Job

Politics

Income

Vacation

Community

Business

Occupation

Entertainment

Recreation

Economics

Family size

Club memberships

Fashion

Education

Dwelling

Community

Food

Products

Geography

Shopping

Media

Future

City size

Sports

Achievements

Culture

Stage in life cycle

Source: http://image.slidesharecdn.com/adv-6-091117174059-phpapp01/95/adv319-ch-6-81-728.jpg?cb=1258479752

Some indication of Ethiopian lifestyles can also be discerned from the application of the cultural dimensions developed by Hofstede (2016) as set forth in Table 2 below.

Table 2

Hofstede's cultural dimensions for Ethiopia

Dimension

Definition

Application to Ethiopia

Power Distance

This dimension deals with the fact that all individuals in societies are not equal -- it expresses the attitude of the culture towards these inequalities amongst us. Power Distance is defined as the extent to which the less powerful members of institutions and organizations within a country expect and accept that power is distributed unequally.

Ethiopia scores high on this dimension (score of 70) which means that people accept a hierarchical order in which everybody has a place and which needs no further justification. Hierarchy in an organization is seen as reflecting inherent inequalities, centralization is popular, subordinates expect to be told what to do and the ideal boss is a benevolent autocrat.

Individualism

The fundamental issue addressed by this dimension is the degree of interdependence a society maintains among its members. It has to do with whether people's self-image is defined in terms of "I" or "We." In Individualist societies people are supposed to look after themselves and their direct family only. In Collectivist societies people belong to 'in groups' that take care of them in exchange for loyalty.

Ethiopia, with a score of 20 is considered a collectivistic society. This is manifest in a close long-term commitment to the member 'group', be that a family, extended family, or extended relationships. Loyalty in a collectivist culture is paramount, and over-rides most other societal rules and regulations. The society fosters strong relationships where everyone takes responsibility for fellow members of their group. In collectivist societies offence leads to shame and loss of face, employer/employee relationships are perceived in moral terms (like a family link), hiring and promotion decisions take account of the employee's in-group, management is the management of groups.

Masculinity

A high score (Masculine) on this dimension indicates that the society will be driven by competition, achievement and…